iOS: Annually slowing down our devices

[_Refurbished_]

You're using a bad example.

Exactly.

Imagine you run a game at 60 fps. All is well. Then after a year a patch comes out. It has a few new levels and some much promised bug fixes. After this patch your game runs at 30 fps, and even dips below now and then. Oh, and since this game is online you can't not install the patch.

Obviously you get angry and frustrated, because now your hardware has been made obsolete in a sense. Your friend's PC running it at 300 fps uncapped now runs it at 250 fps uncapped, but he doesn't care because it's "invisible" to him, and he tells you to stop being stingy and go upgrade your computer.

See where I'm going?

You go out, buy a new iMac, and everything is running smoothly.

A month later Apple releases OSXX and brand new iMacs alongside OSXX.

You try OSXX on your brand new, month old iMac and notice that your system isn't running as well as it did on OSX. You decide to format and install OSX back on your machine. Unfortunately, you're stuck with OSXX as Apple doesn't allow you to revert back to the software that came with your iMac. The only iMacs that work perfectly are the ones that were released alongside OSXX.

 

[C DM]

You go out, buy a new iMac, and everything is running smoothly.

A month later Apple releases OSXX and brand new iMacs alongside OSXX.

You try OSXX on your brand new, month old iMac and notice that your system isn't running as well as it did on OSX. You decide to format and install OSX back on your machine. Unfortunately, you're stuck with OSXX as Apple doesn't allow you to revert back to the software that came with your iMac. The only iMacs that work perfectly are the ones that were released alongside OSXX.

It's the case for some, not necessarily everyone. Sometimes more sometime less depending on the release. Pretty much a rehash for many threads that have been going on for years. Same discussion in multiple threads that dies down as more updates to the new versions come out and then gets picked right back up from the beginning all over again when a new version comes out. Nothing really new is discovered, nothing is really changed. Rinse and repeat.

 

[dk001]

You make it sound like BGR is a legit tech site.

They do have a reputation as being heavily Apple flavored, drinkers of the dreaded Kool-Aid and serious Apple fan-boys.

 

[Armen]

They do have a reputation as being heavily Apple flavored, drinkers of the dreaded Kool-Aid and serious Apple fan-boys.

Meh, every time I see a headline from them and read the article there is no substance.

 

[_Refurbished_]

It's the case for some, not necessarily everyone. Sometimes more sometime less depending on the release. Pretty much a rehash for many threads that have been going on for years. Same discussion in multiple threads that dies down as more updates to the new versions come out and then gets picked right back up from the beginning all over again when a new version comes out. Nothing really new is discovered, nothing is really changed. Rinse and repeat.

Each year we do see the same thing in these forums, as pointed out in the first paragraph of the OP. Again, this thread was created to show evidence and discuss that evidence.

In other threads, you've countered what I've said about iOS 9 and claim everyone's experiences are varied. This is true, but really doesn't offer anything relevant. Someone that drives a BMW will think a Honda Civic is slow and someone that drives a Ferrari will think a BMW is slow. I'm not interested in what people's opinions are, as they will always be varied. I would like to rely as much on video evidence as I can, even though videos will not offer 100% accuracy due to variables.

 

[C DM]

Each year we do see the same thing in these forums, as pointed out in the first paragraph of the OP. Again, this thread was created to show evidence and discuss that evidence.

In other threads, you've countered what I've said about iOS 9 and claim everyone's experiences are varied. This is true, but really doesn't offer anything relevant. Someone that drives a BMW will think a Honda Civic is slow and someone that drives a Ferrari will think a BMW is slow. I'm not interested in what people's opinions are, as they will always be varied. I would like to rely as much on video evidence as I can, even though videos will not offer 100% accuracy due to variables.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that ultimately whatever videos will or won't show (which is still not fully objective anyway as you mentioned), in the end it doesn't seem to change anything or really do anything anyway--the same discussion keeps on coming up in multiple threads rehashing the same things year after year without anything changing as a result of it.

 

[Shirasaki]

OK, before restarting my Mac, I think, we are working on a point Apple may never officially admit at anywhere, at anytime.

I do count on slowing down, one perfect example is my game is running slower on iOS 9 than on iOS 8.

Anyway, let me keep reading before getting a better idea from this post.

 

[Shirasaki]

I fail to see that there's any point to be made here at all. If you like how it performs, don't upgrade the OS. If you want new features, upgrade the OS with the understanding that there will be problems that the beta testing did not iron out and that performance will ultimately slow down over time. If you think that features can be added endlessly without any impact on the performance of hardware, you should not be buying anything more complicated than a screwdriver.

And the point is: too many heads on screwdriver would render that driver not usable. 😛

 

[_Refurbished_]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that ultimately whatever videos will or won't show (which is still not fully objective anyway as you mentioned), in the end it doesn't seem to change anything or really do anything anyway--the same discussion keeps on coming up in multiple threads rehashing the same things year after year without anything changing as a result of it.

If you're looking for "my device has slowed" threads to go away, they won't, nor will this thread help cure that in any way. This thread exists to provide forum members with visual evidence of the yearly slowdown our devices receive and a platform for people to give their input on the topic.

This thread doesn't offer a new topic, it offers a different angle on that topic. If you wish to not be involved, unsubscribe. It's pretty simple.

Lastly, I'm genuinly curious to see if iOS 9 DOES live up to Apple's claims as the OS matures. I believe by the end of the year, iOS 9 has a good chance of being faster than iOS 8. I hope I'm right so I can update my 6 and remove the annoying red update badge 😀.

 

[dumastudetto]

Don't know apples rational for this policy. Seems to be restrictive.

Security is a big reason. They stop updating older version of iOS once the new one is out. So they don't want customers putting old software on their devices which may have some terrible security holes and put their data at risk. And Apple doesn't want to waste resources maintaining old versions of iOS and issuing patches for security bugs.

Also it's important to Apple to have as many people as possible running the latest and greatest version of iOS. They usually boast about these adoption rates in their keynotes. It encourages developers to abandon older versions of iOS and support the latest and greatest features and apis.

In my experience, iOS does get much slower on older devices once they've received two major updates (i.e. iOS 7 to iOS 9). It doesn't really affect me because I'm lucky enough to be able to buy a new iPhone every year, and I always do. But I can understand why some customers will be frustrated - especially as it's more common than ever before for app developers to stop supporting older versions of iOS. Only a couple weeks into iOS 9 and I found several big apps would no longer receive updates on iOS 8.4.1.

 

[_Refurbished_]

Security is a big reason. They stop updating older version of iOS once the new one is out. So they don't want customers putting old software on their devices which may have some terrible security holes and put their data at risk. And Apple doesn't want to waste resources maintaining old versions of iOS and issuing patches for security bugs.

Also it's important to Apple to have as many people as possible running the latest and greatest version of iOS. They usually boast about these adoption rates in their keynotes. It encourages developers to abandon older versions of iOS and support the latest and greatest features and apis.

In my experience, iOS does get much slower on older devices once they've received two major updates (i.e. iOS 7 to iOS 9). It doesn't really affect me because I'm lucky enough to be able to buy a new iPhone every year, and I always do. But I can understand why some customers will be frustrated - especially as it's more common than ever before for app developers to stop supporting older versions of iOS. Only a couple weeks into iOS 9 and I found several big apps would no longer receive updates on iOS 8.4.1.

This is Apple's stance and I wish it was different.

I can understand not offering security fixes on iOS 5, but iOS 8.4.1? That was released less than two months ago.

I believe Apple should support and sign the current OS and previous OS. This isn't wasting resources for a multi-billion dollar company, it's putting resources to good use by giving your customers a "little" flexibility to choose what OS version works best for them. I know Apple isn't known for giving users choice, and I generally agree with their decisions, but I feel like they've gone off the deep end a bit by not allowing you to restore your device to an OS released less than two months ago.

 

[JT2002TJ]

Security is a big reason. They stop updating older version of iOS once the new one is out. So they don't want customers putting old software on their devices which may have some terrible security holes and put their data at risk. And Apple doesn't want to waste resources maintaining old versions of iOS and issuing patches for security bugs.

I will start by saying, this is not meant to be an attack, just a counter point. I will have to disagree with this part. If this was true, they would shut down access to the app store, or anything else that would risk apple/users devices on older devices. I have an iphone 4 with cellular service that I use as a gps on my motorcycle. I readily buy apps, and have access to everything except OS updates. It requires very little resources to allow users of iphone 4's to jump back an OS, they only have to maintain the latest version of every OS on their server for download (or, not even host it anymore) but allow users to install it on their devices. If I had the ipsw file & had the ability to do the install myself, it would cost them 0 resources to install it BUT apple prevents it. If appointments show up in the Genius bar, all their response has to be is "For services, you must update to the latest OS, we no longer support this OS". Done...

But by forcing devices to stay on the latest OS installed, they are showing that they want users to stay on a slower OS, so the response can be "well, this device is old, you should upgrade the device"

For example, if you have a computer that originally came with Windows XP but you upgraded to windows 7, the average user would be incapable of going back to windows XP BUT, it is physically possible. You would have to have a full version of Windows XP (which you no longer can buy) and the knowledge of how to reformat the hard disk in a Windows XP format. You would then be able to get all the patches MS created up until the end of support.

By automatically downloading the latest iOS, or keeping the flag showing an update is there, they force users to new OS', and the average user has no understanding that they can go back, or even how to. I'm sure Genus' are told to never instruct users how to go back, or help them do so. Needless to say, they would have no idea that there is a time limit to being able to going back. Which then forces them to buy a newer device because theirs is slow now. Even though it isn't that the devices is damaged, it is the OS is not good for the device.

 

[I7guy]

If you're looking for "my device has slowed" threads to go away, they won't, nor will this thread help cure that in any way. This thread exists to provide forum members with visual evidence of the yearly slowdown our devices receive and a platform for people to give their input on the topic.

This thread doesn't offer a new topic, it offers a different angle on that topic. If you wish to not be involved, unsubscribe. It's pretty simple.

Lastly, I'm genuinly curious to see if iOS 9 DOES live up to Apple's claims as the OS matures. I believe by the end of the year, iOS 9 has a good chance of being faster than iOS 8. I hope I'm right so I can update my 6 and remove the annoying red update badge 😀.

I agree

If you're looking for "my device has slowed" threads to go away, they won't, nor will this thread help cure that in any way. This thread exists to provide forum members with visual evidence of the yearly slowdown our devices receive and a platform for people to give their input on the topic.

This thread doesn't offer a new topic, it offers a different angle on that topic. If you wish to not be involved, unsubscribe. It's pretty simple.

Lastly, I'm genuinly curious to see if iOS 9 DOES live up to Apple's claims as the OS matures. I believe by the end of the year, iOS 9 has a good chance of being faster than iOS 8. I hope I'm right so I can update my 6 and remove the annoying red update badge 😀.

Whatever "evidence" I clicked on, wrt to the 5S, showed the 5S faster on IOS 9 than on IOS 8. The "performance issue" you are attempting to prove clearly doesn't apply to all, may apply to some and definitely not everyone. Thread would be much more critical if there wasn't a general consensus by some "claiming their phone is unusable" that the others who don't see the issue are blind, deaf and dumb.

FWIW, I played around with two 6+s yesterday who were owned by friends and recently updated to 9.0.2. While the 6+ still is not perfect, there was no stutter or lag to be found. Just some silly rotation issues.

 

[C DM]

If you're looking for "my device has slowed" threads to go away, they won't, nor will this thread help cure that in any way. This thread exists to provide forum members with visual evidence of the yearly slowdown our devices receive and a platform for people to give their input on the topic.

This thread doesn't offer a new topic, it offers a different angle on that topic. If you wish to not be involved, unsubscribe. It's pretty simple.

Lastly, I'm genuinly curious to see if iOS 9 DOES live up to Apple's claims as the OS matures. I believe by the end of the year, iOS 9 has a good chance of being faster than iOS 8. I hope I'm right so I can update my 6 and remove the annoying red update badge 😀.

I'm not looking for them to go away as that wouldn't be a realistic expectation. I'm simply making an observation that nothing new really gets brought up and nothing related to it changes.

 

[zorinlynx]

A lot of you should sit tight for iOS 9.1. I and many others here have been on the beta and the performance has improved significantly compared to 9.0.x.

 

[_Refurbished_]

A lot of you should sit tight for iOS 9.1. I and many others here have been on the beta and the performance has improved significantly compared to 9.0.x.

Doesn't seem too significant on an iPhone 5, hopefully the public release speeds it up a bit. I would like to see performance on the 6, but I couldn't find a video.

 

[dk001]

So far everything I am reading is telling me the same thing:

Release iOS9 with the 6S/6S+ and release iOS9.1 to all the rest of the iDevices.

 

[_Refurbished_]

Whatever "evidence" I clicked on, wrt to the 5S, showed the 5S faster on IOS 9 than on IOS 8.

I showed statistics earlier in this thread breaking down the video you're saying iOS 9 is faster on. iOS 8 won based on each test the guy ran, by a considerable margin.

Provide a set of your own statistics showing that iOS 9 was faster. Until then, there's really no point to continue conversing about this.

 

[I7guy]

I showed statistics earlier in this thread breaking down the video you're saying iOS 9 is faster on. iOS 8 won based on each test the guy ran, by a considerable margin.

Provide a set of your own statistics showing that iOS 9 was faster. Until then, there's really no point to continue conversing about this.

the statistics I used were looking at the video to see which phone seemed to perform the non-realistically tests faster.

 

[Max(IT)]

youtube as a scientific test .... lol

Planned obsolescence doesn't exist, and it's contrary to every marketing rules (you have to PLEASE your customers to keep them, not to piss them off)...

 

[Max(IT)]

You could have thrown down your challenge in any other of the lag fest threads, but I get your frustration.

Is iOS 9 as smooth as iOS 8, in my opinion it may not be. That doesn't discount anyone who thinks its smoother. Every individual sees things differently. It's what makes us unique, wouldn't you agree?

iOS 9, to me, is a much more stable compared to iOS 8. Safari in 8 vs 9 is not even close. Would I like the animations to be a smoother in iOS 9? Sure. Would I rather have the smoother animations of iOS 8.4.1 vs the stability of iOS 9? No way, no how.

iOS 8 was not smooth when it released. It matured into 8.4.1 and became a smoother running iOS. The same will happen with iOS 9. Until then, relax and enjoy life. 🙂

that's the real point.
Serial complainers keep comparing X.3.1 version of iOS with the new Y.0.1 .... (example iOS 8.4.1 with iOS 9.0.1).
Apple is refining its iOS after every release, and it usually takes about 2-3 minor update (or even a major update like an X.1 version).
I'm sure that at the iOS 10.0 launch we will see a lot of threads complaining on how smooth iOS 9.3.2 was.

 

[Max(IT)]

Millions of iPhone users are using iOS around the world. The only complaints seem to come from OCD users on forums like this that have to kick, scream and point out that it takes half a millisecond longer to flip up the control center or that a twitter page isn't super smooth scrolling.

Truth be told most people are actually too busy with their lives to notice or care about a slight slow down.

You can also post test results done by NASA and JPL and I could still care less as not all of us experience slow downs.

absolutely this.
I'm sure we'll read the same threads in september 2016 regarding iOS 10...

 

[Max(IT)]

Agreed.

I literally have nothing open at all (even closed all possible background processes) and 1.42GB/2.71GB of RAM are being used on my Galaxy Tab S with 5.0.2.

welcome to Android...

No the conspiracy theorists are saying they are deliberately making it slower. I'm saying they are writing inefficient code, patching up software, and quickly adding sloppy features. Instead they can have two seperate teams: one for continuing this path and another team working on a new engine/code. A new engine/code team would be an expense which I would be happy to pay Apple $9.99.

and you know how many teams are working on iOS ? Did you realize that Apple has virtually unlimited resources ? Do you really think they need your (or mine) advice to manage their timetable ?

You will get nowhere with him on this topic. He swears that his iOS 9 is running faster that iOS 8.4.1.

Surely it's not slower on every single iDevices I own (iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 and iPad Air)

 

[newellj]

Millions of iPhone users are using iOS around the world. The only complaints seem to come from OCD users on forums like this that have to kick, scream and point out that it takes half a millisecond longer to flip up the control center or that a twitter page isn't super smooth scrolling.

Truth be told most people are actually too busy with their lives to notice or care about a slight slow down.

You can also post test results done by NASA and JPL and I could still care less as not all of us experience slow downs.

Your second paragraph is really the answer, but few people are going to see the point. I used to think that Android was the home of people who think that the only purpose of owning a phone was twiddling with it. When people seriously argue that the single most important performance "benchmark" is how fast an app loads, you know that the perspective has changed.

 

[natureguy]

Security is a big reason. They stop updating older version of iOS once the new one is out. So they don't want customers putting old software on their devices which may have some terrible security holes and put their data at risk. And Apple doesn't want to waste resources maintaining old versions of iOS and issuing patches for security bugs.

Also it's important to Apple to have as many people as possible running the latest and greatest version of iOS. They usually boast about these adoption rates in their keynotes. It encourages developers to abandon older versions of iOS and support the latest and greatest features and apis.

In my experience, iOS does get much slower on older devices once they've received two major updates (i.e. iOS 7 to iOS 9). It doesn't really affect me because I'm lucky enough to be able to buy a new iPhone every year, and I always do. But I can understand why some customers will be frustrated - especially as it's more common than ever before for app developers to stop supporting older versions of iOS. Only a couple weeks into iOS 9 and I found several big apps would no longer receive updates on iOS 8.4.1.

k why doesn't apple do this with macs? if security is such an issue, why do they let you go back on your mac to previous versions? your phone is not much different than your mac both are basically computers... i don't buy this reason...