iOS 26.2 will turn on automatic updates if you’re not careful

Macworld

Apple really wants you to enable automatic updates for your iPhone. So much so that they’re employing a sketchy dark pattern in the iOS 26.2 update to trick you into turning it on.

If you have automatic updates turned off you’ll see the above screen 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 go turn it back off in Settings, but Apple is enabling it by default and giving you a deceptive “Continue” button instead of making it clear that it wants to make a change.

You need to tap the clearly-not-default “Only Download Automatically” button if you want to continue manually installing iOS at your leisure.

Apple could have made the buttons look the same so 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 otherwise wouldn’t necessarily make–a concept known as “dark patterns.”

If you already updated to iOS 26.2 and missed this screen, or tapped Continue without realizing it, you can turn Automatic Updates off, should you desire, in Settings > General > Software Update.