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iPad Air How risky is it to use an iPad Air 1st gen in 2026?
- Thread starter Andy_2341
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Surenmunoo
macrumors regular
rui no onna
Contributor
That's what, 8 years newer than the OG iPad Air?
Frosties
macrumors 65816
Don’t use it for banking or messaging. Just as an example of this - in Sweden Bank Id that is used for identity for banking and using state services requires IOS 16 as older iOS are considered not secure. I would recommend an upgrade. The regular iPad is fast and speedy today so that is all most need.
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Considering that hackers generally don’t target iPad devices I think you’re in the low end of the spectrum on getting hacked. Someone would have to target you specifically, which is different.
Atomic1977
macrumors 6502
I would not bet my life on using something that old. Almost any piece or brand of technology can be hacked though. Nobody is completely safe anymore.
Yeah but that statement holds true for any device no matter the age. They would have to be a specific target to get “hacked”. What people don’t realize almost all person data that gets stolen is from institutions, banks, medical, etc. Not hacking specific individuals on a iPads.
So I should not use iMessage even though they just updated the certificates for it? I am waiting to upgrade until the 12th gen releases and my finances stabilize.
rui no onna
Contributor
Devices with up to date security patches will take more (often targeted) effort to break into.
Meanwhile, older systems can be vulnerable just doing normal web stuff.
Honestly it's one of the less risky devices when not up to date as it's very much sandboxed.
Banking apps don't work on these old devices anyway and browsing is often very slow anyway. I use an iPad on iOS 10 every day for some old 32bit apps, most of the time it's not even connected to the internet.
And I use one on iPadOS 15 every day, mainly for streaming and some browsing.
Banking apps don't work on these old devices anyway and browsing is often very slow anyway. I use an iPad on iOS 10 every day for some old 32bit apps, most of the time it's not even connected to the internet.
And I use one on iPadOS 15 every day, mainly for streaming and some browsing.
Homme
macrumors 65816
Considering that it hasn’t had a security update in a few years ( the update all iOS 12 devices got this year for the first time in 3 years wasn’t to do with security updates)
Yes it’s risky. It’s also not worth it nowadays, OS 15-17 devices is miles better for security than iOS 12 devices that can’t get any major updates ( the amount of security for OS 15-17 is roughly the same nowadays besides 16 and 17 receiving significantly more security than OS 15 ( obviously)
But the update that came out for this week for OS 15-17 was pretty much to do with one fix compared to OS 18 devices which can’t get OS 26 which still gets plenty of security updates
So yeah, I wouldn’t get any device stuck on iOS 12, OS 15-17 devices will still get updates for some time
Yes it’s risky. It’s also not worth it nowadays, OS 15-17 devices is miles better for security than iOS 12 devices that can’t get any major updates ( the amount of security for OS 15-17 is roughly the same nowadays besides 16 and 17 receiving significantly more security than OS 15 ( obviously)
But the update that came out for this week for OS 15-17 was pretty much to do with one fix compared to OS 18 devices which can’t get OS 26 which still gets plenty of security updates
So yeah, I wouldn’t get any device stuck on iOS 12, OS 15-17 devices will still get updates for some time
I would be concerned about this but it is on it's third battery now, which is only about 4 years old
Yeah, that makes sense. I just don't want to spend the money on a device that's already on an out of date OS. Except for maybe 18 or 17. But other than that the money isn't too different from a new base iPad. So might as well go for new.