To Apple,

iPadOS 26 has been an awful final landing point for many older iPads.

It is heavy, poorly optimised, and has made capable devices feel slower, clunkier, and worse than they should. If iPadOS 26 is the last major update these iPads ever receive, Apple is not leaving them with a stable, polished final version. It is leaving them stranded on software that actively makes them feel older than they are.

That is especially unfair because users cannot simply roll back.

Once Apple stops signing an older iPadOS version, downgrading is no longer realistically possible for most users. Even when a rollback is briefly possible, it is not a proper solution. Downgrading can mean losing security updates, app compatibility, bug fixes, and long-term support. Users should not have to choose between performance and security on expensive hardware that still works.

This is the core problem: iPadOS 26 makes some devices worse, but Apple’s software system gives users no safe, practical escape from it.

We are calling on Apple to bring iPadOS 27 support to every iPad currently supported by iPadOS 26. All user's of iPadOS 26 deserve the performance enhancements iPadOS 27 will provide.

This does not mean every iPad needs every new feature. Advanced AI tools, graphics features, or high-end multitasking options can be limited to newer chips where there is a real hardware reason. But blocking the entire operating system from capable iPads is wasteful, unfair, and increasingly difficult to justify.

The A12X versus A12Z split shows how absurd this has become.

The 2018 iPad Pro with the A12X chip is being left behind, while the very similar 2020 iPad Pro with the A12Z chip continues forward. These devices share the same basic chip design. From a user’s perspective, it makes no sense that one is supposedly too old for the base OS while the other is still acceptable. RAM is not the issue either, as iPads with less RAM are supported. 

That feels less like a real technical limit and more like forced obsolescence.

Apple is making expensive iPads feel disposable through software. These are not cheap throwaway tablets. They are devices people bought for school, work, art, music, accessibility, business, and long-term productivity. Many of them still work perfectly well. Their displays, speakers, chips, accessories, and build quality are still useful.

But when software support ends, app support slowly follows. Security confidence drops. Resale value falls. Users are pushed toward upgrading, even when the hardware itself is still capable. That is how working devices become e-waste. Not to mention the significant performance uplift iPadOS 27 can correct for.

Apple cannot promote environmental responsibility while cutting off usable iPads through artificial software lines.

The most sustainable device is the one people can keep using. Recycling should be the last resort, not the excuse. A working iPad should not be pushed into a drawer, a trade-in bin, or landfill because Apple released a poorly optimised update and then gave users no safe way back.

We are asking Apple to:

Bring iPadOS 27 to every iPad that supports iPadOS 26.
Keep the base operating system available, even if some features need to be disabled.
Optimise iPadOS properly for older supported devices.
Provide a lighter mode for older iPads instead of abandoning them.
Continue security support for devices that are still clearly capable.
Stop using software cut-offs to shorten the life of premium hardware.
Apple already knows how to separate features by device. It can restrict specific features where necessary without cutting off the entire OS.

What users are asking for is simple: do not leave capable iPads stranded on a poorly optimised version of iPadOS. People can't even choose between a slow device and an insecure rollback. Do not turn expensive, functional hardware into e-waste through software.

Bring iPadOS 27 to all iPadOS 26 iPads.