iPhone 4 for Mom! iOS 5.1.1 keep or upgrade?

[whyrichard]

Hey,

I am trying my mom out with an iphone 4. she is 3 years old!!! I am excited to be able to video conference with her...


The iphone 4 currently is running ios 5.1.1. Should i upgrade it to the current ios 7.x?

How does 7.x run on the iphone 4???

thanks,

Richard

 

[Givmeabrek]

Your mom is 3 years old? What are you, 1??

Anyway, it should be fine if you upgrade it.

 

[teamjaycub]

If you guys don't have any interest in jailbreaking, I'd suggest updating.

 

[whyrichard]

Your mom is 3 years old? What are you, 1??

Anyway, it should be fine if you upgrade it.

73... she's 73. but either way quite a feat!

 

[cammyg123]

I think the most recent release, 7.0.4, would run just fine on the iPhone 4.

My recommendation - update.

 

[RobertoG]

My sister complains on the slowness of her ip4 on ios 7. Perhaps someone in cl would want to trade a jb ip4 for a non-jb ip4s.

 

[Mrbobb]

HERE is a counterpoint to the just replied.

 

[kingdLo]

Do not upgrade to ios7

 

[dave420]

You should upgrade it. iOS 7 might not be as fast, but there is much more functionality. I've also found the latest update very stable. (I'm not using an iPhone 4 though)

 

[canuckle]

My mom is 70, and has my old iPhone 4. It's running 7.0.4 with no issues. She loves the FaceTime.

 

[boobie12]

Stay on 5.1.1, I feel it's a much easier learning curve for a 73 year old and there is not all that white present.

 

[Twimfy]

I like iOS 7 but I'd recommend you find an ipsw of iOS 6 and make that as far as you go on the iPhone 4. It is a bit slow.

 

[*~Kim~*]

She may be forced to update if you have wiped everything off of the phone, as many apps now require iOS 6 or above to fresh install.

 

[iParis]

Hm. Do you have an iOS device with a newer firmware? Maybe let her use iOS 5 for a while, get used to the interface, show her iOS 7 on one of your devices, then think about upgrading. Even though it changes the OS a lot, using iOS 7 is still the same general concept and UI as past versions of iOS, just with a different look and a lot of new features. I don't think iOS 7 will slow down her iPhone too much, especially since a lot of older people are used to doing things slowly.

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I like iOS 7 but I'd recommend you find an ipsw of iOS 6 and make that as far as you go on the iPhone 4. It is a bit slow.

Uh, it doesn't really work like that. Apple stop signing iOS 6 a long time ago, unless you happen to have shsh blobs for that device.

 

[dontwalkhand]

My mom is 70, and has my old iPhone 4. It's running 7.0.4 with no issues. She loves the FaceTime.

It's funny because my mom calls it "the FaceTime" as well as "the Google"

 

[BittenApple]

Keep it at 5.1.1

 

[Twimfy]

Hm. Do you have an iOS device with a newer firmware? Maybe let her use iOS 5 for a while, get used to the interface, show her iOS 7 on one of your devices, then think about upgrading. Even though it changes the OS a lot, using iOS 7 is still the same general concept and UI as past versions of iOS, just with a different look and a lot of new features. I don't think iOS 7 will slow down her iPhone too much, especially since a lot of older people are used to doing things slowly.

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Uh, it doesn't really work like that. Apple stop signing iOS 6 a long time ago, unless you happen to have shsh blobs for that device.

This I was not aware of. Interesting.

 

[PNutts]

Like the others said: Don't upgrade. If / when she decides she needs the newer stuff the decision can be made at that time. Conversely, be prepared to add a new word to her vocabulary: respring.

 

[foobi]

Dont upgrade to iOS 7 on iPhone 4. She is never gonna play Candy Blast Mania. Lagging like ****.

 

[tooobe]

I would wait for 7.1 to release (which it should soon). It made my iDevices a lot faster, and from what I have read it runs a lot better on the iPhone 4 as well (better than 7.0.4).

 

[hallidc]

I would refrain from updating to iOS 7. My sister updated her iPhone 4 and iOS7 made the phone seem rather laggy and choppy.

 

[canuckle]

It's funny because my mom calls it "the FaceTime" as well as "the Google"

Lol glad someone picked up on that.

 

[JackSpearo]

for her age, don't upgrade, she won't be missing anything and it will be A LOT faster if you don't upgrade.

 

[Camoxide]

Would put iOS 6 on it if you can.

A lot of apps dont or won't support iOS 5.

 

[Consultant]

Well, most people will click "accept" blindly, so she will click the update button when it's presented to her.

Depending on your mom's ability to learn, it might be better to just update so she doesn't have to learn two different versions of os.