iPad 4 Upgrade to 8.3?

[bertie343]

My iPad 4 has been running 6.1 for awhile now and I've been generally happy with it (aside from the screen not responding until about 45 seconds after first displaying). I am now finding I can get less and less apps from the App Store as more are requiring iOS 7 or above.

Can anyone shed some light on their experience with 8.3? Will my iPad be able to handle it or will things be too slow and I will be wishing I still had 6.1?

 

[California]

My iPad 4 has been running 6.1 for awhile now and I've been generally happy with it (aside from the screen not responding until about 45 seconds after first displaying). I am now finding I can get less and less apps from the App Store as more are requiring iOS 7 or above.

Can anyone shed some light on their experience with 8.3? Will my iPad be able to handle it or will things be too slow and I will be wishing I still had 6.1?

Download the app you want to iTunes, then download it to your iPad; if the app is a few years old, it will ask you if you want a previous version of the app that will run with iOS 6. No luck on brand new apps with no ability to play on iOS 6.

 

[bertie343]

Thank you, but in my case, the app is newer and doesn't have an older version available for it. It's a game I play on my iPhone that I would like to play on a bigger screen when I'm home, it's nothing essential.

Really my question was more should I stick with 6.1 on my iPad 4 or upgrade to 8.3? I've been generally happy with 6.1, and want to make sure if I upgrade to 8.3, my iPad won't become too slow to do anything useful.

 

[California]

Thank you, but in my case, the app is newer and doesn't have an older version available for it. It's a game I play on my iPhone that I would like to play on a bigger screen when I'm home, it's nothing essential.

Really my question was more should I stick with 6.1 on my iPad 4 or upgrade to 8.3? I've been generally happy with 6.1, and want to make sure if I upgrade to 8.3, my iPad won't become too slow to do anything useful.

Contact Apple and quiz them about this issue.

 

[TechFann]

I have iOS 8.3 on my iPad 4 and I don't seem to have any issues. A tab in Safari will crash occasionally but I think that's more iOS 8 and less of the iPad causing it. Safari can also be a little slow at times but besides that it's worked fine for me.

 

[sracer]

My iPad 4 has been running 6.1 for awhile now and I've been generally happy with it (aside from the screen not responding until about 45 seconds after first displaying). I am now finding I can get less and less apps from the App Store as more are requiring iOS 7 or above.

Can anyone shed some light on their experience with 8.3? Will my iPad be able to handle it or will things be too slow and I will be wishing I still had 6.1?

If I had may choice, I'd downgrade my iPad 4 from iOS 8.3 to 6.1. The performance issues with 8.3 affect the iPad overall. I'd rather have better performance but limited functionality of specific apps due to an older version of iOS. The increased functionality of the apps (by going to 8.3) doesn't make up for the performance hit.

Of course this is simply my personal experience. There will be others that will say the exact opposite... that 8.3 runs better than 6.1 on their iPad 4.

Since there is "no going back" I would strongly encourage you to find someone with an iPad 4 running 8.3 and giving it a test before committing 8.3 to your iPad. (even that isn't a guarantee as there is a wide range of experiences)

 

[rui no onna]

Purely on the performance front, iOS 6 runs much more fluidly on the iPad 4 than iOS 8. Granted, iOS 6 ran more fluidly on the iPad 4 than iOS 7 did on the iPad Air.

That said, FaceTime Audio, Continuity and app support were well worth the performance hit for me. It's not really all that bad. For email, web browsing, videos, music, ebooks, etc, the iPad 4 isn't even noticeably slower than the iPad Air (both have "Reduce Motion" enabled).

Mind, I don't game on the iPad so can't really comment on that aspect. I do think this is one area where the Air and Air 2 will fare considerably better.

 

[California]

If I had may choice, I'd downgrade my iPad 4 from iOS 8.3 to 6.1. The performance issues with 8.3 affect the iPad overall. I'd rather have better performance but limited functionality of specific apps due to an older version of iOS. The increased functionality of the apps (by going to 8.3) doesn't make up for the performance hit.

Of course this is simply my personal experience. There will be others that will say the exact opposite... that 8.3 runs better than 6.1 on their iPad 4.

Since there is "no going back" I would strongly encourage you to find someone with an iPad 4 running 8.3 and giving it a test before committing 8.3 to your iPad. (even that isn't a guarantee as there is a wide range of experiences)

Strictly speaking, Apple actually does know how to "go back" and downgrade to 6.1.3. They, of course, have the technical tools to do so.

 

[Andres Cantu]

My iPad 4 has been running 6.1 for awhile now and I've been generally happy with it (aside from the screen not responding until about 45 seconds after first displaying). I am now finding I can get less and less apps from the App Store as more are requiring iOS 7 or above.

Can anyone shed some light on their experience with 8.3? Will my iPad be able to handle it or will things be too slow and I will be wishing I still had 6.1?

At this point, I would just wait and see what the general consensus is when iOS 9 is released.

 

[sracer]

Strictly speaking, Apple actually does know how to "go back" and downgrade to 6.1.3. They, of course, have the technical tools to do so.

How is that relevant? There is no way for a customer to downgrade their iOS device.

 

[Traverse]

There will be others that will say the exact opposite... that 8.3 runs better than 6.1 on their iPad 4.

This is true, and I don't want to call them liars, but I just don't see how that's possible. There are people that say their iPad 3 with iOS 8.3 is just a fast as iOS 5. I can tell you from experience mine and my aunts iPad 2 are nowhere near as fluid or enjoyable.

 

[California]

How is that relevant? There is no way for a customer to downgrade their iOS device.

We should be able to do with our personal property made by Apple whatever we want to do and they should provide tools for us to do so when it is within their ability to do it -- especially for iPad owners under warranty. It's like owning a car that can be enabled to run electric but the car manufacturer decides we aren't allowed; instead we must purchase a newer hybrid.

 

[imagineadam]

Our iPad 4 is on 7.1.2 and I think I'm still going to keep it there as long as possible. Right when iOS 8 came out I installed it and the first thing I checked out was safari. And then I was disappointed with its Perfomance so I went right back to iOS 7. If you do a lot of web browsing which is what I do with my iPad 4 I recommend staying on 6.1. It's so much smoother even more so than 7.1.2. The difference between iOS 8 and 7.1.2 is night and day though with response time and loading. Maybe it got a little better with 8.3 but I'm too afraid to try! I know eventually I'll have to upgrade it for my apps to continue to work but for the time being ill stick it out on 7.1.2!