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Planned obsolescence, what a wonderful concept folks. Just wonderful.
I highly doubt that anybody is still using these versions of software, if there are any, it is a very very small minority. Only less than 8% of active iPhones are running iOS 14 to put this in perspective.
 
Mac sales are down.......let's see.....how can we boost them? Yes! Kick people off older ones by force.

They choose to do this not because of technical reasons but because of sales reasons. They have more than enough employees to validate and test back a few versions. And I don't buy the API bull. They can do whatever they want as they own it. Tim & Co want everyone on M(X) now and off Intel. Doing this will bump the sales up or at least take some Intel Macs out of the game.

Keep the $$$$ moving.
Except…they still support later versions of all of these OSes, so it doesn’t make anybody’s device “obsolete” unless for some crazy reason they’re not willing to update to the latest version of those OSes! It literally makes zero impact on anybody. And honestly, if somebody’s still running an OS from 2017, I think it’s time to upgrade anyways.
 
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You're wrong!

iPhone 6 support was dropped in iOS 14, 6 years after launch.
iPhone 6s support was dropped in iOS 16, 7 years after launch.

Try again ...

And you are wrong as you didn't read my comment or the reply I was replying to.
 
For anyone who’s trying to argue Apple’s doing this to push people to buy new Macs, let’s just step back and look at this logically. For Macs who’s last available OS update was macOS 10.3, you’re looking at Macs that are from 2009 and 2010. That means that those computers are now 13-14 years old! Anyone still running that hardware is a very very small percentage, and aside from that, only earlier versions of 10.13 are losing support, older versions are still supported! So even if you have hardware that’s that old, as long as it’s running the newest update available for it, then this doesn’t affect you at all! This clearly wouldn’t make any significant dent in the number of people using older “Intel” Macs to try to get them to buy M-series Macs. Especially since they’re still supporting later versions of 10.13, so just update.
 
Name one Apple device that has been cutoff from OS support after 5 years. I'll wait.

Well the 6 was released in September 2014 and was still receiving software updated as of January 2023, so that's over 8 years. The 6S was released in September 2015 and last received a software update a little over a week ago, so that's over 7 years. Care to try again?

You stated 'After 5 years'. I gave you devices that stopped getting updates after 5 years. You took my OP out of context, I said it looks like they are moving to a 5 year time span, you jumped down my throat and took that to mean they are already cutting off devices at 5 years.
But my reply was 100% correct still as those devices stopped getting updates 'after 5 years'.
 
You stated 'After 5 years'. I gave you devices that stopped getting updates after 5 years. You took my OP out of context, I said it looks like they are moving to a 5 year time span, you jumped down my throat and took that to mean they are already cutting off devices at 5 years.
But my reply was 100% correct still as those devices stopped getting updates 'after 5 years'.
Your original post says "Apple seems to be moving to a 5 year time limit on OS support for all its devices". That would suggest that you think Apple is limiting OS support to 5 years. It sounds like you actually meant a 5 year minimum?
 
Apple did kinda screw over the people who bought the original iPad. They skimped on RAM and so it never got updated after iOS 5. The iPhone 4, which also used the A4, but with more RAM, was supported through iOS 9. That's just OS updates though. Services are supported on devices for much longer.
 
Except…they still support later versions of all of these OSes, so it doesn’t make anybody’s device “obsolete” unless for some crazy reason they’re not willing to update to the latest version of those OSes! It literally makes zero impact on anybody. And honestly, if somebody’s still running an OS from 2017, I think it’s time to upgrade anyways.
If someone wants to use a $3000+ Mac from 2017…..who are you to judge them and decide it’s time to upgrade. You also assume everyone can just update. There is software out there that has incompatibility between certain versions. Just making a blanket Apple apologists statement doesn’t address the people that are impacted by stuff like this. Just because you are rich and can buy a new Mac often doesn’t mean everyone can. Some people can only afford a Mac from 2017.
 
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If someone wants to use a $3000+ Mac from 2017…..who are you to judge them and decide it’s time to upgrade. You also assume everyone can just update. There is software out there that has incompatibility between certain versions. Just making a blanket Apple apologists statement doesn’t address the people that are impacted by stuff like this. Just because you are rich and can buy a new Mac often doesn’t mean everyone can. Some people can only afford a Mac from 2017.
You are missing the point. They can keep their Mac from 2017 and stay on High Sierra, they just need to update to the latest version of High Sierra. I don't think there is any software out there that will run on 10.13.3, but not 10.13.6. This isn't some forced upgrade attempt, it's obvious that Apple is trying to close a serious potential security issue.
 
Read. The. Article.

MacOS 10.13 is fine, as long as you're updated past 10.13.3. Since point updates never drop hardware support, there's no reason for you not to update to 10.13.6 (if you haven't already).
Help me find my error.

Users will not be able to access any Apple services except for iCloud on these software versions:

  • iOS 11 through iOS 11.2.6
  • macOS 10.13 through macOS 10.13.3
  • watchOS 4 through watchOS 4.2.3
  • tvOS 11 through tvOS 11.2.6
The way I read that is that my imac that runs 10.13.3 will not be able to access any Apple services except for iCloud. Is that incorrect?
 
It's such a small subset of minor versions! First release to some later but not final builds.

A device owner can run Software Update and stay on the same major version

This is not: "Mean Apple is forcing me to upgrade AGAIN!!!¡! 😭😭"
This is: "Apple just wants to me to be running the latest release of my 6 year old OS"

Totally not mean at all all these OSes came out in 2017

iOS 11 through iOS 11.2.6 - latest 11.4.1
macOS 10.13 through macOS 10.13.3 - latest 10.13.6
watchOS 4 through watchOS 4.2.3 - latest 4.3.2
tvOS 11 through tvOS 11.2.6 - 11.4.1
 
The way I read that is that my imac that runs 10.13.3 will not be able to access any Apple services except for iCloud. Is that incorrect?
You can update your Mac to 10.13.6 and you'll still have access to these services. This change does not remove OS support for any Apple hardware.
 
Makes sense. These OS versions probably use very old API endpoints or possibly rely on certain restrictions / expectations that have since changed on newer OS versions. Best to set a cut off for supporting them since it's infeasible to test back so many versions and removing them would reduce clutter.
More likely, it’s just another ploy to get people to buy a new Apple device. No reason at all for them to cut the services off. They could always push out a small update with the new API so all of these devices to access the services, but no Apple doesn’t wanna do that. It wants you to buy new devices every year whether you need it or not and definitely every two years, it’s never gonna do anything to make your devices work better it’s just gonna do everything it can to get more money out of your wallet, that’s the whole point of Apple, it’s a moneymaking machine it’s not a service provider it’s not a phone maker it’s not Laptop maker it doesn’t supply computers it’s a money machine that just happens to trade in electronics, not convinced? Well, just look where the devices are made, they made in China and places like that they’re not made in their own factory they’re not made by their own employees, like I said Apple is a moneymaking machine that happens to trade in electronics.
 
Help me find my error.

Users will not be able to access any Apple services except for iCloud on these software versions:

  • iOS 11 through iOS 11.2.6
  • macOS 10.13 through macOS 10.13.3
  • watchOS 4 through watchOS 4.2.3
  • tvOS 11 through tvOS 11.2.6
The way I read that is that my imac that runs 10.13.3 will not be able to access any Apple services except for iCloud. Is that incorrect?
Yes, but can you explain to us why you need to be running 10.13.3 and can't update to 10.13.6?
 
More likely, it’s just another ploy to get people to buy a new Apple device. No reason at all for them to cut the services off. They could always push out a small update with the new API so all of these devices to access the services, but no Apple doesn’t wanna do that. It wants you to buy new devices every year whether you need it or not and definitely every two years, it’s never gonna do anything to make your devices work better it’s just gonna do everything it can to get more money out of your wallet, that’s the whole point of Apple, it’s a moneymaking machine it’s not a service provider it’s not a phone maker it’s not Laptop maker it doesn’t supply computers it’s a money machine that just happens to trade in electronics, not convinced? Well, just look where the devices are made, they made in China and places like that they’re not made in their own factory they’re not made by their own employees, like I said Apple is a moneymaking machine that happens to trade in electronics.
Yes, the dozens of people that are still running this very narrow range of software updates from late 2017 to early 2018, all of whom can update to a newer stable release for free will make a huge impact to Apple's bottom line if they instead are "forced" to buy a new device :rolleyes:
 
Apple did kinda screw over the people who bought the original iPad. They skimped on RAM and so it never got updated after iOS 5. The iPhone 4, which also used the A4, but with more RAM, was supported through iOS 9. That's just OS updates though. Services are supported on devices for much longer.
Yeah never buy a first gen Apple device. They always tend to get the shaft when it comes to software support. The 1st gen iPad was worse than usual. One note though, the iPhone 4 was only supported through iOS 7. It was the 4S with the A5 that was supported through to iOS 9.
 
If someone wants to use a $3000+ Mac from 2017…..who are you to judge them and decide it’s time to upgrade. You also assume everyone can just update. There is software out there that has incompatibility between certain versions. Just making a blanket Apple apologists statement doesn’t address the people that are impacted by stuff like this. Just because you are rich and can buy a new Mac often doesn’t mean everyone can. Some people can only afford a Mac from 2017.
A. For starters, I am far from rich, my MacBook is from 2012, and B. You can update to 10.13.6 which is still supported. Most third party softwares don’t cut off support mid update cycle for a version of MacOS. I highly doubt that there’s a piece of software out there that supports 10.13.3, but doesn’t support 10.13.4 thru 10.13.6, that wouldn’t make any sense whatsoever, since the difference in those updates are generally security patches and other things that don’t really effect third party software. If you have a computer that runs 10.13.3, just update to 10.13.6, and your computer will still have complete support.
 
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Help me find my error.

Users will not be able to access any Apple services except for iCloud on these software versions:

  • iOS 11 through iOS 11.2.6
  • macOS 10.13 through macOS 10.13.3
  • watchOS 4 through watchOS 4.2.3
  • tvOS 11 through tvOS 11.2.6
The way I read that is that my imac that runs 10.13.3 will not be able to access any Apple services except for iCloud. Is that incorrect?
You just have to update to 10.13.6! If your computer supports 10.13-10.13.3, it definitely supports 10.13.6 then.
 
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More likely, it’s just another ploy to get people to buy a new Apple device. No reason at all for them to cut the services off. They could always push out a small update with the new API so all of these devices to access the services, but no Apple doesn’t wanna do that. It wants you to buy new devices every year whether you need it or not and definitely every two years, it’s never gonna do anything to make your devices work better it’s just gonna do everything it can to get more money out of your wallet, that’s the whole point of Apple, it’s a moneymaking machine it’s not a service provider it’s not a phone maker it’s not Laptop maker it doesn’t supply computers it’s a money machine that just happens to trade in electronics, not convinced? Well, just look where the devices are made, they made in China and places like that they’re not made in their own factory they’re not made by their own employees, like I said Apple is a moneymaking machine that happens to trade in electronics.
But they did, 10.13.4 thru 10.13.6 all support all of the services, it’s only 10.13 thru 10.13.3 that don’t support them. Just update to 10.13.4 or newer. And if your hardware supports 10.13.3, it definitely supports 10.13.6, so no, Apple isn’t making any hardware obsolete here.
 
Apple needs to release a standalone update for Safari for all these older systems, TLS is broken on older iOS versions and style sheets are all messed up or refuse to load even in iOS 12.
That’s interesting, if that’s the case. For those who don’t know, TLS is Transport Layer Security which is a modern means of encrypting data between devices and a successor to SSL. When you see a padlock in your browser address bar, you are using TLS to communicate with a server. When your device initiates a TLS connection with a server, both endpoints first of all negotiate to find the latest TLS version that both can understand.

TLS is currently at version 1.3. TLS gets compromised by hackers from time to time, so it’s best to use the latest version where possible. This is true both for servers and the devices connected to them. When I was developing software services for a living, my services got reviewed every few months and I was constantly nagged by penetration testers to disable the options that would negotiate older versions of TLS. Some versions of TLS are so badly compromised that it’s a real risk to keep them online. When we did turn off TLS 1.1 compatibility we found that lots of people (we had huge numbers of users) were frozen out because they were using old browsers incapable of negotiating TLS 1.2.
 
And you are wrong as you didn't read my comment or the reply I was replying to.
You were answering to this:

"Name one Apple device that has been cutoff from OS support after 5 years. I'll wait."

And mentioned iPhone 6 and 6s and that's wrong. They were dropped after 6 and 7 years respectively.
 
Sad to hear this. Only option will be to update the device or to upgrade to a new one.
If you’re running 10.13, just update to 10.13.4 thru 10.13.6 and you’ll still be supported. No need to upgrade your device if you don’t want to. These are minor bug fix updates that Apple released throughout the year, not major version changes, so you can even continue to run it on High Sierra (10.13) no problem. I hope that helps.
 
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