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

TechFann said:
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.
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No, I am sure Android users would prefer updates that not cripple their devices. And you know what? If my 300 dollar phone won't receive any update and I want to get the update I will have choice: buy a new 300 dollars or lower phone or flash ROM. I can buy 2 relative high end Android phone for 1 iPhone 6S... Go figure...
 
EdT said:
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?
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That's the big benefit of the iPhone is you are guaranteed OS updates ... at least on the devices Apple allows the updates on. The problem is how the OS behaves on older devices ... which is almost always garbage.

As far as Android goes ... updates are usually up to the carrier ... unless you are on a Nexus device in which case you get immediate updates directly from Google. But even Google sometimes chooses to stop supporting certain devices ... usually ones that are too slow to support newer Android versions, though. But at least on Android you can install the latest [custom] OS if you are rooted. As long as you are on a flagship phone and not some cheap aftermarket garbage, you are usually good for quite a few years. I did that with my first Android phone ... I installed the latest Cyanogen Mod long past the phone's support date until the phone basically died from overuse. Then I bought my first iPhone. I'm now finally back with Android again and I'm pretty happy with it (had the 6S recently). I think both phones are great, but they have their pros and cons.
 
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Paradoxally said:
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.
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then the smartphone is too expensive for me if I have to buy a new one every two years mate! I'm switching back to a simple old phone with unlimited lifespan & battery lasting for one week ;-)
 
SesameWasher said:
It's iOS really that bad?
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iOS is great and I'd not have it any other way but I detest the idea of being forced to update to latest version if say I just want to wipe it clean and let someone else use it or just because I want to clear the clutter.
 
TechFann said:
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.
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But it's a little more complicated than that. Because they say they won't be - but that's not definitive. It's that "warning" that this is their official policy.

Further - unlike iOS - a large part of Android is Google Play Services and other core apps - these all get updated regularly and devices get updates for definitely longer than 18-24 months. So while whole new OS versions are definitely "important" - it matters less on Android (I think) since so many core services are updated frequently.
 
newlifer said:
then the smartphone is too expensive for me if I have to buy a new one every two years mate! I'm switching back to a simple old phone with unlimited lifespan & battery lasting for one week ;-)
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You don't have to buy a new one every two years. Just don't update it past its original software or +1 major version after that if you don't want a drop-off in performance. That's it, really. You sacrifice updates for performance, but it's not like iOS 9.2 is significantly different from iOS 8.4, aside from making things slower.
 
LovingTeddy said:
Not with my 4 years old PC, still runs as smooth as it was even with Windows 10. Not with my 2011 Mac Mini with Windows 10. Not with my Nexus 5 with Android marshmallow. I can provide more if you like
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On the other hand, my 2009 iMac was running perfectly fine with Snow Leopard until I got Yosemite where it is slow as ....(insert expletive here)
 
LovingTeddy said:
No, I am sure Android users would prefer updates that not cripple their devices. And you know what? If my 300 dollar phone won't receive any update and I want to get the update I will have choice: buy a new 300 dollars or lower phone or flash ROM. I can buy 2 relative high end Android phone for 1 iPhone 6S... Go figure...
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All I'm saying is the phone is old. I was surprised that the 4s was even getting the update to iOS 9. I know of one person that still has a 4s and that's it. Everyone has a 5s or newer that I know that own iPhones.
 
Paradoxally said:
But with your Mac, you can downgrade right now to SL again and have it working like new. With an iPhone, you can't, which is the thing I dislike most about Apple.
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Yeah, I can...but fixing the iTunes library is a P.I.T.A.
Not to mention that the 6s is incompatible with the iTunes on SL...
 
Ahh update support for older devices. Often referred to as the iPhone's greatest strength and also worst weakness. I do think, though, that Apple should allow their iOS devices to go back at least one major version.
 
Rogifan said:
So let's see...Apple allows downgrades or just stops updating older devices, then you'll get people suing claiming Apple is intentionally withholding features in order to get you to upgrade to a new device. If you think everything is some grand conspiracy then there's nothing Apple can do that you wouldn't be cynical about.
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Not true.
If people actually complain about a new feature that was NOT originally featured on their older devices, the case is against them.
 
Paradoxally said:
But with your Mac, you can downgrade right now to SL again and have it working like new. With an iPhone, you can't, which is the thing I dislike most about Apple.
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Can't you simply do a full backup of your phone on your Mac before you upgrade iOS, and then revert back to it if the upgrade doesn't work as expected?
 
samcraig said:
But it's a little more complicated than that. Because they say they won't be - but that's not definitive. It's that "warning" that this is their official policy.

Further - unlike iOS - a large part of Android is Google Play Services and other core apps - these all get updated regularly and devices get updates for definitely longer than 18-24 months. So while whole new OS versions are definitely "important" - it matters less on Android (I think) since so many core services are updated frequently.
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I agree with that, most of Google's Core apps are decoupled from the OS but a lot of new features that are introduced still rely on an OS update and the only way to get that if you are out of the time frame is to flash it into your device.
 
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RyanG said:
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.
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I was referring to your quick to judge others about privacy and security is the reason for all of this. As if OS X and Windows doesn't have any of those...and people still have the say in the end regardless of what platform it may be. If Apple wants to patch those stuff they could find a way but they'd rather cripple your phone with crapware than give you another option. I mean look at how shady they are when it comes to update, automatically downloads the update without your consent and you have no say in whether or not you want them to. Even after deleting the update, they will somehow redownload it again at some point and eat up your space without giving a damn.

Let's be real, Apple is all about the dough, they want to end the cycle of a phone as soon as the new Phone is released that way all of the (most Pro-Apple-Shareholders user here) can be pleased with it. I do not even want to get into the debate about LARGER iPhone, 2GB RAM, yada yada. Without voice of consumers we would not have many things that we do now.
 
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I've been an active iOS developer selling apps since iOS 2. iOS 9 takes the cake for "Worst update Ever". Most of the bugs I reported on the developer previews still have not been fixed.
Consumers should never forget that Apple is a hardware company. But now they're starting to slide back to the ancient era mindset (30+ years ago) when an Operating System was created solely for a piece of hardware (even general purpose computers) - Think TRS 80.
iOS 9 should have been called iOS for iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
iOS 9.1 should have been called iOS for iPad Pro.
And, in the mix they shipped Apple TV, which is basically iOS (open source lib binaries built for iOS would actually link and work in tvOS apps before Xcode 7.1 GM shut that down).
It seems iOS 9.2 is now at a beta quality level (for all devices, especially legacy) - (all the crash bugs I reported at least don't crash on iOS 9.2, but they aren't totally fixed either - functionality is still broken).

I'm renaming iOS 9 to "iOS Nein".

My 4s will remain on 8.4 - forever. It's a test device anyway, but I still like to use it when space is a premium.

In the end, Apple should offer a downgrade option.
 
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Altis said:
What happens when that software ruins your device? Too bad, so sad?

That's a pretty awful precedent to set. At the very least, the only thing Apple would need to do is allow you to revert back to an older version of iOS. That would solve this whole issue for once and for all.
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No it wouldn't solve this. People would complain that Apple isn't servicing the old operating system etc etc... Computers really only have about 3 good years of useful life. After that all bets are off. iPad 2 is like 4 going on 5 years old already.
 
America is nuts... sue this, sue that - why sue for money rather than just asking for Apple to allow 4s users to install a previous version?

next big company to company sue case that comes up just fine both companies extreme amounts of money and tell them to stop wasting everyones time!.

Btw... I'm running for president.
 
TechFann said:
All I'm saying is the phone is old. I was surprised that the 4s was even getting the update to iOS 9. I know of one person that still has a 4s and that's it. Everyone has a 5s or newer that I know that own iPhones.
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It's like almost a promises that they can't really do, but still done it.
How's the iOS9 on iPhone 5/5c/5s?
 
Surprised to see the negative feedback. I think it's a good point to at least bring it up. Apple already does everything they can to cripple new iOS releases feature-wise on older devices. For example, some of the killer new features of iOS 9, such as multi-tasking, were limited to the iPad Air 2 at first. With these kinds of omissions from the OS, in theory, the OS should perform just as smoothly, at the very least, on the older devices if they're supported. There's nothing new on the graphical/effects side, other than their backend switch to Metal, etc., so why iOS 9 would perform any worse than iOS 7 is beyond me.

I agree, it would be unfortunate if this leads to Apple offering less iOS updates for devices, but I'd love to see them put a bigger focus on making performance and optimization a bigger priority when releasing new iOS versions. Lately, it seems that they release these optimizations as minor updates several months after launch. For instance, I started noticing smoother animations on my iPhone 6 Plus on the latest 9.2 iOS release which was just released earlier this month. Why were the animations any worse than iOS 8 to begin with?

Just like with video games, frame rate and load times are some of the last items developers look at, but I think it really needs to be one of the first. It's a big part of the overall experience, and even if you have a perfectly polished product, if there's slowdown or you have to wait an excessive amount of time for something to load, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.
 
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