Should Apple allow users to downgrade to ios 6?

[me7]

You are assuming that every iOS device running iOS 7 is experiencing the same issues. This is not the case. I for one do not have a problem with my battery nor does my safari crash/freeze (come to think of it, it hasnt ever). My iphone 5 has re-sprung a few times here and there but it's not a daily routine. When I go to settings it does dump me back to the springboard at least once a day. I just shrug and carry on.

There are 1000's of users out there on iOS 7 where the experience is positive. They are not going to come here to "check in" their experience.

The symptoms are harmless for you because you use a device with 1GB of RAM. There is a lot more buffer for memory leaks than with other devices.
Devices with 512MB crash a lot faster when apps start to leak memory. Yesterday, I listened to three albums on my 512MB iPod and each time the music app crashed. I was unable to listen to listen to a single album without my iPod crashing.
It doesn't leak all the time, but when iOS7 decides to leak memory it leaks like there's no tomorrow.

 

[C DM]

You are assuming that every iOS device running iOS 7 is experiencing the same issues. This is not the case. I for one do not have a problem with my battery nor does my safari crash/freeze (come to think of it, it hasnt ever). My iphone 5 has re-sprung a few times here and there but it's not a daily routine. When I go to settings it does dump me back to the springboard at least once a day. I just shrug and carry on.

There are 1000's of users out there on iOS 7 where the experience is positive. They are not going to come here to "check in" their experience.

But then there are those who legitimately have issues of different kinds where a simple thing like going back to a previous version can very likely be of a good deal of help. To some of them it's even more than just annoyances, and actual large usability change where some even feel physiologic effects similar to vertigo--clearly simply carrying on with that or hoping for a possible fix at some point isn't much of a solution as none of that changes their use of their device now, while a rollback to a previous version would take care of that. At least to those people, and even others with lesser issues, discussing the idea of a fairly straightforward solution (even if it's unrealistic so far) is something that is worthwhile. No matter how many people and even how much of majority have positive experiences with the new update would change anything for those people who are actually experiencing issues that are more than little annoyances. (And that's even beside the point that a bunch of people end up even ganging up on those kind of people and just pointlessly calling them liars and whatnot--often indirectly, but sometimes quite directly--which helps things even less.)

 

[Mildredop]

I think Apple should (somehow) allow users to always downgrade to the original OS for that handset.

If I buy an iPhone tomorrow, I'd buy it because it does certain things. If Apple then release iOS 8 which changes the way it operates, I should be able to restore it back to it's original state if I so desire - the state it was in when I handed Apple my money.

 

[C DM]

I think Apple should (somehow) allow users to always downgrade to the original OS for that handset.

If I buy an iPhone tomorrow, I'd buy it because it does certain things. If Apple then release iOS 8 which changes the way it operates, I should be able to restore it back to it's original state if I so desire - the state it was in when I handed Apple my money.

It's posts like that, which simply make too much sense, that get in the way of all the arguments people yearn for on online forums.

 

[KALLT]

You are assuming that every iOS device running iOS 7 is experiencing the same issues. This is not the case. I for one do not have a problem with my battery nor does my safari crash/freeze (come to think of it, it hasnt ever). My iphone 5 has re-sprung a few times here and there but it's not a daily routine. When I go to settings it does dump me back to the springboard at least once a day. I just shrug and carry on.

There are 1000's of users out there on iOS 7 where the experience is positive. They are not going to come here to "check in" their experience.

But does it matter? Just because most people do not seem to experience those issues is not a compelling reason to deny the downgrade. This standpoint trivialises other users' issues with the update, and that is precisely the problem here. By not letting users downgrade their phones, Apple is basically giving the impression that it does not care about those users. It sacrifices a minority for the sake of iOS 7, for the sake of showing everyone that its mobile OS has the highest adoption rates, and in the shortest periods of time, and that a majority of users are happy with it. But this is ultimately a question of consumer satisfaction. What is to be expected from a company that is so full of itself that it refuses to acknowledge problems with its software and doing the best it can to keep all people happy? Letting users downgrade at least ensures that those users are happier than they are now.

 

[Zcott]

No, they shouldn't allow users to downgrade. Updating is optional.

 

[Djay]

No, they shouldn't allow users to downgrade. Updating is optional.

Yes updating is optional. When one clicks the download button it might help for to insert a "pop up" stating it is a "one way street" then requiring a re click. This for the benefit of those helpless inattentives amongst us.

If I had been an early adopter I would hesitate to biatch and moan too much due to a bit of embarrassment that I grabbed the half baked worm so gullibly.

 

[C DM]

No, they shouldn't allow users to downgrade. Updating is optional.

Just because something is optional doesn't mean there shouldn't be a way to undo it. One thing doesn't really have much to do with the other, and certainly doesn't have to be connected just because. At best it might provide a bit less incentive for a downgrade path to necessary, but it certainly doesn't provide anything to preclude it or argue for actually not having it.

 

[Arifater]

Paid customer must be able to decide whether they choose to use iOS 7 or iOS 6. Its funny when apple decide which iOS you should use? When you are the one who paid for it! (well im fine with that as long that iOS satisfactory for me, but on this case, its not!)

 

[Altis]

You are assuming that every iOS device running iOS 7 is experiencing the same issues. This is not the case. I for one do not have a problem with my battery nor does my safari crash/freeze (come to think of it, it hasnt ever). My iphone 5 has re-sprung a few times here and there but it's not a daily routine. When I go to settings it does dump me back to the springboard at least once a day. I just shrug and carry on.

There are 1000's of users out there on iOS 7 where the experience is positive. They are not going to come here to "check in" their experience.

In no way did I mean to imply that all iOS 7 devices have the same issues... That's just silly. I'm sure many work fine, while others suffer from a variety of possible bugs. Lines such as "those who endure bugs" should have made that clear.

I'm happy for those who have no issues with their devices. However, that doesn't take away from those who do have problems that interfere with their daily usage.

 

[nathanmiller99]

I think it is not going to be happend.

 

[MagicHAM]

I think it is not going to be happend.

We know that.

People , you realize this is Apple. They shouldn't allow you to downgrade the phone to your previous iOS just because you have issues or simply don't like the ugliness of a particular aspect of the iOS. Apple shouldn't have to do that at all. You are the consumer , you need to make the decision, whether the new ios7 will fit for you and your device. If you don't like it, or having thoughts that it may not run well - Then don't ugpgrade. It's the same argument all the time.

They allowed you to download ios7 on your iphone 4s and 4's and made it run buggy so they could get you to upgrade to the newest iphones.

 

[Dented]

Paid customer must be able to decide whether they choose to use iOS 7 or iOS 6. Its funny when apple decide which iOS you should use? When you are the one who paid for it! (well im fine with that as long that iOS satisfactory for me, but on this case, its not!)

Apple gave you a choice. If you have IOS 7 on your phone it's because you, as paying customer, chose to install it - simple as that.

 

[betabeta]

The poll results are almost as polarizing as ios7

 

[alexrmc92]

If you keep iOS 6 many of your internet based apps will slowly stop to work as new development will only take place on iOS7 and newer OS's

Personally i don't think the iPhone 4 or similar devices should have gotten the update, many of them seem glitchy. This could just be a bug that will be later fixed though.

Regardless, everyone needs to stop complaining and adopt iOS7. It has it's quirks ATM but so did iOS6 (remember the wifi issues?) when it first came out.

 

[me7]

If you keep iOS 6 many of your internet based apps will slowly stop to work as new development will only take place on iOS7 and newer OS's

I don't use any apps on my iPod, it doesn't even have an internet connection. I'm more concerned about the iOS7 music app refusing to work every now and then. We're not talking about potential future problems, but about problems users have today.

 

[m00min]

As for buggy and half baked. You and most people here have no true idea what goes into software development and testing.

This is funny because given what you've stated you job is nothing in any of your posts on this thread (yes, I've read the whole thing) would lead me to believe you know anything about it either.

People should be able to roll their iDevice OS back to the version it shipped with if they want, on the understanding that they won't get official support. So what if it's then more work for app devs. Cry me a ********** river, most devs NOT building smartphone apps have to deal with fragmentation; software houses don't put out software that only runs on Windows 8, or the latest OS X. Web devs have to ensure sites work on a range of browser. If you don't want to deal with the difficulties of building software maybe a career rethink is in order.

Oh, and the whole lack of fragmentation on iOS is cobblers anyway. All the old, original iPads haven't simply disappeared, there's plenty of people using iPhone 3GSs. If you think there's no difference between an iPhone 4 running iOS 7 and the latest iPhone 5S just remember the differences in screen size, speed, etc.

Fragmentation is simply a convenient stick to beat Android with.

 

[squeakr]

This is funny because given what you've stated you job is nothing in any of your posts on this thread (yes, I've read the whole thing) would lead me to believe you know anything about it either.

People should be able to roll their iDevice OS back to the version it shipped with if they want, on the understanding that they won't get official support. So what if it's then more work for app devs. Cry me a ********** river, most devs NOT building smartphone apps have to deal with fragmentation; software houses don't put out software that only runs on Windows 8, or the latest OS X. Web devs have to ensure sites work on a range of browser. If you don't want to deal with the difficulties of building software maybe a career rethink is in order.

Oh, and the whole lack of fragmentation on iOS is cobblers anyway. All the old, original iPads haven't simply disappeared, there's plenty of people using iPhone 3GSs. If you think there's no difference between an iPhone 4 running iOS 7 and the latest iPhone 5S just remember the differences in screen size, speed, etc.

Fragmentation is simply a convenient stick to beat Android with.

I don't develop software and never claimed to do so, so your claims and recommendations are wrong regarding me. I actually am in the QA test field, but know the SDLC as it pertains to my field directly and I need to know the constraints of it to insure deadlines are met and QA is at the highest.

As for fragmentation, it occurs on the OS side just as bad as the app side as the SDLC applies there as well and what I have been using as a claim that Apple will not allow the rollback because of it. Apple Dev has stopped on ios 6 but would need to be revisited and reopened so that they could create a rollback method that was easy and proven. Imagine the complaining that would be here if they allowed the rollback and people bricked devices. It would be complaints worse than we see now about ios 7. Since their Devs are focusing on ios 7 and you can bet a group is starting ios8 as well that would draw upon their resources even more (heck they had to divert resources from Mavericks and delay it slightly to roll out ios on their scheduled cycle, which people are complaining was rushed to market already as it is).

As for software houses out there that develop and release for only one OS, they do exists and are very prominent. There are lots of Devs that support only one OS and that is why there are many more apps on the ios than any other OS, or that there exists a need for running windows on Mac.

So yes I still stand by my statement that the majority here have no idea what goes into the SDLC.

 

[m00min]

I don't develop software and never claimed to do so, so your claims and recommendations are wrong regarding me. I actually am in the QA test field, but know the SDLC as it pertains to my field directly and I need to know the constraints of it to insure deadlines are met and QA is at the highest.

You were quite clear about being in QA whilst telling everyone how much they don't know. Rather like the bouncer on the club door who thinks they own the place, write all the music, etc. my post wasn't all aimed at you, that's what paragraphs are for.

 

[squeakr]

You were quite clear about being in QA whilst telling everyone how much they don't know. Rather like the bouncer on the club door who thinks they own the place, write all the music, etc. my post wasn't all aimed at you, that's what paragraphs are for.

Nice analogy to discredit and insult someone when you don't even put your credentials out there for scrutiny to back your claims. Does being in QA make me any less knowledgeable or worth civility? Does a Dev command more respect? If I take your stance, would that make you the customer that pays a basic cover charge but think you are a VIP of some sort that the nightclub owes something to and walks around acting like you are part owner talking down at everyone??

I responded about fragmentation as it applies to OS design as well and everyone seems to thinks that it only applies to and affects app Dev.

 

[m00min]

Nice analogy to discredit and insult someone when you don't even put your credentials out there for scrutiny to back your claims. Does being in QA make me any less knowledgeable or worth civility? Does a Dev command more respect?

You were the one throwing "I'm a QA, you know nothing" around, not me. I'm not going to get into a willy waving competition over who has the best job title. Your comments read through the lens of what you say you do led to my opinion, not just your job title. Someone who claims to work in QA seemingly having difficulty telling an issue apart from a missing feature was a bit surprising. I don't judge people by their job, this is a text based forum so I'll judge purely on what someone writes. This is a forum about Apple based products not a professional setting so I don't need to put my credentials out there, just my comments.

 

[squeakr]

Someone who claims to work in QA seemingly having difficulty telling an issue apart from a missing feature was a bit surprising.

I hVe never said I am QA, I said I work in QA, there is a difference. I asked your credentials to find if you actually know what I do or are just insulting me and my profession because it is just an open for and the thing to do, eh uh is shoot down anyone that may actually know what they are talking about and not just offering an opinion (do you consider legal advice on a forum from an actual lawyer to just be opinions or knowledge being imparted, the same with media all advice or do you just speculate everyone is a liar when online?). If you have never done software development or QA testing then you are just speculating based upon about my knowledge, duties, and abilities based upon my job title (of which I threw out there so people wouldn't speculate on my Dev qualities or biases, as I am not a Dev). QA work off a set of test standards and based upon those tests decide the status of a project. Unless you have seen the software layout planning and testing roadmap (of which I haven't), you would not know whether a feature was missing, that was a design issue due to the framework changes involved, or an actual issue (bug). People here automatically assume that something is a bug because it doesn't function like they would like it too, which might not be the case. That is all I was saying is that people here are not in the business and don't know, unless they have seen he plans and know for a fact it to be a bug.

 

[m00min]

^ Ok fine. I'm a web designer, front-end and sometimes back-end developer with 15 years worth of experience. I think that gives me an insight into coding things.

To my mind what Apple have done with both the calendar and music apps is well... it's crap. They've taken out features that worked perfectly well, features that at a guess a lot of people used. Picking an album from an artist with 20 or so albums used to be a simple process, now there's excessive scrolling or typing a search. Yeah, I'd want to type when I'm walking along a street and just want to play an album. Someone obviously decided it would be "kewl" to mirror the functionality of iTunes but forgot that typing on a keyboard when stationary is a different thing to trying to type whilst walking. They have borked the interface and I'd say that's an issue, whoever decided to do that frankly needs a slap.

Also, I would never take legal advice from an online forum.

 

[C DM]

Apple gave you a choice. If you have IOS 7 on your phone it's because you, as paying customer, chose to install it - simple as that.

And what relation does that have to the idea of being able to downgrade? Having a choice to upgrade somehow implies there shouldn't be a choice to downgrade? That doesn't really see to be logically connected.

----------

If you keep iOS 6 many of your internet based apps will slowly stop to work as new development will only take place on iOS7 and newer OS's

Personally i don't think the iPhone 4 or similar devices should have gotten the update, many of them seem glitchy. This could just be a bug that will be later fixed though.

Regardless, everyone needs to stop complaining and adopt iOS7. It has it's quirks ATM but so did iOS6 (remember the wifi issues?) when it first came out.

Really? A lot people on iOS 5 or 4 or even 3 have many apps with data connections that simply stopped working at some point over time?

 

[me7]

To my mind what Apple have done with both the calendar and music apps is well... it's crap. They've taken out features that worked perfectly well, features that at a guess a lot of people used.

I would go even further than that. For me, it was the reason why I bought my iPod in the first place. Now I can store hundreds of albums on my 64GB iPod, but the more I store the less practical the device becomes to use. The new artist view negates the whole purpose of having 64GB of storage for music.