iOS 26.2 will turn on automatic updates if you’re not careful
Apple really wants you to enable automatic updates for your iPhone. So much so that they use a dark, sketchy pattern in the iOS 26.2 update to trick you into activating it.
If automatic updates are disabled, you will see the screen above after updating to iOS 26.2. If you don’t read it carefully, you won’t notice that the blue button simply labeled “Continue” will actually enable automatic updates. You can always turn it off in Settings, but Apple turns it on by default and gives you a misleading “Continue” button instead of making it clear that it wants to make a change.
You need to tap the “Download only automatically” button which is clearly not default if you want to continue installing iOS manually as you wish.
Apple could have made the buttons look the same so that one is not visibly preferred over the other. Or they could have changed the label to “Enable automatic updates and continue”. As designed, this is a deliberate attempt to use interface design conventions to push users into making a choice they wouldn’t necessarily make otherwise: a concept known as “dark patterns.”
If you’ve already updated to iOS 26.2 and missed this screen, or if you tapped Continue Without realizing it, you can disable automatic updates, if you wish, in Settings > General > Software update.
