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iPod touch Anyone still use iPod touch 4th gen/ios 6.1.5?

T

touchipods

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 9, 2012
129
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Just curious if people still use ipod touch 4g. I do and wondering whether iOS 6.1.5 brought some improvements over 6.1.3 firmware. Such as better performance, more free RAM, longer battery life. Also does your touch crash Safari when visiting this site with nothing running in the background and 1 tab open:

http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/

If it does not crash, I may update to 6.1.5 because that means Apple finally fixed the Javascript/Webkit memory leak.
 
touchipods said:
Just curious if people still use ipod touch 4g. I do and wondering whether iOS 6.1.5 brought some improvements over 6.1.3 firmware. Such as better performance, more free RAM, longer battery life. Also does your touch crash Safari when visiting this site with nothing running in the background and 1 tab open:

http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/

If it does not crash, I may update to 6.1.5 because that means Apple finally fixed the Javascript/Webkit memory leak.
Click to expand...

Just installed 6.1.5 on my iPod touch 4th gen and yes, it crashes when visiting http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/. :-( That's pretty bad that it crashes on Apples own website.

The changelog did state that 6.1.5 only fixes the Facetime issue and does not include any other changes (unlike the 7.0.4 update which stated it includes Bug fixes and improvements)
 
kfury77 said:
Just installed 6.1.5 on my iPod touch 4th gen and yes, it crashes when visiting http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/. :-( That's pretty bad that it crashes on Apples own website.

The changelog did state that 6.1.5 only fixes the Facetime issue and does not include any other changes (unlike the 7.0.4 update which stated it includes Bug fixes and improvements)
Click to expand...

I personally find it unacceptable that Safari is so crash prone. Even though touch 4g only has 256mb RAM it should be enough for several reasons.

1. No flash player is available. Flash eats up CPU and RAM.
2. Unlike iPhone less hardware to deal with such as constant 3G/cell connection, also no gps or compass.
3. Apple prides itself in making iOS efficient and not waste resources.
4. Hard disk is flash memory so less taxing compared to traditional hard drives.
5. iOS is a mobile OS not a traditional desktop OS and so less system resources and hardware to deal with.

Funny how Apple was and still is against Flash player but it seems like JavaScript/Webkit has become a huge resource hog. Also it should not crash Safari but rather have checkboxes to load up in RAM heavy sites. I'd rather have some checkboxes but still navigate a website compared to a site crashing and making it not viewable.
 
I have a 2013 ipod 4g, it come out of the box with ios 6.1.2, which is released in march and yes its ridiculous to manufacture in 2013 a device with that amount of ram
 
That's cuz apple r stingy pricks ok. They don't want to give u anything that's even slightly future proof. RAM is THE most important thing in any device!! CPU is important too but if the iPod 4 had say 1gb ram u would be fine!! The A4 cheap is still fast. It's ram that is really crucial. Unfortunately it's not like a PC where u can just upgrade ur ram. I recently put in 32gb of ram in my pc cuz it was so cheap ($150 total) and definitely future proof.

You have to remember. Apple designs products based on wut gives them the most profit. Not wut is technologically possible ATM. Oh no. That will never happen. And forget about ever seeing a microsd slot! They make ********s off these so called "models" give me a break seriously! And btw there still lots of flash sites out there and maybe iOS devices weren't so capable of making them smooth but by now the should be definitely with the A7 64 bit chip and 1gb ram devices.

Apple holds back so many essential features that iPhone 100 could be made at iPhone 10 for instance. I remember when Steve jobs stood up on the podium for the iPhone 4 unveiling and spent 3 mins showing off how u can FINALLY change the damn home screen wallpaper! Omg wut a revelation! Seriously who r they kidding. It took them 4yrs to do that?? Wut!? Please.
I don't hate apple btw but I do hate that they are (clearly) a stingy bunch. They could be so much more if they had the right intent.
Anyway that's my 2 cents.

Btw my iPod 4g is jailbroken and I can see how much free ram I have in real time. ATM its 13mb with JUST safari open! I hope it doesn't crash just now as I'm typing this :/
 
I have a Ipod touch 4G and decided to do the stupid thing of updating it to 6.1.5. Since I did that I haven't been able to have any of the apps I'm used to having and be able to listen to well...anything. It will stop playing and won't allow any volume controls and it's been very difficult to deal with.

I wouldn't update until they really have all the bugs worked out.
 
I didn't know there was an update. I will wait on updating my iPod.

I still use my Touch 4th gen. and plan on using it till it dies. When that happens I might either get a refurbished 5th gen. or I'll consider the 4th gen. if B&H still has it for below $200.
 
kfury77 said:
Just installed 6.1.5 on my iPod touch 4th gen and yes, it crashes when visiting http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/. :-( That's pretty bad that it crashes on Apples own website.

The changelog did state that 6.1.5 only fixes the Facetime issue and does not include any other changes (unlike the 7.0.4 update which stated it includes Bug fixes and improvements)
Click to expand...

I have a 5th generation iPod touch and it crashes on that site, if it makes you feel any better. But it is embarrassing that the products can't handle Apple's own site!
 
I still use mine. Since the last update I've noticed the battery life is a little shorter. Maybe because I've had it since it came out. I was thinking about getting another one
 
touchipods said:
Just curious if people still use ipod touch 4g. I do and wondering whether iOS 6.1.5 brought some improvements over 6.1.3 firmware. Such as better performance, more free RAM, longer battery life. Also does your touch crash Safari when visiting this site with nothing running in the background and 1 tab open:

http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/

If it does not crash, I may update to 6.1.5 because that means Apple finally fixed the Javascript/Webkit memory leak.
Click to expand...

6.1.4 brought that. Love my 4G.

----------
touchipods said:
I personally find it unacceptable that Safari is so crash prone. Even though touch 4g only has 256mb RAM it should be enough for several reasons.

1. No flash player is available. Flash eats up CPU and RAM.
2. Unlike iPhone less hardware to deal with such as constant 3G/cell connection, also no gps or compass.
3. Apple prides itself in making iOS efficient and not waste resources.
4. Hard disk is flash memory so less taxing compared to traditional hard drives.
5. iOS is a mobile OS not a traditional desktop OS and so less system resources and hardware to deal with.

Funny how Apple was and still is against Flash player but it seems like JavaScript/Webkit has become a huge resource hog. Also it should not crash Safari but rather have checkboxes to load up in RAM heavy sites. I'd rather have some checkboxes but still navigate a website compared to a site crashing and making it not viewable.
Click to expand...

Just to be "that guy", the 4th Gen iPod has 248Mb.
 
Still use iPod touch 4th Gen for inhouse music. It has more memory the my 5th gen so they both coexists. In addition I use it as "legacy" development device for testing smaller screen and iOS 6.
 
Still using mine, purchased in 2011, just upgraded to 6.1.5.

Seems to run a bit faster, battery life seems about the same. Safari crashes regularly, including on the Apple Store site. Crash logs indicate "low memory" as the issue.

Downloaded the Apple Store App, works much better, at least it does not crash - LOL.

Love this little device, carry it everywhere, but am tempted by the iPad Mini Retina. Hearing about some issues on OS 7 as well, however.
 
When my iPod touch 4th was running 6.1.4, I felt my iPod is unusable as it always crash and can't even watch YouTube!
Now it's running 6.1.5, it still doesn't improve anything. To me, it's just an iPod to play music cause it doesn't run any application smoothly!
 
The story of the iPod 4G

Still using it sometimes. Have had the iPod 4G 32GB since January 2011.
Also have nearly all the SHSHs (downgrading) backed up. That was a good thing to do.
Initially, when it ran iOS 4 (4.2.1, 4.3.x), it was blazing fast and i thought it would last atleast 5 years (yes thats ridiculous now but i was very optimistic back then) .
When iOS 5 came out it became incredibly slow. Immediately downgraded back to 4.3.3 and jailbroke it until more and more apps required 5.x.
Then updated to 5.1.1 and it worked better.

But when iOS 6 came out it was again slow as hell. I tried some minor iOS updates and jailbroke it on 6.1. It didn't help and the jailbreak slowed it down even more.
Later updated it to 6.1.3 and 6.1.5 and it was still very slow and crash prone.
BUT, 2 weeks ago I once again downgraded it back to 4.3.3 and it feels so much faster and snappier.
But the descision now is: Have 4.3.x and a fast iPod, but a lot of apps incompatible? Or have iOS 6.x and a lot of apps working, but a very slow iPod?
I think i'll stick with iOS 4, since iOS 7 isn't available so even on iOS 6 there will be apps that won't work.
 
headsh0t95 said:
Still using it sometimes. Have had the iPod 4G 32GB since January 2011.
Also have nearly all the SHSHs (downgrading) backed up. That was a good thing to do.
Initially, when it ran iOS 4 (4.2.1, 4.3.x), it was blazing fast and i thought it would last atleast 5 years (yes thats ridiculous now but i was very optimistic back then) .
When iOS 5 came out it became incredibly slow. Immediately downgraded back to 4.3.3 and jailbroke it until more and more apps required 5.x.
Then updated to 5.1.1 and it worked better.

But when iOS 6 came out it was again slow as hell. I tried some minor iOS updates and jailbroke it on 6.1. It didn't help and the jailbreak slowed it down even more.
Later updated it to 6.1.3 and 6.1.5 and it was still very slow and crash prone.
BUT, 2 weeks ago I once again downgraded it back to 4.3.3 and it feels so much faster and snappier.
But the descision now is: Have 4.3.x and a fast iPod, but a lot of apps incompatible? Or have iOS 6.x and a lot of apps working, but a very slow iPod?
I think i'll stick with iOS 4, since iOS 7 isn't available so even on iOS 6 there will be apps that won't work.
Click to expand...

This is a very interesting post. My touch 4g (32 GB) came with iOS 5.1 and it was incredibly fast and smooth with no crashing at all. When i updated OTA to 5.1.1 is when I first got a crash in Safari and some other apps. iOS 5.1 seems to be the best iOS 5 firmware for the 4g.

Although 5.1.1 may be better in battery life (I changed one setting which was a known battery drain)- never tried on 5.1 so not sure.

If you have iOS 5.1 SHSH blobs saved, set up as new and run that firmware. The performance is smooth, UI animations are fluid and apps do not crash (especially Safari), and battery life should be decent.

I would not stay on any iOS 4 firmware for the touch 4g. Mainly because of app compatibility. Updating to iOS 6 will allow for more compatible apps but with low free RAM, they will not run well and crash. iOS 5.1 will support a good amount of apps and the performance is great. It is the best case scenario for the touch 4g in terms of performance and app selection. Also iOS 5 has good features over iOS 4 such as iMessage, iCloud, notification center.

I'm still on iOS 5.1.1 and never updated to iOS 6 because I was concerned with low free RAM, battery life and did not like the changes Apple made (such as new music layout, iTunes/App Store layout) Also, iOS 6 really did not bring much to the touch 4g anyways.

Can you first try the firmware you are on now and go to Apple's website and see if it crashes? Then try on 5.1 and see if it crashes:

http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/

I believe 5.1 will not crash. I wish I had saved SHSH blobs for 5.1 but I thought updating to 5.1.1 would be fine and not cause crashes to apps (mainly Safari).
 
I will try it, but my iPod might be dead :(
Battery was getting worse and worse. Could fluctuate from 70% to 20% and back up to ~65%.
Now its battery is completely empty and it is continously switching between: Battery with lightning bolt -> dark brightness Apple logo -> high brightness Apple logo -> shuts of before being booted due to battery low -> battery with lightning bolt and again the same. I will try using my iPad charger to see if it just powers on.

EDIT: iPad charger worked :) the iPod is now powered on and I will test the site.
I learnt that i should NEVER let the battery run down completely anymore - it might be the very last time it booted from this state. And it turns out that the charger of an iPad gives way more power than a laptop.

EDIT 2: YAY :) the iPhone 5S site you mentioned loaded without crashing (iOS 4). I could even scroll it all the way down to the bottom. Sometimes the loading of all the images was slow with checkerboards but it dit NOT crash on iOS 4.3.3.
 
Last edited:
If it makes you feel any better I tried the apple site on my iPad Air and it crashed immediately so I didn't bother trying it on my iPod 4g.

I think the power ratings on the chargers are:

iPad Air 12 watts
Other iPads 10 watts
iPod touch 5 watts

According to apple they're all safe to use for charging an iPod.
 
kfury77 said:
Just installed 6.1.5 on my iPod touch 4th gen and yes, it crashes when visiting http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/features/. :-( That's pretty bad that it crashes on Apples own website.

The changelog did state that 6.1.5 only fixes the Facetime issue and does not include any other changes (unlike the 7.0.4 update which stated it includes Bug fixes and improvements)
Click to expand...

That link crashes on my iPod touch 4g with iOS 5.1.1 as well
 
I use my refurbished 8Gb iPod touch 4th gen primarily as a universal remote using the L5 adapter. With Home sharing turned on, it is also a very capable music player with access to my entire library.

I placed all the apps residing on my iPhone on the iPod as well, so I can use it as a backup device to access my email, calendar and notes, surf the web, control my iTunes via Remote, take pictures and video and even read ibooks.

Recently I upgraded to 6.1.5 which cured the infrequent crashes of the L5 program.

I don't have any issues with Safari or any other program crashing.

To sum it up, I am extremely happy with it and I expect to use it for many years as a universal remote to eliminate a multitude of remotes from my coffee table.:)
 

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I still have my iPod Touch 4th gen. I use it for my bedside internet and music plus a few games (Angry Birdies.) It is slow and crashes a lot. Apple should at least fix this situation before abandoning any support (Apple are you listening.)

Other wise I use my iPad mini.
 
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