I just bought an iPhone 5s and luckily it came with iOS 7.1.2. When I did a speed test between my brother's iPhone 6 and mine, the 5s was faster at simple tasks and almost identical in opening 3rd party apps. Should I keep iOS 7.1.2 ?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone 5s on iOS 7.1.2 faster that iPhone 6 ?
- Thread starter FatPuppy
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I would recommend it as iOS 8 has slowed down some 5S phones significantly. My friend has a 5S which was updated to iOS 8 and is having a lot of difficulties with the phone now.
If you don't mind losing out on the security updates and the continuity features with OS X Yosemite, then it's fine to stay with 7.1.2. App compatibility though will become more of an issue as developers start using the new APIs built into iOS 8. Compared to iOS 7, which focused on UI changes and transitioning to 64-bit, iOS 8 has much more extensive developer-focused changes.
I've been on iOS 8 since day one, and right now, my 5s is at least as stable and fast with 8.1.2 as it was with 7.1.2. I generally recommend updating using iTunes (which replaces the entire OS directory at once, rather than updating the files piecemeal), since it seems that recent issues have impacted devices updated OTA more frequently. Keep in mind when comparing "speeds", that there are a lot of variables in play (i.e., when the device was last rebooted, whether the caches were recently purged, how many apps are running in the background, whether background refresh is active, whether location services are running, the signal strength, etc.).
Also keep in mind that the 5s running the early iOS 7 was not particularly stable, and had its fair share of performance issues. Comparing to the early versions of iOS 7, iOS 8 has been far more stable with fewer issues on my 5s.
I've been on iOS 8 since day one, and right now, my 5s is at least as stable and fast with 8.1.2 as it was with 7.1.2. I generally recommend updating using iTunes (which replaces the entire OS directory at once, rather than updating the files piecemeal), since it seems that recent issues have impacted devices updated OTA more frequently. Keep in mind when comparing "speeds", that there are a lot of variables in play (i.e., when the device was last rebooted, whether the caches were recently purged, how many apps are running in the background, whether background refresh is active, whether location services are running, the signal strength, etc.).
Also keep in mind that the 5s running the early iOS 7 was not particularly stable, and had its fair share of performance issues. Comparing to the early versions of iOS 7, iOS 8 has been far more stable with fewer issues on my 5s.
Last edited:
For performance reasons, yes.
For security reasons, absolutely not.
IMO, security is paramount, even above performance and user experience. So if I were you, I'd upgrade to iOS 8.1.2, but then that's just my 2 cents.
What security reasons would affect my iPhone 5s running 7.1.2? I have no issues whatsoever.
There are always security updates with software. New patches are coming all the time for issues that are found.
Here are some security fixes just with 8.1.1
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT6590
All the other security updates
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1222
My daughter has an iPhone 5s and with iOS 8 and she loves it.
Last edited:
I would leave it on 7.1.2. I had to restore my i5 when I gave it to my son because it was Jailbroke and under my Apple ID, otherwise I would not have updated it to IOS 8.
Realistically, security probably isn't a concern for many (most?) iPhone users. I am not saying to discredit it completely, but on my personal line I would certain pick performance over security (unless there are reports of some huge breaches occuring, which are extremely few and far between).
Just about the only thing anyone could steal from me are my tweets, facebook posts, and contacts lists. They might see what sorts of music I listen to and webpages I visit. Honestly, I could care less if the world knows about everything I have ever done on my personal line.
Just about the only thing anyone could steal from me are my tweets, facebook posts, and contacts lists. They might see what sorts of music I listen to and webpages I visit. Honestly, I could care less if the world knows about everything I have ever done on my personal line.