Can I get iOS 18.7.3 WITHOUT public beta??
iPhone SE, iOS 18
If that is the case then it makes me curious as to why 18.7.3 is available as a beta update to download and install on a phone capable of running iOS 26 if what you’re claiming is true? Why provide a beta update if it won’t be followed by a release?
Currently running 18.7.2 on a 15 Pro
After a long talk with Apple support this afternoon Apple has decreed that any iPhone capable of running 26 can only have the update option of 26. They will not allow the 18.7.3 to be installed on these iPhones.
So 3 options all of them bad:
1 Stay with 18.7.2 so your phone is open to malware.
2 Try to find a used XS in decent condition. XS can’t run 26 so will accept the 18.7.3 update. Problem is not clear from what Apple is saying how long XS will be suported.
3 Tell Apple to perform the anatomically impossible act and buy an Android phone. I have an Android tablet and doing things on it is much more logical for me than on the iPhone. But of course major problem is losing all the information I have assembled on my iPhone. And most (all?) Android phones are not supported with O/S updates for as long as iPhones.
No good choice.
Or the obvious solution, update to iOS 26. You will not find any update going back through the years here on this support site when some user did not like the update, yet they managed just fine and come to like it so much that when the next update comes along, they want the one they previously did not like. Yes, it happened last year when iOS 18 was released and goes back every year before that too.
Next year it will be iOS 26 that users want to go back to after an update. It is as predictable as the sun rising in the morning.
Yes I can go to 26. But my iPhone is an SE2 which cannot run Apple Intelligence. As apps and programs are updated to run on 26 they will be changed to use and require Apple Intelligence and therefore won’t work on my phone.
How long? 2 years at most quite possibly less for at least some.
This is Apple’s strategy to force a new iPhone purchase w.o. seeming to abandon older ones more quickly than they have done in the past.
I must give them credit. It is a clever strategy and likely a successful one.
swestbill wrote:
Yes I can go to 26. But my iPhone is an SE2 which cannot run Apple Intelligence. As apps and programs are updated to run on 26 they will be changed to use and require Apple Intelligence and therefore won’t work on my phone.
That's incorrect. Lots of people with phones that support Apple Intelligence don't use it. Apps work just fine. There are some features you may not get, but as you didn't have them before, I don't see that as a problem.
swestbill wrote:
Yes I can go to 26. But my iPhone is an SE2 which cannot run Apple Intelligence. As apps and programs are updated to run on 26 they will be changed to use and require Apple Intelligence and therefore won’t work on my phone. How long? 2 years at most quite possibly less for at least some.
Not sure how Apple Intelligence matters at all. Your phone may not support a future OS version, but that has nothing to do with updating to iOS 26 this year, and all the Apple apps installed with the update run perfectly fine without Apple Intelligence.
For third party apps, they are only able to choose the iOS version they want to support. They do not have the option to provide an update for iOS 26 that is only available on devices with Apple Intelligence. That has nothing to do with a decision to update to iOS 26 now.
If you are simply speculating years out, of course your device will eventually need to be replaced to take advantage of new apps. That is no different then how it has been since the very first computer. Your SE2 was released in 2020 and you are speculating 2 years out giving you a 7 year life span for updates, and in the phone market that is typical as far as new app/OS support.
18.7.3 is only available for units incapable of 26 or above. No iPhone SE will provide the option of installing it.
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Thanks for your reply. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it but also I thought someone might come up with a solution!!
How to get iOS 18.7.3 ??
