Class Action Lawsuit Accuses Apple of Crippling iPhone 4s With iOS 9 Update

[newlifer]

"go buy android" is not the answer!!!! we paid twice the price of android, I expect from apple a lifespan of 6 to 7 years at least or else they have to forget my precious money

 

[apolloa]

My issue is completely around the claim that Apple intentionally does this. I have no doubt that there are software engineers at Apple working their *** off trying to make the software perform better older devices. That was specifically a feature that Craig Federighi mention at WWDC. Same thing with reducing the OTA file size and things like app thinning to take up less space on devices. People here can thank Tim Cook is the biggest crock in the world but there are plenty of decent hard working engineers at Apple that aren't out to screw people and provide them a horrible user experience.

That is true, unfortunately they are lead by the current leadership team....
Personally I think the worst thing to happen to iOS was when they put Ive in charge of it, who promptly put the marketing team to work designing the look of iOS7 and beyond, not the app developers who made it all work:

First of all, many of the new icons were primarily designed by members of Apple’s marketing and communications department, not the app design teams. From what we’ve heard, SVP of Design Jony Ive (also now Apple’s head of Human Interaction) brought the print and web marketing design team in to set the look and color palette of the stock app icons. They then handed those off to the app design teams who did their own work on the ‘interiors’, with those palettes as a guide.

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/1...arketing-team-in-charge-of-ios-7-icon-design/

It was the change of look and feel of iOS7 that made me go to Android. Although I have now come back.

 

[B4U]

What a joke. As if Craig Federighi tells his engineers to insert code that will intentionally slow down older devices. People sue for anything and everything these days. Only in America.



You're not forced to upgrade. Up until last October my sister was using an iPhone 5 with iOS 6. Her iPad 2 is still running iOS 6. I can't believe for one second that iOS 9 runs worse on the 4S than iOS 8 did so how far would you let people revert back?

Yeah, they did not force you to update per se.
Would you care to explain what the heck is that damn pop-up I received on the iPad Air running iOS 9.1 every single freaking day to remind me about installing the forced download iOS 9.2?

 

[B4U]

Nobody forced you to move to iOS 7.

Except, when you want to recover the storage space that is hogging by the forced download of iOS7!

 

[SesameWasher]

And another thing it's different devices suppose to act differently somehow, like my battery life drained horribly even in iOS 9.2 but I got 9.2.1 beta now and certainly didn't have that issue anymore. However, the majority of people said 9.2 improves their battery life.
Someone have the same issues with me?

 

[B4U]

Its really not that expensive at all to move to a new phone. Normally you can sell your old phone so if you upgrade lets say every 2 years your looking at $500 every two years. If you finance it with your carrier its ~$25 a month. Pretty low cost for such a advanced and high usage device IMO.

Enlighten me, why shall we incur such expense?

 

[TechFann]

Can non-business customers who upgrade to Windows 10 downgrade to Windows 7?

I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic or not but yes if you do not like Windows 10, Microsoft gives you a month to downgrade back to Windows 7 (or Windows 8.1 if that's what you had before).

 

[MaSx]

Okay, this lawsuit maybe pointless but the idea of NEVER being able to revert back to old iOS or version of your choice is pretty shady of Apple (Please don't give me jailbreak crap options). The choice should be of USERS not FORCED.

If I want to just restore to factory and/or wipe it clean, why must I be subjugated to update to latest version? I should be able to choose whatever iOS version is available for my phone. This is one thing, I hate the most about Apple.

 

[duffman9000]

What is with the people defending Apple releasing updates for older devices that make them run worse?

Apple is the one who built the device. They are the ones coding these updates to run on their older devices. If the update comes out running poorly that is 100% on Apple. It's not unreasonable to expect Apple to not make your device run poorly with new updates. If they can't make new features run well on older devices, don't put that feature in the update.

I agree 100%. Apple should be honest and say the update will make older phones run worse. But to state that it's a performance improvement is just ridiculous. I don't understand how any one here can that defend this crap.

I say this having experienced a 3GS running iOS 4 (shudder).

 

[apolloa]

How about Apple does not force download any updates, period, and the message telling you to update disappears after 2 weeks.
Does that sound bad? They can stuff their gloating of bar charts of updated devices at their keynotes then.

 

[TechFann]

Apple should allow users to download and install whatever iOS they want. I don't see this as a big problem for Apple.

Apple doesn't want fragmentation within their ecosystem. That and the older software would probably be more vulnerable to bugs or hacks, etc. which they don't want either.

 

[toph2toast]

Nobody forced you to move to iOS 7.

This argument always annoyed me. How is a user supposed to know how well the operating system performs on their device unless they upgrade?

 

[MaSx]

Welcome to software release cycles and obsolescence. People get old and slow down too, what's the difference?

The fact that you can't distinguish the difference in itself is ironic. People don;'t have a choice with that (if there was a way, I am sure we'd be using it by now) but Apple has ability to do that and allow users to pick which version they want to downgrade/upgrade to but they're not. And please do not give me bs about if you don't like it their way, just leave and go to Android (erm...iPhone 6 Plus anyone?)

 

[samcraig]

What a joke. As if Craig Federighi tells his engineers to insert code that will intentionally slow down older devices. People sue for anything and everything these days. Only in America.

You're not forced to upgrade. Up until last October my sister was using an iPhone 5 with iOS 6. Her iPad 2 is still running iOS 6. I can't believe for one second that iOS 9 runs worse on the 4S than iOS 8 did so how far would you let people revert back?

Can non-business customers who upgrade to Windows 10 downgrade to Windows 7?

Are they suing to be able to revert back to a previous OS or arw they suing because they believe Apple intentionally make the software perform worse on older devices to get you to buy a new device? If it's the latter, what's next, is someone going to sue because the 6 Plus only had 1GB RAM?

For anyone that thinks Apple intentionally does these things....do they not realize a poor user experience will make someone less likely to purchase Apple products in the future?

The issue isn't about intention. It's about whether or not there's any deception/misrepresentation. It's stated in the article that there was no indication to older device users that this version of the OS would slow down their devices. In fact, the opposite was true - all the "marketing" stated performance improvements.

There is some merit to that. Not that I think the plaintiffs have a case or a chance of winning.

 

[TechFann]

I can't believe people are suing over having a slow phone. What were people expecting when they updated a phone from 2011 with only 512 MB of RAM and an 800 MHz processor to an OS built for a modern device? Of course it's going to be slow. The fact that it still even gets updates still is amazing. I'm sure an Android user would love 4 years of support compared to 18 months that they get now.

 

[newlifer]

an iphone 4s running ios6 today is considered crippled. its fast but not secure. also you have to forget the app store, FaceTime etc. safari will crash constantly

 

[samcraig]

Apple doesn't want fragmentation within their ecosystem. That and the older software would probably be more vulnerable to bugs or hacks, etc. which they don't want either.

Too late. Apple already has a fragmentation within their ecosystem.

 

[MaSx]

Lol. Consumers; your greatest asset and worst enemy.

You morons understand the main reason why they don't sign older versions of iOS, right? Security.

"but but, I don't care! They should just let me do it!! i'll take the risks!!"

Sure, you will be the general population won't. What comes next of that security vulnerability in iOS 6 that exposed private information on your phone? Another fu[c]king lawsuit and government intervention. The personal risk is of no interest to Apple; its the repercussions - public outcry, fines and government intervention.

Privacy and security is paramount with technology and today. See how pointless this fu[c]king lawsuit is? Imagine if Apple allowed older, un-patched versions of iOS to be put on devices. The moment some security vulnerability is found, a lawsuit will be filed for negligence of supporting an older version of iOS and a government inquiry will be made.

I swear, it's like people haven't come to realization of the world we live in and the simple fact we've designed it.

Unfortunately, the only MORON here is you. What about OS X, Windows, Android.

 

[EdT]

The reason I left the Android world was because a little less than 1 year into my 2 year contract I was told my phone COULD NOT be updated to the current Android OS. I did not buy the phone near the end of its product run, but about 3 months after the phones initial release. I haven't kept up with developments with Android phones and OS's, so maybe they also can now update to a current OS 3 plus years after release. But I don't think so. The only point I might concede is that it would be nice to be able to roll an iPhone back to an earlier, currently unavailable OS. But then some people would complain about how a new app won't work on their old version X iPhone. Serious question, if you have a 3 or 4 year old Android phone do you still have an option to upgrade to a current OS? Can you roll it back?

 

[Paradoxally]

"go buy android" is not the answer!!!! we paid twice the price of android, I expect from apple a lifespan of 6 to 7 years at least or else they have to forget my precious money

7 years lifespan for an iPhone? That is delusional to say the least. A smartphone is not a Mac, after 3-4 years there is a significant dropoff in performance if you keep upgrading it every year.

----

Also, to all those complaining their 4S is slow - downgrade it to iOS 6. 6.1.3 is still being signed! Also works for iPad 2, but only these 2 devices, unfortunately.

 

[RyanG]

Unfortunately, the only MORON here is you. What about OS X, Windows, Android.

First off, OS X and Windows are completely different platforms. Android? They don't provide security updates for a 3+ year old OS. Even if so, in terms of legality, it's open source.

I'm actually not sure how to respond given the fact I have no idea as to what your point is.

 

[SesameWasher]

Unfortunately, the only MORON here is you. What about OS X, Windows, Android.

It's iOS really that bad?

 

[darcyf]

What a joke. As if Craig Federighi tells his engineers to insert code that will intentionally slow down older devices. People sue for anything and everything these days. Only in America.



You're not forced to upgrade. Up until last October my sister was using an iPhone 5 with iOS 6. Her iPad 2 is still running iOS 6. I can't believe for one second that iOS 9 runs worse on the 4S than iOS 8 did so how far would you let people revert back?

You not believing it is not the same thing as it being untrue.

I had an iPhone 4 that was crippled when I updated to iOS 6. I basically got used to living with the fact that tapping a button or opening an app meant waiting 5-10 seconds for a response. Every time. Despite several times restoring to factory settings and not restoring the backup to get the most cleanest possible state to operate in.

And no, no one forced me to update to iOS 6. But no one told me it would be like that, and no one gave me the option to go back.

If either one of those two conditions had been met, Apple would be in the clear. But if you don't warn your customers that updating will make their device run significantly slower, or if you don't give them a way of reverting back to the previous version, then you are doing your customers a serious disservice.

And if you think they don't know what's going on then I feel sorry for you.

 

[TechFann]

Serious question, if you have a 3 or 4 year old Android phone do you still have an option to upgrade to a current OS? Can you roll it back?

The last time I looked, and this is followed by Google and the nexus program, is 18-24 months of support for a phone, which means after that date no more updates for the phone from the carrier or phone manufacturers.

 

[Paradoxally]

I had an iPhone 4 that was crippled when I updated to iOS 6. I basically got used to living with the fact that tapping a button or opening an app meant waiting 5-10 seconds for a response. Every time. Despite several times restoring to factory settings and not restoring the backup to get the most cleanest possible state to operate in.

Can confirm, had an iPod 4G on iOS 6, total nightmare to use. Fortunately, I was able to downgrade it to iOS 4.3.3 because it had a bootrom exploit (and the 4 also has this - limera1n).