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iPhone 4 and iOS 7 worth it?

M

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
3,900
382
UK
Wife has an iPhone 4, and has just come into this century, she mainly uses it for calls and texts :p but likes a few apps I've put on. She's really not bothered on messing with settings, doesn't surf or anything, but bits handy for her as we all have iMessage and use that a lot for pics.

So I haven't upgraded her to iOS 7 yet, not sure if the speed will bog down the iPhone 4? I suppose she'll get used to the iOS eventually but is it worth it? Speed/use experience wise?

Wouldn't mind hearing from anyone who uses an iPhone 4 extensively with iOS 7

Thanks
 
I have an iPhone 4 with iOS 7 on it and it runs fine. Well, it's not exactly snappy, but I see no difference from when I was running iOS 6. Some users have mentioned that their phone slowed down after download, but it seem to have been on whether they simply 'updated' the software or did a 'factory reset' (the reset option is only available if you plug it in to iTunes). I'm not entirely sure of the difference, but I think the reset totally wipes your data and then re-downloads it either from the cloud or iTunes (depending on which you choose), while the 'update' somehow keeps your data intact and re-writes the OS behind it. Someone else will have to clarify this.

Since your wife is mostly texting and calling then I would usually say don't bother with the update. However, a lot of apps are being updated by the developers to take advantage of the new iOS 7 code, so she may find some of those apps won't update if she stays on iOS 6. My personal recommendation would be update only if/when you feel iOS 6 is causing problems eg. the apps I just mentioned.

Alex
 
When I upgraded to iPhone 5 in September of last year, I passed my perfectly pristine & wonderfully operational iPhone 4 along to my son. I left it with the latest version of iOS 5 installed, with which it was quite speedy. I didn't even bother to upgrade it to iOS 6 when that was released. My son is using it with great success and will continue to do so until next year's iPhone release (I skipped the iP5s) unless something physical happens to it (i.e. a catastrophic crash to the pavement or such.)

Personally, I feel that when hardware is on the lower end of the acceptable device upgrade list, it's generally better to stick where you are if you're satisfied with the performance. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. ;) Now that Apple allows legacy app installation, you should be able to get along quite well until you're ready to upgrade to a newer model of phone. (Not all updates to apps are better; many I have purposely avoided updating because of lost features in those updated apps.) As I said, that's our plan going forward. :)
 
Thanks for replies. It won't make a difference really to her, as I say she doesn't use that many apps either, it's probably more me!!

She doesn't really know about notification centre or anything, was just wondering how it ran on iPhone 4, as mentioned it's older hardware so best suited for when it's released.
 
Stick with the iOS your currently on. A family member of mine upgraded her 4 to iOS7 and its terrible. The device slowed down and makes the whole iOS7 experience horrible.
 
I updated my daughetrs iphone 4 with ios7. With 7.0.3 it became alot better, but I would still downgrade to 6.x.x if I could. It becomes noticably slower.
 
dont upgrade, phone becomes slow and laggy. I lost my nerves just after 30 minutes of using it. Apps, ipod, messages etc. everything becomes painfully slow
 
It may sound a little weird but I noticed my 4 was a kind of slow performing some tasks when I first d/l ios 7. But it seemed the more I used it, the quicker it became. I was one of the unfortunate stuck with iMessage problems for about a week too. Then BOOM! All my problems were washed away with the release of 7.0.3 Needless to say, saved me at least $1200 (on new phones for the wife and I).
 
So some saying noticeable slow down others not. I'd pray me as iPhone 4 is years old now, and I'd imagine iOS 7 is a lot more resource hungry it would.

Might just leave her on iOS 6.....
 
My iPhone 4 is very slow with iOS7 on it, but I find it running somewhat smoother with the Reduce Motion set to off. That is with the latest iOS 7.0.3
But now I only use it like an ipod touch, since I've got the iphone 5c as my main phone.
 
It ultimately depends on what look you like because aside from iTunes Radio and control center the 4 didn't really get much else besides a UI update.
 
Another thing to consider is backing up (unless you use iCloud backups) and syncs can be problematic on older versions of OSX. I use Win 7 so no problem (yes I actually still like to use itunes to back it up). A friend is running OSX 10.5 with iTunes 10 on his 2008 iMac though and can't back up his iPhone 4 running ios 7. He doesn't want to use iCloud so will have to upgrade.
 
Can't see why you don't use iCloud to backup? No difference, it's free, more convenient and safer though?
 
Reduce motion
Increase contrast
Disable iCloud documents
Disable most background apps update

Did this and my iPhone 4 is running pretty smoothly.
To be honest, though, I'm not going to install it on my wife's. She has no patience for tech hiccups and dislikes changes that force her to relearn old things.
 
I mean the iPhone 4 was made to run iOS 4 so it's probably going to be less than smooth, but probably not a whole lot different then iOS 6 in terms of performance
 
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