iPhone 5 or earlier is iPhone 5 still useable? what's the best OS version for it?

[peterlingoal]

Today I accidentally discovered my long-lost iPhone 5, and found out it's still working!

I would like to use it as a backup phone, is this still usable? what's the best OS version for it?

 

[Elitegate]

For phone calls and basic stuff like some Apps that are still compatible with iOS 10, for some light browsing and e-mail etc..., yes it still works just fine. So probably just wanna go with the latest version available for it, iOS 10.3.4.

Obviously iOS 6 is the fastest and snappiest for it, but you'll need to jailbreak 10.3.4 in order for you to be able to downgrade / dual-boot to iOS 6 (or any other firmware between 6 - 9, and almost no compatible apps do exist for iOS 6 anymore.) So for daily use, i'd recommend iOS 10.

 

[peterlingoal]

thank you!

I really miss the old days... when phone is a tool who only shows up when needed. I feel nowadays phone is my master...

 

[Elitegate]

thank you!

I really miss the old days... when phone is a tool who only shows up when needed. I feel nowadays phone is my master...

You are welcome. A smartphone is a portable computer with the ability to also make phone calls.

 

[freakomac]

My iPhone 5 still works, only downside is battery has degraded a lot, so its just there as a standby/ spare phone. I loved iOS 6 and 8. iOS 7 was bad, 9 and 10 were fine. For the phone to be usable/ compatible with apps of today you'll need iOS 10 for sure.

 

[now i see it]

I've got an iPhone 5 on the latest version of iOS 10 and it seems to run the same as it did on iOS 9. But.... It has a new battery.
iOS 10 introduced the scandalous CPU throttling which cuts the performance of the iPhone permanently if a low power crash occurred until a new battery gets installed.
iOS 11 allowed the user to opt out.
So if your iPhone 5 has an old battery - either it might run slow as a dog because of throttling or will in the near future until a new battery gets installed

 

[peterlingoal]

thanks for the tips!

do I need to install the authenticated battery which must be very expensive, or a third party one would do?

 

[maerz001]

thanks for the tips!

do I need to install the authenticated battery which must be very expensive, or a third party one would do?

No need to. But look at the reviews when buying from 3rd parties as there are huge quality differences. Just looking at the mAh capacity doesnt help as they could be lemons regardless