My iPhone has so little free space (thanks to the ever increasing “system data”) that it can’t update to iOS 26. Point updates for iOS 18 are usually much smaller and can still be installed.
I can’t believe I’m suggesting this, but… you could install a bunch of apps to get your phone storage to <10GB free, which should block it being able to update to iOS 26.
The good news is that almost all Meshtastic hardware can be flashed with the MeshCore firmware (and vice versa). This makes it straightforward to dive into both relatively easily.
I can’t believe I’m suggesting this, but… you could install a bunch of apps to get your phone storage to <10GB free, which should block it being able to update to iOS 26.