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BlockEight88

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 20, 2013
217
32
My sister just got a brand new 64GB iPhone 5S. It came with iOS 7.1.1. I read that 8 has slowed older devices down. Which operating system would be better for the phone? 7.1.1 or 8.1? Thanks guys.
 

MattMJB0188

macrumors 68020
Dec 28, 2009
2,032
583
Keep it on 7.1.1. That version of fine for 7. Do NOT upgrade to iOS 8 by any means. Its awful and buggy.
 

Syndicate0017

macrumors 6502
May 3, 2013
405
0
brand new iPhone 5S, should I put iOS 8 on it?

A 5S handles iOS 8 just fine. Are there some bugs? Yes, but the OS is certainly not awful. 8.1.2 and 8.1.3 have made quite a number of improvements in stability. Plus iOS 8 has features like continuity and handoff that are unavailable to iOS 7.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
A 5S handles iOS 8 just fine. Are there some bugs? Yes, but the OS is certainly not awful. 8.1.2 and 8.1.3 have made quite a number of improvements in stability. Plus iOS 8 has features like continuity and handoff that are unavailable to iOS 7.
That's more or less what it comes down to.
 

scjr

macrumors 68020
Jan 28, 2013
2,196
1,340
A 5S handles iOS 8 just fine. Are there some bugs? Yes, but the OS is certainly not awful. 8.1.2 and 8.1.3 have made quite a number of improvements in stability. Plus iOS 8 has features like continuity and handoff that are unavailable to iOS 7.

What he said. ^^^
 

newellj

macrumors G3
Oct 15, 2014
8,127
3,030
East of Eden
When I had a 5S, it ran iOS 8 just fine. It was neither slow nor buggy on that phone. iOS 8.1.3 should run at least as well having said that, if you don't need the features and if doesn't limit the apps you can install or upgrade, it isn't compelling. As you know, you can't go back.
 

marvz

macrumors 65816
Aug 27, 2012
1,001
443
Berlin
I bet you and mostly your sister (no offense) won't notice any difference in performance.

And then there are some nice improvements like Quick Reply, Continuity & Handoff, and particularly app extensions which are just awesome! Don't forget Apple Watch support and things like HomeKit and HealthKit.
 
Last edited:

flyinmac

macrumors 68040
Sep 2, 2006
3,579
2,465
United States
My sister just got a brand new 64GB iPhone 5S. It came with iOS 7.1.1. I read that 8 has slowed older devices down. Which operating system would be better for the phone? 7.1.1 or 8.1? Thanks guys.

I have an iPhone 5 w/ 16 GB. This is the original 5 model. And I've run everything from 6.x to the current 8.1.3 version. And I haven't had any problems with slowing down, lag, or anything else.

If my phone can run it fine, then a 5s should be able to run it without any issue. Your 5s has a more powerful processor than my phone.

There's opinions about various iOS versions. But those are primarily relating to preferences such as visual aspects.

8.1.3 is stable. And I have more things that finally work that were broken in 7.x. I can AirPrint, AirPlay, and I haven't had one crash since upgrading to version 8.x.

7.x was buggy all the way through. Generally, it was good. It was reliable. But it's wireless syncing, AirPlay, AirPrint, and remote controlling AppleTV never worked for me with 7.x.

With 8.1.3 I simply can't find anything that doesn't work. And, the iPhone 5 is fast and smooth on it.
 

BlockEight88

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 20, 2013
217
32
So this morning I did a clean restore of 8.1.3 and set everything up as new on a 64Gb iPhone 5S. For the most part its completely fine. The only thing that I have noticed is that the animations are sometimes jerky or stutter. That's about it. Some apps like the weather app are not smooth scrolling either. At times, swiping to the next homescreen can cause a stutter. I do not know why iOS 8 has this? I kind of wish I had kept it on 7.1.1 now
 

Armen

macrumors 604
Apr 30, 2013
7,405
2,274
Los Angeles
So this morning I did a clean restore of 8.1.3 and set everything up as new on a 64Gb iPhone 5S. For the most part its completely fine. The only thing that I have noticed is that the animations are sometimes jerky or stutter. That's about it. Some apps like the weather app are not smooth scrolling either. At times, swiping to the next homescreen can cause a stutter. I do not know why iOS 8 has this? I kind of wish I had kept it on 7.1.1 now

Don't sweat it. iOS 9 will be even better. Also, spotlight search may be indexing files so check the behavior of the phone again in a few days.
 

BlockEight88

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 20, 2013
217
32
Don't sweat it. iOS 9 will be even better. Also, spotlight search may be indexing files so check the behavior of the phone again in a few days.

That's what I thought. I read iOS 9 will improve optimization, so that's good. I'm just hoping the iPhone 5S can perform like brand new again. :/ Hopefully its just not focused on the iPhone 6 series.
 

Armen

macrumors 604
Apr 30, 2013
7,405
2,274
Los Angeles
That's what I thought. I read iOS 9 will improve optimization, so that's good. I'm just hoping the iPhone 5S can perform like brand new again. :/ Hopefully its just not focused on the iPhone 6 series.

iOS 8 runs fine on my wife's iphone 5. It will be fine :)
 

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,559
1,245
Cascadia
A 5S handles iOS 8 just fine. Are there some bugs? Yes, but the OS is certainly not awful. 8.1.2 and 8.1.3 have made quite a number of improvements in stability. Plus iOS 8 has features like continuity and handoff that are unavailable to iOS 7.

If you have a Mac new enough to use Continuity and Handoff - upgrade. It's as simple as that.

If you don't, then it's up to you. Just know that iOS 7 isn't getting security updates any more, so being on the latest version keeps you safest.
 

marvz

macrumors 65816
Aug 27, 2012
1,001
443
Berlin
If you have a Mac new enough to use Continuity and Handoff - upgrade. It's as simple as that.

If you don't, then it's up to you. Just know that iOS 7 isn't getting security updates any more, so being on the latest version keeps you safest.

App Extensions are also a big Yes for updating.
 

BlockEight88

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 20, 2013
217
32
If you have a Mac new enough to use Continuity and Handoff - upgrade. It's as simple as that.

If you don't, then it's up to you. Just know that iOS 7 isn't getting security updates any more, so being on the latest version keeps you safest.

Can you explain how "security updates" help me? How would I be affected if I were still on 7?
 

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,559
1,245
Cascadia
Can you explain how "security updates" help me? How would I be affected if I were still on 7?

Well, the simple ones are vulnerabilities in iOS 7 that were patched in iOS 8, but which were never fixed in iOS 7. Some of which can be particularly nasty:
http://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/ios-8-has-arrived-biggest-update-packed-with-security-fixes/
CVE-2014-4364 : An attacker can obtain WiFi credentials. An attacker could have impersonated a WiFi access point, offered to authenticate with LEAP, broken the MS-CHAPv1 hash, and used the derived credentials to authenticate to the intended access point even if that access point supported stronger authentication methods. This issue was addressed by disabling LEAP by default.
CVE-2014-4423 : A malicious application may be able to identify the Apple ID of the user. An issue existed in the access control logic for accounts. A sandboxed application could get information about the currently-active iCloud account, including the name of the account. This issue was addressed by restricting access to certain account types from unauthorized applications.
CVE-2014-4357 : An attacker with access to an iOS device may access sensitive user information from logs. Sensitive user information was logged. This issue was addressed by logging less information.
CVE-2014-4352 : A person with physical access to an iOS device may read the address book. The address book was encrypted with a key protected only by the hardware UID. This issue was addressed by encrypting the address book with a key protected by the hardware UID and the user's passcode.
CVE-2014-4377 : Opening a maliciously crafted PDF file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. An integer overflow existed in the handling of PDF files. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
CVE-2014-4409 : A malicious website may be able to track users even when private browsing is enabled. A web application could store HTML 5 application cache data during normal browsing and then read the data during private browsing. This was addressed by disabling access to the application cache when in private browsing mode.
CVE-2013-6663, CVE-2014-1384, CVE-2014-1385, CVE-2014-1387, CVE-2014-1388, CVE-2014-1389, CVE-2014-4410, CVE-2014-4411, CVE-2014-4412, CVE-2014-4413, CVE-2014-4414, CVE-2014-4415 : Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. Multiple memory corruption issues existed in WebKit. These issues were addressed through improved memory handling.

Some of these can directly put you at risk of revealing private information, like credit card numbers entered in to websites, to people monitoring WiFi traffic.
 

BlockEight88

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 20, 2013
217
32
Well, the simple ones are vulnerabilities in iOS 7 that were patched in iOS 8, but which were never fixed in iOS 7. Some of which can be particularly nasty:
http://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/ios-8-has-arrived-biggest-update-packed-with-security-fixes/


Some of these can directly put you at risk of revealing private information, like credit card numbers entered in to websites, to people monitoring WiFi traffic.

That clears it up. Thanks. So I guess it would be safer to always be on the latest os.
 

Badrottie

Suspended
May 8, 2011
4,317
335
Los Angeles
A 5S handles iOS 8 just fine. Are there some bugs? Yes, but the OS is certainly not awful. 8.1.2 and 8.1.3 have made quite a number of improvements in stability. Plus iOS 8 has features like continuity and handoff that are unavailable to iOS 7.

Not if his sister has a Macbook then it is not worth to upgrade to 8.1.3 for the sake of Continuity and Handoff! :apple:
 

Paddle1

macrumors 601
May 1, 2013
4,800
3,110
So this morning I did a clean restore of 8.1.3 and set everything up as new on a 64Gb iPhone 5S. For the most part its completely fine. The only thing that I have noticed is that the animations are sometimes jerky or stutter. That's about it. Some apps like the weather app are not smooth scrolling either. At times, swiping to the next homescreen can cause a stutter. I do not know why iOS 8 has this? I kind of wish I had kept it on 7.1.1 now

The weather app is like that on every device, hopefully fixed in iOS 9.
 

vista980622

macrumors 6502
Aug 2, 2012
369
177
My sister just got a brand new 64GB iPhone 5S. It came with iOS 7.1.1. I read that 8 has slowed older devices down. Which operating system would be better for the phone? 7.1.1 or 8.1? Thanks guys.

iOS 8 has little performance hit on iPhone 5s, if this is what you're worrying about.

But I do feel the need to tell you, there are many, many tiny bugs in iOS 8 that can disrupt your daily workflow. One of the examples are text selection works unreliably in Safari and can cause auto-scrolling and crashes.

Again, none of these bugs, by themselves, is a deal-breaker. But when added together, the experience may not be as pleasant as it can be.
 
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