iPad iPad 4 iOS 8.1 : Should I upgrade to iOS 10.3.3?

[Ninomalbinho]

Hi,

I have an iPad 4 running iOS 8.1, which is jailbreaked and works really great. But since jailbreak for 10.3.3 is out, I'm wondering if it could be a good idea to upgrade it to 10.3.3

I searched internet to get some videos or test of it but did not find many things about it. I do not want to make my iPad performless than it is, so I try to get all informations I can get on it before getting a decision to upgrade or not.

Thanks

 

[akash.nu]

It will get slower.

 

[Ninomalbinho]

Thanks for answer. Do you think it will be a big difference of speed? Or new features and applications support are a good balance?

 

[akash.nu]

Thanks for answer. Do you think it will be a big difference of speed? Or new features and applications support are a good balance?

Only you can answer that based on your usage. For me the features were worth it.

 

[Ninomalbinho]

Of course. I use it for tablet usage of course, and also gaming (like Geostorm, Fishing Clash, Battle Camp...etc). Big deal to make a decision...

 

[akash.nu]

Of course. I use it for tablet usage of course, and also gaming (like Geostorm, Fishing Clash, Battle Camp...etc). Big deal to make a decision...

Personally I don’t really get much time to play games. So the performance was more than acceptable for my day to day work which included iMessage, media consumption, emails, browsing and remote into my desktop for higher end tasks. You’ll possibly see some lag while trying to switch between too many apps.

 

[culb0743]

I have an iPad 4 and like you were concerned about upgrading past, I think it was iOS 9. I reached a point where I had to restore the iPad and I'm not sure whether the update to version 10 was something I authorized absentmindedly, or part in parcel to the restoration, but I was pleasantly surprised with the result. In my experience, iOS versions 8 & 9 were the absolute worst in terms of performance on this particular model of iPad. The best being versions 6,7 and 10 (in that order). I'm not saying you should absolutely do the update, but for me it was a good experience.

 

[Ninomalbinho]

Sounds great, and do you play games on it Culb? Any of you could try Geostorm and Fishing Clash to see it they are running smoothly? They are free.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I had an iPad 4th gen on 10.3.3 and it was fine. Just do a clean install and don’t restore from backup and youll be fine. Just remember, it wont be as snappy as 8.1 but, not unusable. You can’t go back after you upgrade so make sure it’s really what you want or you’ll be stuck on 10.3.3

 

[Ninomalbinho]

I know this is why I'm asking all these questions

 

[Ninomalbinho]

Happy New Year 2018 !

Hard decision to take, more experiences are needed to keep the good one

 

[Ninomalbinho]

I'm coming to try getting more comments
I saw that, if needed, there is a possibility now to downgrade from 10.3.3 to 8.4.1, but not sure activation will working after, not very clear on it.

 

[carlvi]

I haven't used the iPad 4 at all myself, but here's what I gather:

The iPad 4 uses the A6X chipset. I have an old iPhone 5 at work that we use for testing apps before releasing them to the public and it runs incredibly well on 10.3.3. The iPhone 5 obviously has a smaller screen which gives it an advantage, however it uses the A6 SoC which isn't as powerful as the A6X - in other words, I'm sure the iPad 4 will run as good if not better than the iPhone 5 despite its larger screen.

You can easily downgrade it to 8.4.1 using OdysseusOTA 2 if you're somehow not satisfied with iOS 10. No SHSH or other prerequisites except for a jailbreak which is readily available for 32-bit devices on 10.3.3 - just google Phoenix jailbreak.
I've played around with this tool myself both on the iPad 2 (Wi-fi model) and iPhone 4s - never had any issues with activation and the downgrade is completely untethered, just make sure to read the instructions carefully.
You can also use CoolBooter to dual-boot 10.3.3 with another firmware of your choice, even iOS 6 if you're feeling nostalgic

I've been an iOS user since 2008 when I started out with the iPhone 3G on iPhone OS 2.x and have had a myriad of devices, so in other words I've used every single version including minor updates going all the way from iPhone OS 2 to iOS 11. In my experience, iOS 10 is one of the most solid releases so far. I never experienced any significant bugs even on the GM version. iOS 8 was imo the worst iOS version both in terms of pure performance and system stability. I'd definitely recommend that you try it out! Please do a clean install through iTunes, it really helps with performance on older devices.

On a side note, my primary iPad is an iPad 2 running 9.3.5. I spent some time messing around with the settings and managed to tweak the settings in a way that actually allowed this archaic device to run iOS 9 without any major hiccups. I made a thread a while back where I listed all the tweaks I could think of to improve the device's performance. You might find them useful on your iPad as well. Post can be found here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/any-ipad-2-users-still-out-there.2097260/ Usually, Safari can be somewhat problematic on older devices running modern firmwares. The iPad 4 still has a pretty good SoC so if you're having minor performance issues with Safari on 10.3.3, I'd try disabling some features such as pre-loading top search hits, safari suggestions and so on. You could even disable JavaScript though it will cause many web pages to not render properly. If it's really bad, grab Puffin from the App Store - the interface is nowhere near as pretty as Safari but it's a dozen faster than safari on my iPad 2 and really breathed new life into the device.

Hope this helps. Good luck

 

[Ninomalbinho]

I haven't used the iPad 4 at all myself, but here's what I gather:

The iPad 4 uses the A6X chipset. I have an old iPhone 5 at work that we use for testing apps before releasing them to the public and it runs incredibly well on 10.3.3. The iPhone 5 obviously has a smaller screen which gives it an advantage, however it uses the A6 SoC which isn't as powerful as the A6X - in other words, I'm sure the iPad 4 will run as good if not better than the iPhone 5 despite its larger screen.

You can easily downgrade it to 8.4.1 using OdysseusOTA 2 if you're somehow not satisfied with iOS 10. No SHSH or other prerequisites except for a jailbreak which is readily available for 32-bit devices on 10.3.3 - just google Phoenix jailbreak.
I've played around with this tool myself both on the iPad 2 (Wi-fi model) and iPhone 4s - never had any issues with activation and the downgrade is completely untethered, just make sure to read the instructions carefully.
You can also use CoolBooter to dual-boot 10.3.3 with another firmware of your choice, even iOS 6 if you're feeling nostalgic

I've been an iOS user since 2008 when I started out with the iPhone 3G on iPhone OS 2.x and have had a myriad of devices, so in other words I've used every single version including minor updates going all the way from iPhone OS 2 to iOS 11. In my experience, iOS 10 is one of the most solid releases so far. I never experienced any significant bugs even on the GM version. iOS 8 was imo the worst iOS version both in terms of pure performance and system stability. I'd definitely recommend that you try it out! Please do a clean install through iTunes, it really helps with performance on older devices.

On a side note, my primary iPad is an iPad 2 running 9.3.5. I spent some time messing around with the settings and managed to tweak the settings in a way that actually allowed this archaic device to run iOS 9 without any major hiccups. I made a thread a while back where I listed all the tweaks I could think of to improve the device's performance. You might find them useful on your iPad as well. Post can be found here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/any-ipad-2-users-still-out-there.2097260/ Usually, Safari can be somewhat problematic on older devices running modern firmwares. The iPad 4 still has a pretty good SoC so if you're having minor performance issues with Safari on 10.3.3, I'd try disabling some features such as pre-loading top search hits, safari suggestions and so on. You could even disable JavaScript though it will cause many web pages to not render properly. If it's really bad, grab Puffin from the App Store - the interface is nowhere near as pretty as Safari but it's a dozen faster than safari on my iPad 2 and really breathed new life into the device.

Hope this helps. Good luck

Thanks very much to spend time answering my question. What you wrote was really constructive and interessant, and gave me many informations.
I googled Phoenix jailbreak as you adviced me but saw this jailbreak is semi-unthetered and for ios 9.3.5...or I did not search for it well enough !?
Of course i always do clean install, never use OTA updates for iOS
I will also take a look to your post to get better performances, if necessary.

 

[carlvi]

Thanks very much to spend time answering my question. What you wrote was really constructive and interessant, and gave me many informations.
I googled Phoenix jailbreak as you adviced me but saw this jailbreak is semi-unthetered and for ios 9.3.5...or I did not search for it well enough !?
Of course i always do clean install, never use OTA updates for iOS
I will also take a look to your post to get better performances, if necessary.

Oh,sorry - I of course meant h3lix which is the 10.3.3 JB for 32-bit devices such as the iPad 4

 

[Ninomalbinho]

Oh,sorry - I of course meant h3lix which is the 10.3.3 JB for 32-bit devices such as the iPad 4

Yes, this is this one for 10.3.3, but semi-unthetered too. And in my searches, I saw problems with activation if I could need to downgrade to 8.4.1, but not sure of it.

 

[carlvi]

Imo you should just go ahead and give 10.3.3 a spin - it may very well breathe some new life into your iPad with improved UI, app support and whatnot. Especially considering the downgrade process to 8.4.1 w/ OdysseusOTA is so simple. If you do decide to downgrade, let me know if you need any help and I can talk you through it. Like I said, iOS 8 was by far the worst release in my opinion speaking in terms of performance and stability so your iPad may very well run even better on 10 provided you do a clean install.

 

[Ninomalbinho]

Imo you should just go ahead and give 10.3.3 a spin - it may very well breathe some new life into your iPad with improved UI, app support and whatnot. Especially considering the downgrade process to 8.4.1 w/ OdysseusOTA is so simple. If you do decide to downgrade, let me know if you need any help and I can talk you through it. Like I said, iOS 8 was by far the worst release in my opinion speaking in terms of performance and stability so your iPad may very well run even better on 10 provided you do a clean install.

Thanks for help, hope i won't need to downgrade...and hope performances on iOS 10.3.3 will be as you say very good.
I did not really see bad performances on iOS 8.1 which is very stable and smooth on my iPad 4, but would like to get new app suport and all other things, i like changement ;-)

 

[carlvi]

Yes, this is this one for 10.3.3, but semi-unthetered too. And in my searches, I saw problems with activation if I could need to downgrade to 8.4.1, but not sure of it.

Semi-untethered or not doesn't really matter if you're jailbreaking it for downgrading purposes only, since the only role of the jailbreak in this process is to enable SSH on the device so kloader can be transferred onto the device thru SCP. Once the downgrade is completed, you'll find yourself with a cleanly restored 8.4.1 with no JB, completely untethered.

If you want to jailbreak it for daily use however, it's up to you. I believe semi-untethered means that you'll just have to launch an app every time you reboot the device, so no redsn0w style tethered booting like I had to do when I messed around with my 3GS back in the day
[doublepost=1515441894][/doublepost]

Thanks for help, hope i won't need to downgrade...and hope performances on iOS 10.3.3 will be as you say very good.
I did not really see bad performances on iOS 8.1 which is very stable and smooth on my iPad 4, but would like to get new app suport and all other things, i like changement ;-)

Yeah, 3rd party app support is much better on 10.x than 8.x. Typically the two previous releases of iOS have 3rd party app support equivalent to the current version, while older versions are gradually left behind. For instance, the most recent version is 11.x and 99% of all apps I use on my iPhone with 11.2 install just fine on the iPad with 9.3. Glad to hear 8.1 works for you - I do remember that 8.x got somewhat better over time, but when iOS 9 was released it was "like giving a glass of ice water to someone in hell", like Steve Jobs said about iTunes on windows at one point
[doublepost=1515442232][/doublepost]Oh, and be sure to post your experiences w/ 10.3 on the iPad 4 here if you do decide to go through with the update.
I like the idea of maximizing the use of older devices. I've had my iPad 2 since 2011, and since it still works great for what I need I can't see myself replacing it anytime soon

 

[sracer]

Thanks for help, hope i won't need to downgrade...and hope performances on iOS 10.3.3 will be as you say very good.
I did not really see bad performances on iOS 8.1 which is very stable and smooth on my iPad 4, but would like to get new app suport and all other things, i like changement ;-)

I strongly recommend staying at the version you currently have on your iPad 4. The only reason to update it would be if a critical app that you use requires iOS 10.

 

[Ninomalbinho]

Semi-untethered or not doesn't really matter if you're jailbreaking it for downgrading purposes only, since the only role of the jailbreak in this process is to enable SSH on the device so kloader can be transferred onto the device thru SCP. Once the downgrade is completed, you'll find yourself with a cleanly restored 8.4.1 with no JB, completely untethered.

If you want to jailbreak it for daily use however, it's up to you. I believe semi-untethered means that you'll just have to launch an app every time you reboot the device, so no redsn0w style tethered booting like I had to do when I messed around with my 3GS back in the day
[doublepost=1515441894][/doublepost]

Yeah, 3rd party app support is much better on 10.x than 8.x. Typically the two previous releases of iOS have 3rd party app support equivalent to the current version, while older versions are gradually left behind. For instance, the most recent version is 11.x and 99% of all apps I use on my iPhone with 11.2 install just fine on the iPad with 9.3. Glad to hear 8.1 works for you - I do remember that 8.x got somewhat better over time, but when iOS 9 was released it was "like giving a glass of ice water to someone in hell", like Steve Jobs said about iTunes on windows at one point
[doublepost=1515442232][/doublepost]Oh, and be sure to post your experiences w/ 10.3 on the iPad 4 here if you do decide to go through with the update.
I like the idea of maximizing the use of older devices. I've had my iPad 2 since 2011, and since it still works great for what I need I can't see myself replacing it anytime soon

Sorry if i am not very clear, english is not my born language.
If i go through 10.3.3 upgrade, this is to stay in it and get new app support and all things which comes with new iOS. And I also like jailbreaking to customize everything on it, so jailbreaking is not only to downgrade for me Semi-unthetered is not a big issue and unthetered is of course more comfortable
I'll try to get more informations, maybe videos or comments of people who have ipad 4 on iOS 10.3.3 before heading up, but be sure I will tell me how it works if I'll do it
[doublepost=1515447531][/doublepost]

I strongly recommend staying at the version you currently have on your iPad 4. The only reason to update it would be if a critical app that you use requires iOS 10.

Thanks for your comment, every point of view is highly appreciated (even though it will give me more difficulties to make a choice ;-))

 

[gobikerider]

Thanks for answer. Do you think it will be a big difference of speed? Or new features and applications support are a good balance?

Good balance do a fresh install and reinstall your essential apps avoiding old ones you rarely used and I think you’ll find it perfectly serviceable. It’s gonna be a little slower loading things but overall usability remains nice and responsive.

 

[Royksöpp]

If you plan on turning your iPad into a giant paperweight I would say go for it. Otherwise just stay where your at. There isn't a big difference between the 4 and the Air 1. The feedback of iOS 10 on that device has been overwhelmingly negative.

 

[gobikerider]

If you plan on turning your iPad into a giant paperweight I would say go for it. Otherwise just stay where your at. There isn't a big difference between the 4 and the Air 1. The feedback of iOS 10 on that device has been overwhelmingly negative.

No it hasn’t

 

[hanser]

If you plan on turning your iPad into a giant paperweight I would say go for it. Otherwise just stay where your at. There isn't a big difference between the 4 and the Air 1. The feedback of iOS 10 on that device has been overwhelmingly negative.

iOS 10 works just fine on my Air1. That the apps need a bit more time to load than under iOS 7 does not make it paperweight