Apple hasn't supported that, by the way, there are apps where you simply can't download the "latest compatible version" Also you can't "buy it" even for free apps, you must've tied it to your account before. And yes, it's also forcing by making it very hard to support older versions, see the side comment on SDKs.

> they know every iOS 19 user can upgrade to iOS 26?

Because not every user does? Obviously?