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iPad Is there any good reason to put iOS 8 on an iPad 2?
- Thread starter vexorg
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The choice is yours.
I am not sure I would as you may gain some features but at the expense of some speed. Your choice is a hard one but I think I would leave well enough alone.
I am not sure I would as you may gain some features but at the expense of some speed. Your choice is a hard one but I think I would leave well enough alone.
For me, ios 7 killed my ipad 3. Ios 8 helped a little, but still too laggy compared to the good ol days of ios 6. I say if it works well for you then don't upgrade.
I find it hard to believe that iOS 8 works better on your ipad 3 than iOS 7.1.2 did. Even my mum's Air isn't as smooth on 8.1.1 as it was on 7.1.2. I have a 3 on 7.1.2 and I'm sure as heck not going to upgrade it, ever. I would advise OP to leave his/her 2 on 7 aswell. What is to gain going to 8 on an ipad 2? The drop in performance will outdo any possible minimal feature bonus.
My iPad 3 was unusable on iOS 8. Just going to the forum it lagged like crazy. There's no way I would put iOS 8 on an iPad 2.
Air Gen 1 with 7.1.2 is by far the smoothest and most stable iPad experience to date.
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iOS 7 killed my iPad 3 initially, but by iOS 7.1, my old iPad 3 was usable, and for the most part, fairly smooth for most of the operating system. iOS 8 just killed it and threw it in a shallow grave.
Let's hope we will see a similar performance increase in coming iOS 8 updates, because as it is now I'm keeping the two rMini's in our household on 7.1.2 aswell.
My iPad mini (basically the same hardware as the iPad 2) was usable under iOS 7 but the upgrade to 8 killed it. It would lag and stutter constantly. What solved it was doing a factory restore to iOS8 and setting it up as a new device. No lag and feels good now. I had similar problems with my old iPad 1, and iPhone 4 so I wiped both those and set them up fresh with the latest iOS they support (5.1.1 on iPad and 7.1.2 on iPhone) and both were suddenly usable again. I think the problem must be with going the upgrade route you end up with all sorts of stuff running in the background which causes the OS to go really slow. Wiping and reinstalling seems to fix it well.
Clean installs are always the way to go on older devices, DFU and restore the device that way everything is nice and clean. I've seen iPad 2 and iPad 3 run iOS 8 fairly well, smoother than 7 due to the new optimizations in 8.1.1+ for older devices.
Certainly not as smooth as a Mini 2/3 or Air, but it holds it own fairly well.
So, if you decide to go for it I'd recommend backing up the device or moving things like pictures to a computer and doing at the very least a clean install and restore from backup. If possible I would do a wipe and set up as new then move things like pictures back and sync everything else, this may not be the best option though if you have saved games that do not sync with Facebook / Game Center.
Certainly not as smooth as a Mini 2/3 or Air, but it holds it own fairly well.
So, if you decide to go for it I'd recommend backing up the device or moving things like pictures to a computer and doing at the very least a clean install and restore from backup. If possible I would do a wipe and set up as new then move things like pictures back and sync everything else, this may not be the best option though if you have saved games that do not sync with Facebook / Game Center.
I have an iPad3 I let mine get as close as iOS7 and that is her stop point. I am giving it to my parents for Xmas (dad keeps hogging mom's iPad2)and I will be advising them to NOT update it ever, same with their iPad2 (which mom updated to iOS7 by mistake, luckily it still works ok). Mind you they are not fussy users so if there is lag, they don't really notice much being old tech as they are 
I read what I believe to be sound advice from someone on these forums and he/she said something to the effect of: That they will update their iOS devices only One version up from the existing version that they purchased it at.
It seems like a solid policy, but does kind of limit all of the new goodies that come with new toys. However I value smooth running over bells and whistles.
I read what I believe to be sound advice from someone on these forums and he/she said something to the effect of: That they will update their iOS devices only One version up from the existing version that they purchased it at.
It seems like a solid policy, but does kind of limit all of the new goodies that come with new toys. However I value smooth running over bells and whistles.
I have an iPad3 I let mine get as close as iOS7 and that is her stop point. I am giving it to my parents for Xmas (dad keeps hogging mom's iPad2)and I will be advising them to NOT update it ever, same with their iPad2 (which mom updated to iOS7 by mistake, luckily it still works ok). Mind you they are not fussy users so if there is lag, they don't really notice much being old tech as they are
I read what I believe to be sound advice from someone on these forums and he/she said something to the effect of: That they will update their iOS devices only One version up from the existing version that they purchased it at.
It seems like a solid policy, but does kind of limit all of the new goodies that come with new toys. However I value smooth running over bells and whistles.
My iPad 2 runs quite flawlessly with iOS 7. And that's where it's going to stay. I've already deleted iOS 8.1 because I forget to turn on airplane when I charge it overnight. Just thankful I can dump it.
The biggest reason may be if you wanted to share family purchases which you can only do on iOS 8.
There are 2 reasons for upgrading an iPad2 to iOS8:
First, important apps that you use require iOS 8.
Second, you need an excuse to buy a new iPad. (Installing 8 on the iPad2 will most likely reduce performance and stability)
Anything but the current version of IOS is unpatched and contains security venerabilities. Run at your own risk.
Here's 53 listed by Apple:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201395
Here's 53 listed by Apple:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201395
Internaut
macrumors 65816
No. Sorry. I found out the hard way. Even bugs that were apparent (around gestures) on our iPad 2 and iPad Mini are apparent on our new iPad Air 2s (which otherwise perform to perfection). I don't like iOS 8. It's one of those upgrades that likely cements a lot of Apple's future plans while not being the best option for all end users.