I'm in a tough spot, phone-wise because I want to keep using my iPhone SE, the last one-handed iPhone that's reasonably-sized, but if I want to not be vulnerable to
DarkSword, I have to update iOS 26. (18.7 is patched against it, but Apple won't allow me to update to it. Only 26.)
26 runs badly on the SE 2.On the iPhone SE (2020 / SE2), the “feel” is more mixed. I’d say it’s usable, but not fast, with small stutters and slowdowns during normal use. My common complaint is basic day-to-day responsiveness taking a hit, like delays when opening Siri or switching tasks.
Battery life also degrades on 26.This guy said it well:
It’s truly sad that Apple forces the users to either be secure or to massively slow down their phones. Extremely sad. I don’t even know how this can be legal. The performance degradations can be minimised, but they are still a degradation for all the basic features, for no reason whatsoever.
I did find a way out, temporarily, though.
From the PCMag article:
In addition, Apple noted that DarkSword doesn't appear to work on iPhones that've enabled Lockdown Mode, which users can turn on to prevent spyware threats at the cost of disabling certain features.
I have it on now. It seems fine?
But eventually, I should take another look at non-Apple, non-Google phones, even though there hasn't been anything reliable the last several times I've checked. The market provides!