iPhone 17 Does Apple install malware to slow your old phone down?

[NUFC2025]

Try out 27 when it launches and report back. You can always downgrade if you love 26 that much.

I won’t be able to downgrade if I do update as I do not have any kind of computer anymore so I will just stay with what works.

 

[FeliApple]

I'm debating on keeping my 17 Pro, but if I do it will be running 27 on day one. 27 is a snow leopard update. There is absolutely no reason not to update, if anything, it would be advisable to stay on 27 instead.

Exactly, just like iOS 12 was a Snow Leopard update and it incurred a relatively severe battery life penalty.

Or how iOS 9 was touted as a “performance-improving update” for older devices instead, it absolutely obliterated them.

Never trust Apple with this.

Only test-worth scenario? Update to 27 on day one. If two days later it has any sort of battery life or performance issue, go back. Before the downgrade window closes.

 

[Royksöpp]

Exactly, just like iOS 12 was a Snow Leopard update and it incurred a relatively severe battery life penalty.

Or how iOS 9 was touted as a “performance-improving update” for older devices instead, it absolutely obliterated them.

Never trust Apple with this.

Only test-worth scenario? Update to 27 on day one. If two days later it has any sort of battery life or performance issue, go back. Before the downgrade window closes.

Yes, I'm familiar with iOS9. I'm not sure what your talking about with 12, but in my experience it corrected a lot of the bugs in 11. I have disliked 27 since launch. I'm running all current devices A17 Pro, M5, M5 Pro, and there is a noticeable difference in performance compared to previous gen chips and devices running Sequoia and iOS 18. I mean, it can't get any worse than 26. I'm looking forward to trying it.

 

[FeliApple]

Yes, I'm familiar with iOS9. I'm not sure what your talking about with 12, but in my experience it corrected a lot of the bugs in 11. I have disliked 27 since launch. I'm running all current devices A17 Pro, M5, M5 Pro, and there is a noticeable difference in performance compared to previous gen chips and devices running Sequoia and iOS 18. I mean, it can't get any worse than 26. I'm looking forward to trying it.

Yeah... iOS 12 did improve performance relative to iOS 11. But that’s irrelevant. Apple forced my 9.7-inch iPad Pro from its original version, iOS 9, to iOS 12. As you probably know, there’s some unexplained issue that made Apple deactivate all A9 devices on iOS 9 and forced them to update. Boom, occasional keyboard lag and a 30% battery life loss, irreversible. I’m typing this on that iPad still on iOS 12. Battery life? Still 30% worse vs iOS 9 and the occasional keyboard lag.

iOS 27 is the same. Since you run current devices this issue should be rather irrelevant to you (and I’m glad it is!) but the thing is, if 27 improves it relative to 26, fixes the performance issues, and further worsens battery life in the process, then it’s not much of an improving update. If 27’s performance improves relative to 26 but is noticeably worse than 18, it’s also awful.

Sadly, since nobody stays behind, all people compare this update to is the previous version. Because you can’t know exactly how the original version ran. And that is flawed. I don’t care how it compares to the previous version.

I care how it compares to the original. iOS 12 improves performance relative to iOS 11. But do you want to know what iOS 12 is for anything that’s not the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, or X, or the 6th-gen iPad and 2018 iPad Pro? It’s appalling, pathetic malware that all it did was worsen battery life and performance vs iOS 10 and below.

This is always the case with this so-called “optimization updates”. They’re all malware.

 

[Royksöpp]

Yeah... iOS 12 did improve performance relative to iOS 11. But that’s irrelevant. Apple forced my 9.7-inch iPad Pro from its original version, iOS 9, to iOS 12. As you probably know, there’s some unexplained issue that made Apple deactivate all A9 devices on iOS 9 and forced them to update. Boom, occasional keyboard lag and a 30% battery life loss, irreversible. I’m typing this on that iPad still on iOS 12. Battery life? Still 30% worse vs iOS 9 and the occasional keyboard lag.

iOS 27 is the same. Since you run current devices this issue should be rather irrelevant to you (and I’m glad it is!) but the thing is, if 27 improves it relative to 26, fixes the performance issues, and further worsens battery life in the process, then it’s not much of an improving update. If 27’s performance improves relative to 26 but is noticeably worse than 18, it’s also awful.

Sadly, since nobody stays behind, all people compare this update to is the previous version. Because you can’t know exactly how the original version ran. And that is flawed. I don’t care how it compares to the previous version.

I care how it compares to the original. iOS 12 improves performance relative to iOS 11. But do you want to know what iOS 12 is for anything that’s not the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, or X, or the 6th-gen iPad and 2018 iPad Pro? It’s appalling, pathetic malware that all it did was worsen battery life and performance vs iOS 10 and below.

This is always the case with this so-called “optimization updates”. They’re all malware.

Whoops, I meant to say I dislike 26. My M4 and A18 Pro devices ran flawlessly on 18 and Sequoia, even better than current gen models on 26. It's pretty annoying to have a brand new MacBook Pro that get's laggy quite often. I don't know how much you've used Tahoe, but it's not a buttery smooth experience.

 

[MikB]

There’s no try out iOS 27. Gonna upgrade and run with it.

As long as Apple is signing 26, one can try the public beta of 27 and go back. Why would this change just for 27?

 

[FeliApple]

Whoops, I meant to say I dislike 26. My M4 and A18 Pro devices ran flawlessly on 18 and Sequoia, even better than current gen models on 26. It's pretty annoying to have a brand new MacBook Pro that get's laggy quite often. I don't know how much you've used Tahoe, but it's not a buttery smooth experience.

Yeah, 26 is not good. I luckily haven’t used it (iOS and iPadOS 18 on a 16 Plus and 11th-gen iPad (A16)), but there are overwhelming reports of a 20% battery life impact on the devices and some moderate performance issues. And the new models don’t correct this, like you said.

But the worst part is for those devices that can’t even try 27. 2018 iPad Pro, iPad Air 3, etc. Those devices, if their owners updated them to 26, are just gone.

And that’s the worst part: Apple’s hardware is great! Hardware-wise, their devices are of great quality, and extremely long-lasting.

Even if compatibility collapses, you can always find a use case for them. I use my iPhone 6s on iOS 10 for music, and my 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 works for 3 out of the 4 streaming services I have. MacRumors Forums works on both. I’m typing this on my 16 Plus on iOS 18, but I could type it almost anywhere.

But my needs aren’t massive, really, and I realistically need one iPhone and one iPad with enough compatibility. The rest can all be very behind.

I do think people update anything without thinking and for no reason at all. Like you said, 26 is poor even on current devices. Do you really need to update a 2018 iPad Pro to it? If you update this device you’ve probably always updated it, what difference does having 18 make? None at all.

And OP’s point is true I think, but now, with years of experience using iOS, people really can’t at least stay behind with the oldest devices? Why not? What do those users gain by updating and then complaining that their devices are awful?

I kind of get it if you update an M4 iPad Pro and an iPhone 16 from 18 to 26. They’re new and they’ll be fine is not a poor conclusion, this has almost always been the case. But not the oldest-supported device.