Updates are not harmful in iOS (and other iot devices), and are usually for the better. (Sure there are those occasional regressions)
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Apple Stops Signing iOS 16.3.1 to Prevent Downgrading
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Feedback at apple.com. Don’t think they’ll change the policy but worth a shot.
You’d be right if updates guaranteed performance and battery life to be as good as they are on a device’s original version of iOS. Always. With no fail. Not a single fluctuation. You prevent downgrades? Okay, then updates should be as good as the original iOS versions. This is never true. In fact, updates always worsen the situation, given enough time.
I will say one thing though: what’s the only positive aspect about all of this? That at least Apple does not force updates in the same way they force them on AirPods, for example. Yes, you can’t restore to the same version and sometimes you are forced to; yes, Apple forced every A9 device on iOS 9 to update thanks to the activation bug (I was affected by this, twice). But barring specific issues like those, you can keep a device on an old iOS version if you like. I wouldn’t have any iOS device if that wasn’t the case. My 9.7-inch iPad Pro was forced by Apple into iOS 12 thanks to that bug, yes, but it remains on iOS 12. Barring any specific weird issue, it should remain there for its entire lifespan. If Apple were to set the “Automatic Updates” to “On”, and grey the button out... well, that would be catastrophic.
There’s are no guarantees in life. There are no guarantees feliapple will be on the face of this earth tomorrow. Perfection in the software industry is a misplaced expectation. However, since th e iPhone X imo, all ios versions run about the same.
We just updated every device to the latest ios release. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
And you know mine. Just two people with a difference of opinion. How could that ever happen?
If we were all the same it would be very boring. Discussions have been both interesting and respectful, and that’s all that matters!And you know mine. Just two people with a difference of opinion. How could that ever happen?
Agreed on every point barring the last one. A perfect solution, like I stated earlier, is to allow downgrading. Funnily enough, perfection is impossible, yet the perfect solution exists.
Do whatever you like with iOS updates, I don’t mind. If and only if you allow people to downgrade. The only reason why Apple’s iOS policy matters at all is because they don’t allow downgrading. Otherwise, people could choose between app compatibility or performance and battery life. A simple choice. What if I am on iOS 12 on my iPhone Xʀ and I need an app that requires iOS 13.4? Then let me update to iOS 13.4. What if I regret it afterwards? Then let me downgrade to iOS 12.2. Oh, but iOS 12.4 has this cool feature I forgot about. Then let me install iOS 12.4. It solves everything. Apple just has to flip a switch.
Like I said: I am always in favour of choice. You like to update? You should be able to. Just like I should be able to go back if I don’t like it. All benefits, no cons.
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this is literally impossible, because system and app requirements grow, while specifications do not.
The iPhone 5, 5C, 5S and 6 all had 1GB of RAM, as did the iPad2, Mini 1 and 2, iPad 3, 4 and Air1.
Modern iPads can have up to 16 GB of RAM, most iPhones released in the past three years have either four or 6 GB.
Obviously, the system is going to take better advantage of the newer hardware, or else there would be no need for new or hardware.
Also, even if you leave a phone on the initial release of an operating system for it, it will still age. The battery will still get worse over time, the phone will still feel slower, because that’s just what happens.
Apple can’t guarantee anything like that, because Apple cannot stop aging.
However, it has been a long time since we’ve had a final version of iOS for a device that has left it in a terrible state.
iOS 10, iOS 12 and iOS 15 all run perfectly fine on the devices They are the last update for.
In my opinion apple doesn’t allow downgrading because they would be responsible for issues that may happen 1) during the downgrade process and 2) as a result of “bad” things happening as a result of the downgrade.
Unlike Microsoft would would probably not be on the hook if a user decides that windows xp would now be their primary operating system.
Three aspects I’d like to mention:
-The first one: okay, degrade them all you like, but like I said, allow downgrades then, at the user’s own peril.
-Secondly: in my experience, this isn’t the case. I have a 7-year-old iPhone 6s running iOS 10. It is flawless. Battery life (on its original battery, 63% health) is almost as good as it was when new (it has seen a half-hour loss: 8 to 8.5 hours of SOT on Wi-Fi when new on iOS 9, to 7.5-8 hours now; 6.5 to 7 hours of LTE when new on iOS 9, 6-6.5 hours now). My nearly four-year-old iPhone Xʀ running iOS 12 is completely flawless.
Original iOS versions are too efficient for the device to degrade. I’ll go further! My eleven! year-old iPod Touch 5G running iOS 6.0 is utter perfection.
Thirdly: While iOS 12 and 15 are far better performance-wise, in terms of battery life they aren’t. I can confidently say that iOS 10 is completely abhorrent on A6 devices. I have an iPhone 5c on iOS 10. Unusable. Keep in mind, however, that I’ve used iOS devices on their original iOS versions from the beginning. My expectations are therefore quite high. An iPhone 5c on iOS 10 is not good.
Spot on.
Astonishing some people whine on about not being able to downgrade when the consequences of doing that could expose them to extremely serious privacy/security issues and attacks.
And if these people were to suffer a privacy/security-related attack, they'd be the first to whine about and blame Apple not taking security seriously. Imagine the reputational damage Apple would suffer as a result.
The good news is there are choices in the mobile phone market. Don't like Apple's approach to keeping your phone secure? Simply purchase a phone from an Apple competitor and find happiness. Easy.
Agreed! Give me a trillion warnings. Void my warranty for all I care. “We are not responsible for any issues that may occur, security-wise or otherwise”, with little colours, in Times New Roman 132, with fireworks on the screen, a giant red warning sign, whatever you like. Make me tap on “I agree Apple isn’t responsible for anything” buttons 300 times. But let me do it.
Like I said, I wouldn’t whine. Give me all of the warnings you like. And no, I like how iOS devices work on their original iOS versions, so why should I buy something else?
There are no perfect solutions here: you guarantee perfect performance and battery life (which is not possible, for reasons that have been stated before), or you allow downgrading. Anything else isn’t good. The current policy is what it is, but it is not good.
Now worries, mate. Simply purchase a phone from an Apple competitor that provides what you want and find happiness. Will you do it?
Why in the world would Apple want to suffer the reputational harm acceding to your demands? Sometimes in life you have to look at the broader picture, beyond what you demand, and understand there are other factors in play that may affect many others.
iOS devices on their original iOS versions provide what I want! I like iOS, otherwise I would’ve switched a long time ago.
Other operating systems’ creators don’t take any criticism for their users choosing to be on older, insecure versions of their operating systems. Why should Apple?
Besides, there are currently millions of devices which aren’t on iOS 16.4 simply because they can’t run it. There are millions of devices which aren’t updated anyway. There aren’t a lot of us who want this, what harm would it bring? Like I said, it’s not like there aren’t millions of “insecure” devices already, anyway. The iPhone 6 and 6s are two of the best-selling smartphones ever. Neither can run iOS 16. The iPhone 6 is stuck on iOS 12. I don’t see many people blaming Apple for security. It just doesn’t hold.
Yeah, iOS 12 got a security update a couple of times, iOS 15 too. They don’t get all of them.
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You know that’s not the way apple rolls. They don’t want negative brand image that would result from allowing users to do things that could result in issues.
Like I said in my previous comment, millions of devices are unsupported anyway, millions more will be soon. It just makes no sense from any point of view.
Eventually support is discontinued anyway. If that’s what Apple thinks, they’re mistaken.
The iPhone 6 is one of Apple’s best-selling devices ever. Why is it insecure, Apple? Why not give it iOS 16? That criticism obviously sounds ridiculous, and it is! I don’t see why a policy like that would bite Apple, and I don’t see why it would be harmful at all.
I don’t see why you would want to? Certain hardware improvements might be required never mind this I should be able to run iOS 16 on a 9 year old phone along with OS optimized sufficiently for ARM involved.There has to be some degree of practicality involved.
Most for consumer hardware and software eventually goes out of support. There’s a difference between going out of support and downgrading to an old out of date operating system.
As I said above it’s two different things between going out of support and downgrading to an out of support operating system.
I’m guessing because after 7 years the hardware isn’t supported. The 1 gig ram just doesn’t support newer operating systems in a way apple would like. Hence the iPhone 6 is out of support.
It’s only my guess as to they don’t want to risk the reputational damage if apple allowed something that could be a problem for users.
99.99999999999999999% of their customers do not know or care. You and others are the outliers. On some level every reader of this forum and website is an outlier. Most people just use the products.
Why is it different? The only way I can think of it being different is for users going way back, so Apple’s pathetic little yearly chart will get a little skewed towards older versions. Then again, I’d be interested in the actual numbers: how many of us would downgrade? I’d probably downgrade three devices:
-My 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which was forced from iOS 9 into iOS 12, back to iOS 10. My iPhone 6s would go through a similar process, but from iOS 13 instead.
-My iPhone 5c, forced into iOS 10 from iOS 9 thanks to a boot loop, back to iOS 9 (not iOS 7, as any version prior to iOS 9.3 does not have Apple Music, which I need).
The rest run the oldest versions they can. How many people like me are there? Not many, not even on enthusiast forums like this one. The numbers would be negligible. Forum members in general aren’t even representative of the real world. I’m not even representative of forum members. We aren’t enough for this to matter, so why not do it? Very quietly flip a switch. Only enthusiasts would notice. Of those enthusiasts, a minuscule portion would downgrade.
Why don’t developers support older iOS versions? Because nobody runs them. Therefore they don’t care. This will be the same scenario.
But it’s insecure, so Apple shouldn’t want anything to run any version other than 16.4. It’s just not coherent.
As far as reputational damage goes, yes, it will obliterate the iPhone 6. Therefore it is okay for Apple not to support it. As far as downgrading goes, older devices already run older versions. Security updates aren’t guaranteed forever, and even though some versions get them, they don’t get all of them. Therefore, they’re insecure, therefore, those updates are irrelevant, therefore, they’re unsupported anyway. It just doesn’t add up.
Trust me, I don’t want to. That’s my whole point. If devices are insecure anyway, allowing downgrades for the minuscule portion of enthusiasts who would actually downgrade is harmless. We are already on older versions regardless of Apple’s policy anyway. Yes, many of us aren’t on the oldest versions we could be. But honestly, does Apple even care about me being on iOS 10.3.3 instead of iOS 12.4.1? What difference does it make for them? It’s the same unsupported version.I don’t see why you would want to? Certain hardware improvements might be required never mind this I should be able to run iOS 16 on a 9 year old phone along with OS optimized sufficiently for ARM involved.There has to be some degree of practicality involved.
The point I'm trying to make is that there's much more at stake and at risk than what you want. You and others may be fine taking on those risks. However, the harm that could potentially result to Apple's brand should there be a major attack on customer's security/privacy/ransomeware/etc is something they'd never compromise on.
Apple has roughly 1 billion active customers. If you and just 9,999 of those customers (0.001%) choose to take on security/privacy/ransomeware/etc risks and end up with their lives being severely ruined/compromised/damaged, resulting in a ton of negative publicity and lawsuits hitting Apple (despite you and others agreeing to accepting the potential consequences), why should Apple be forced to endure that harm to their brand - simply because you're willing to take that risk?
Apple will never take on that reputational risk. Some things are more important than what you're OK with.