iPhone manual update to 18.7.4

azbondgirl wrote:

I thought I could opt out of upgrade to ios26

You can stay on iOS 18.7.2 or update to the latest version of iOS 26 – but Apple won't allow you to update to iOS 18.7.3. Apple's release notes first indicated that 18.7.3 was available for the iPhone 11 and later – but Apple then changed the notes to say that 18.7.3 is only available for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR (and some iPads).

I took same option with last month's security update but it's not offered just the new 26

Same here. Your choice is to update to iOS 26 or to live without the security updates that are in 18.7.3.

battery is 88 health in 1 yr

26 AI may finish off my little iPhone SE3

with 15 chip

There may be other artificial intelligence / machine learning features in there, or other things that eat battery, but for your iPhone SE (3rd generation), Apple Intelligence isn't going to be one of them. Your phone does not have the hardware to run it either under iOS 18 or under iOS 26.

It's no longer possible to install 18 on an unit capable of 26.

(262305)

azbondgirl wrote:

Update to 18.7.4 to

avoid ios 26 battery death iphone SE3

There is no iOS 18.7.4. iOS 18.7.3 is the latest release of iOS 18.

About iOS 18 Updates - Apple Support

At this time there is no further upgrade path for you with iOS 18. The only option would be iOS 26.2.