Have One of These 16 Apple Devices? Software Support Ends This Fall

[FeliApple]

The A12X was Apple's best processor. Absolute killer, it easily lasted 8 years and could have went longer if Apple didn't get weak and drop it. My 2018 iPad 11 Pro will soldier on.

Sad that it was left on 26. It was so beautiful on iOS 12. The first full-screen iPad on what is perhaps the most optimised iOS version ever. Simply perfection. I wish I had one back when it launched.

My first full screen iPad (which I have) is my iPad Air 5 (M1) on iPadOS 15, which honestly works as well as the 3rd-gen iPad Pro on iOS 12 (how do I know? Because I have an iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 with the same processor (almost)).

But that 2018 Pro on iOS 12 was something special. Sad to see where it ended up (for most people. I wish that many users managed to keep it on 18 at least).

 

[Artemis70]

Macs, iPhones and iPads all get many years of support.

From the article:

The iPad lineup also sees an unusually aggressive set of cuts. iPadOS 27 raises the floor to the A14 Bionic chip or the M1 chip, dropping five models that still run iPadOS 26: The iPad Air (3rd generation), the iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation), the ‌iPad Pro‌ 11-inch (1st generation), the ‌iPad‌ (8th generation), and the iPad mini (5th generation). By comparison, ‌iPadOS 26‌ cut only a single device from the iPadOS 18 list (the 7th generation ‌iPad‌).

 

[MacBH928]

I really am quite frustrated by the Ultra (2022) already not getting feature updates. My expectations were different.

you can always opt for a Garmin watch or pebble which is making a come back

 

[MacBH928]

The A12X was Apple's best processor. Absolute killer, it easily lasted 8 years and could have went longer if Apple didn't get weak and drop it. My 2018 iPad 11 Pro will soldier on.

how was it the best processor? every CPU they release is an improvement on the prior

 

[WU27f1xcCs]

you can always opt for a Garmin watch or pebble which is making a come back

I considered Garmin models when I was deciding on my Ultra, but ultimately went with the ecosystem. I’m hoping Apple change course on this software decision.

 

[Dirk Pieters]

Not quite true. Apps refuse to function or they trigger their own kill switch and die off. Now you’re just back to a stock device and you’ve lost everything you acquired along the way.
Otherwise, the device itself, and base apps… yes those do continue.

If you're talking about third party apps that responsibility lies with the developer. I've developed apps and found it poor form to only support the latest OS. In this particular case a huuuuuuge amount of Apple Watches support watchOS 26 so as a developer it would be suicide to kill support for that.

(especially since making money developing Watch apps is hard enough as is - but that's another story)

If you're talking about apps from Apple ... Apple can kill their own apps whenever they want.

I honestly don't agree with the entire premise that a device becomes obsolete just because it does not support the latest OS.

 

[FeliApple]

If you're talking about third party apps that responsibility lies with the developer. I've developed apps and found it poor form to only support the latest OS. In this particular case a huuuuuuge amount of Apple Watches support watchOS 26 so as a developer it would be suicide to kill support for that.

(especially since making money developing Watch apps is hard enough as is - but that's another story)

If you're talking about apps from Apple ... Apple can kill their own apps whenever they want.

I honestly don't agree with the entire premise that a device becomes obsolete just because it does not support the latest OS.

I’m going to be blunt, third-party developers who keep cutting support are pathetic garbage, and they’re the #1 factor that especially curtails iPhones and iPads from working.

Apple does not cut support. Older versions of their apps work perfectly. You can run Pages on iOS 9 or 10, or any of the formerly called iWork or iLife suite of apps.

And here you have the divide between developers. It’s very simple: those who are pathetic garbage, and those who aren’t. Sadly, the former win.


Let me explain: The problem isn’t baseline requirements. It’s whether they allow older app versions to function. Disney+ requires iOS or iPadOS 16 and won’t work on anything older because older versions are disabled and it forces you to update. Netflix works on iOS 10 even if it requires iPadOS 18 (!!!) for its current version. In Netflix’s case, that’s irrelevant, older versions work. Not with Disney+.

WhatsApp developers are pathetic garbage, they keep upping requirements. Telegram developers aren’t, older versions work.

Google is garbage, YouTube stops working.

Third-party developers being this appalling, pathetic, and abhorrent are the #1 impediment to device longevity. If they were a little better, you’d be able to use an iPad for as long as the popular content consumption apps worked, even if you had to restrict your usage to that.

For example, you can grab a 2018 iPad Pro on iOS 12 today, and you can use it for note-taking (apps like Notability and Pages don’t stop working), for streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime and Apple TV+, for YouTube on the web (for now), etc.

But some (most) third-party developers are the key impediment to longevity. This isn’t Apple’s fault.

 

[aevan]

From the article:

This is an exception, not the rule. iPads are supported for a long time. Obviously, with the new AI features, they are making a cut sooner this time.

Doesn't change the fact that Apple devices are supported for a long time.

 

[Artemis70]

This is an exception, not the rule. iPads are supported for a long time. Obviously, with the new AI features, they are making a cut sooner this time.

Doesn't change the fact that Apple devices are supported for a long time.

I'm quite upset by the exception, as are many others. My one year old Apple Watch SE 2, that I bought from Apple directly, is no longer fully supported. I'm not as upset about the iPad's, even though my iPad is only five years old.

 

[BuddyRich]

I’m going to be blunt, third-party developers who keep cutting support are pathetic garbage, and they’re the #1 factor that especially curtails iPhones and iPads from working.

Apple does not cut support. Older versions of their apps work perfectly. You can run Pages on iOS 9 or 10, or any of the formerly called iWork or iLife suite of apps.

And here you have the divide between developers. It’s very simple: those who are pathetic garbage, and those who aren’t. Sadly, the former win.


Let me explain: The problem isn’t baseline requirements. It’s whether they allow older app versions to function. Disney+ requires iOS or iPadOS 16 and won’t work on anything older because older versions are disabled and it forces you to update. Netflix works on iOS 10 even if it requires iPadOS 18 (!!!) for its current version. In Netflix’s case, that’s irrelevant, older versions work. Not with Disney+.

WhatsApp developers are pathetic garbage, they keep upping requirements. Telegram developers aren’t, older versions work.

Google is garbage, YouTube stops working.

Third-party developers being this appalling, pathetic, and abhorrent are the #1 impediment to device longevity. If they were a little better, you’d be able to use an iPad for as long as the popular content consumption apps worked, even if you had to restrict your usage to that.

For example, you can grab a 2018 iPad Pro on iOS 12 today, and you can use it for note-taking (apps like Notability and Pages don’t stop working), for streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime and Apple TV+, for YouTube on the web (for now), etc.

But some (most) third-party developers are the key impediment to longevity. This isn’t Apple’s fault.

To be fair Apple does control and regularly raise the minimum OS version required in new apps and updates as well. i specifically bought a "legacy" app promoted to work with older ios version for old devices and the dev got to a point where publishing an update raised the minimum supported ios level because of xcode, meaning that app got abandoned.

The other issue is cross device support with mismatched OSes. your watch or ipad may be abandoned but maybe you have a new phone... so if you update a 3rd party app on that to newest version, it may stop working seamlessly with an older version on the abandoned device, maybe because of backend db changes new version requires, etc...

its not unique to phones but on pcs and even android you can purposefully install specific versions of apps to maintain compatibility but Apple doesnt really let you do so. It only recently defaulted to older app versions if thats all thats supported and it requires dev to opt in.