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iOS 7.1 Improves Performance for iPhone 4 Users

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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30,854



Last September, when Apple released iOS 7 to the public, the iPhone 4 was the oldest model supported by the operating system. However, many iPhone 4 users found their devices to be slow and unresponsive, something Apple was likely aware of because there were a number of iOS 7 features that didn't work at all on the iPhone 4, including Siri, AirDrop, AirPlay Mirroring, and a number of special effects across the user interface including parallax, some translucency effects, and live wallpapers.

Today, with the release of iOS 7.1, Apple has much improved the experience of iPhone 4 users on iOS 7, though not entirely back to what users saw in iOS 6.1.3. According to Ars Technica, there is a measurable improvement in iOS 7.1 across a number of native iOS apps, including the speed at which the apps open from the home screen:

ios71improvement.png
There's a measurable improvement over iOS 7.0 across all of these apps, some more noticeable than others. In a few instances, iOS 7.1 very nearly catches up with iOS 6.1.3, which is impressive given the gap between the two operating systems in some of these apps. It's not a complete recovery from the original iOS 7.0 release, but it's about as good as Apple can do with hardware this old. The small speed improvements are present throughout the operating system, and this makes the iPhone 4 feel more responsive than it did, if not always as responsive as it once was.

iOS 7.1 also helps with the UI jerkiness that was all over the place in 7.0. It's easiest to capture the difference in video--actions like launching apps or pulling up the Control Center shade are always visibly jerky in iOS 7.0, but they're smooth (or at least smoother) in the new update.
Click to expand...
As Ars notes, iOS 7.1 may well be the final major iOS release for the iPhone 4, as Apple generally removes support for the last generation of iPhones when it releases a new operating system each year. Ars says iOS 7.1 makes the experience good enough that using the iPhone 4 is no longer "unbearable", but that there are "unmistakable" benefits to moving to a faster phone.

Article Link: iOS 7.1 Improves Performance for iPhone 4 Users
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/03/10/ios71-makes-iphone4-snappier/
Icaras

Icaras

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2008
6,344
3,393
I never imagined that word would make it to a Mac rumors headline.
 
L

-LikesMac-

macrumors 6502
Jun 20, 2010
429
23
Haha, "snappier."

It's kind of ironic since there was one occasion where MacRumors warned us not to use this word (it was in the context of Safari, though). :p

Wow, it's funny how all those posts appeared above mine in the time I composed this. I guess you can say that was snappier than expected.
 
8

869639

macrumors 6502
Jan 2, 2014
327
0
Earth
One thing I do not like is how the dial pad on the Phone app has soo much space around it...they should have somehow made the buttons larger....

overall I am not enjoy the small Call button on all iPhones 4/5S
 
W

westcoastin

macrumors member
May 3, 2011
78
0
An objective report of an iOS device actually being snappier? Unacceptable. I'll only believe anecdotal reports.
 
Dulcimer

Dulcimer

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2012
895
717
I wonder what kind of optimizations Apple had to make to get such improvements.
 
ccrunner_tj

ccrunner_tj

macrumors member
Nov 20, 2010
71
117
West Lafayette, IN
I can completely confirm this. I installed the update on my roommate's iPhone 4 earlier today with the promise that performance was to be better. He has been going on about it all evening, saying that he no longer needs to buy a new phone since it is so snappy now.

Anyone with an iPhone 4, have no fear in finally going to iOS 7.
 
dumastudetto

dumastudetto

macrumors 603
Aug 28, 2013
5,017
7,140
Los Angeles, USA
It's pretty amazing Apple can do this. Ask Samsung/HTC/Sony/Google/Nokia consumers what they get in terms of updates and they'll all have tales of woe and reasons why they are never buying a phone again from that OEM. Apple is quite remarkable the way they support old hardware and give consumers the best possible experience. And that's why we love them.
 
Dustman

Dustman

macrumors 65816
Apr 17, 2007
1,381
238
Some impressive gains if this is true. Especially with messages. A person is in and out of that quite a few times in the run of a day.
 
ThunderSkunk

ThunderSkunk

macrumors 68040
Dec 31, 2007
3,823
4,052
Milwaukee Area
Glad to still be humming along on iOS6 here. Works fast, reliably, and looks a hundred times more polished. Maybe iOS 8 won't be another step backward.
 
L

Loyalty4Life

macrumors regular
Aug 28, 2006
138
198
dumastudetto said:
It's pretty amazing Apple can do this. Ask Samsung/HTC/Sony/Google/Nokia consumers what they get in terms of updates and they'll all have tales of woe and reasons why they are never buying a phone again from that OEM. Apple is quite remarkable the way they support old hardware and give consumers the best possible experience. And that's why we love them.
Click to expand...

Here, here!!
 
seamer

seamer

macrumors 6502
Jul 24, 2009
426
164
I had a comment deleted from another thread because I dared to ask another poster if the changes they saw made Mavericks feel snappier. Apparently it was a frivolous post.

Better be careful the same moderator doesn't delete this article for the same reasons!
 
lunaoso

lunaoso

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2012
1,332
54
Boston, MA
I want to see this but on a 5S, although there wouldn't be iOS 6 as comparison, it feels a lot faster between 7 and 7.1. I'm curious as to how much faster it actually is compared to what it feels like.
 
henzpwnapple

henzpwnapple

macrumors regular
Feb 13, 2009
147
8
First time ever, i want to go back to last version, ios6. Seriously, ios7 feels like vista when i was still using PC... Did bill gates take over the ios roadmap? :eek:
 
8

844957

Suspended
Sep 16, 2013
85
21
they really should have done 4s & 5 iOS 6/7/7.1 comparison and a iphone5s 7/7.1 comparison too

good to see they aren't completely leaving old users in the dust but some of those increases are terrible. an extra second to open your phone and messages with 7.0
 
C

Cmdrx3

macrumors regular
Apr 5, 2013
117
90
Worse thing I ever did was update to IOS 7. My 4S had no lag, stutters or stalls and IOS 7 put an end to that (as well as being butt fugly). Given the option, I would go back to IOS 6.1.2 rather than IOS 7.1 but it's an option I don't have.:mad:
 
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