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Should Apple Allow ios7 users to downgrade back to ios 6?

  • Yes

    Votes: 304 52.0%
  • No

    Votes: 271 46.3%
  • Other

    Votes: 10 1.7%

  • Total voters
    585
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The two don't have to be related. Plenty of people that can only do iOS 5 (the original iPad that a lot of people still have), or iOS 4, or iOS 3, and now even way more with 3GS phones (which is a phone that a huge number of people still use) that can only do iOS 6. None of that is destroying or delaying or even really having much of any kind of effect on Apple or anyone else. So, no, not much really would happen if people could downgrade...except that those who would want to downgrade will actually be able to downgrade. iOS, Apple, and the world will keep on going just fine, as before.


Thank you!
 
The "printed info" was all over the web, detailed videos and walkthroughs on Apple's site months before the release, the beta program producing copious reviews (both positive and negative), everything you needed to know was out there.

The test drive - that's a no, and it's always going to be a no. This is an operating system. Performing the update isn't trivial, promising the user that they can just "try it out" on their device means guaranteeing a safe round trip for all their data, and it also requires the user to actually give the new OS a fair crack and not just freak out at the change after 5 minutes and retreat permanently back to the old version, which helps nobody.

You try it in a shop, you refuse the update until you're satisfied with the feedback you heard etc.. but when you update it's a one way street and has to be. If you have issues after that with your device (which didn't show up in the shop or in the reviews etc) then those are bugs which need to be fixed, like any other bugs. Brushing them under the rug of the previous version is never the answer.



Let the market decide. Nothing's changed here, there were people unhappy with IOS 6, and 5 before that, you may think that crowd is bigger now, I'm not so sure. Anecdotally, most of my family and friends have I-something's, I'm "tech support" for most of them, and I've barely heard anything negative about IOS 7.

So explain to me how choosing not to upgrade, after doing due diligence, and seeing that the OS is not to my satisfaction, is different than wanting the capability to downgrade if you find out it is not to your taste?
in a previous post on this page, you in essence said anyone who stays on iOS6 is a "drag on the ecosystem", that we're bogging down progress and splitting Apple/devs attentions...so I'm supposed to upgrade to an operating system which, imo, is less attractive, functional and stable, given the "feedback" I am seeing, for the greater good of all Applekind?...thanks, but no thanks.
 
Yes is the right answer :)

This is such a divisive issue. If 3GS phones are not running ios 7 then and that's not killing apple's ability to "move on," then allowing an iPhone 4 user or an ipad 3 user to choose ios 6 because it runs smoother should be fine with apple.

But, I think it's simply because they want people to buy more devices, and John Doe out there who doesn't post on forums will say "man my device really slowed down. I guess I need a newer one" when in fact the forced ios 7 is what did it.
 
So explain to me how choosing not to upgrade, after doing due diligence, and seeing that the OS is not to my satisfaction, is different than wanting the capability to downgrade if you find out it is not to your taste?
in a previous post on this page, you in essence said anyone who stays on iOS6 is a "drag on the ecosystem", that we're bogging down progress and splitting Apple/devs attentions...so I'm supposed to upgrade to an operating system which, imo, is less attractive, functional and stable, given the "feedback" I am seeing, for the greater good of all Applekind?...thanks, but no thanks.


Due diligence should not be a requirement. It's an iDevice. A toy to make us happy. If it doesn't we vote with our dollars.

I am happily dragging on the ecosystem ;)
 
Yes is the right answer :)

This is such a divisive issue. If 3GS phones are not running ios 7 then and that's not killing apple's ability to "move on," then allowing an iPhone 4 user or an ipad 3 user to choose ios 6 because it runs smoother should be fine with apple.

But, I think it's simply because they want people to buy more devices, and John Doe out there who doesn't post on forums will say "man my device really slowed down. I guess I need a newer one" when in fact the forced ios 7 is what did it.
That's the strange thing, it shouldn't be a divisive issue at all. From the consumer end of things there's really no rationale to argue against having the option available to downgrade. If you don't want to use it, then don't, but whether or not someone can use it or decides to use it would have no meaningful consequences to you, so therefore, from the consumer side of things there's really no rational reason to say that an option shouldn't exist.

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So explain to me how choosing not to upgrade, after doing due diligence, and seeing that the OS is not to my satisfaction, is different than wanting the capability to downgrade if you find out it is not to your taste?
in a previous post on this page, you in essence said anyone who stays on iOS6 is a "drag on the ecosystem", that we're bogging down progress and splitting Apple/devs attentions...so I'm supposed to upgrade to an operating system which, imo, is less attractive, functional and stable, given the "feedback" I am seeing, for the greater good of all Applekind?...thanks, but no thanks.
And there's certainly that--if tons of people decide to not upgrade, given that the option that is currently available, is iOS or Apple going to fall apart? No, it won't happen. So having a downgrade option won't bring something like that about either. Sure, it would be more work for Apple to provide such an option and to support it, of course, but that's not really what's under discussion.
 
And there's certainly that--if tons of people decide to not upgrade, given that the option that is currently available, is iOS or Apple going to fall apart? No, it won't happen. So having a downgrade option won't bring something like that about either. Sure, it would be more work for Apple to provide such an option and to support it, of course, but that's not really what's under discussion.

Also, if Apple saw a comparatively high percentage of people choosing to downgrade they might get a clue they need to try harder. Take Microsoft as an example, they released Vista which was rightly panned. They learned from that and the next OS was much better*. Frankly Apple need to pull their finger out and stop adding gimmicky crap that degrades the user experience for no gain.

Apple must rub their hands with glee over all the users who imbue their iDevices with some "special consideration" as it allows them to pull crap like degrading user's devices without recourse.

* Of course MS has since released Windows 8 so any knowledge gained doesn't seem to last beyond the "corrective" version.
 
Also, if Apple saw a comparatively high percentage of people choosing to downgrade they might get a clue they need to try harder. Take Microsoft as an example, they released Vista which was rightly panned. They learned from that and the next OS was much better*. Frankly Apple need to pull their finger out and stop adding gimmicky crap that degrades the user experience for no gain.

Apple must rub their hands with glee over all the users who imbue their iDevices with some "special consideration" as it allows them to pull crap like degrading user's devices without recourse.

* Of course MS has since released Windows 8 so any knowledge gained doesn't seem to last beyond the "corrective" version.

Of course the next version is going to be better. This was the first release of a whole new direction for iOS. It is generally very good, but there are some minor issues that will be fixed in the future. iOS 7 isn't anywhere close to how bad Vista was.
 
Of course the next version is going to be better. This was the first release of a whole new direction for iOS. It is generally very good, but there are some minor issues that will be fixed in the future. iOS 7 isn't anywhere close to how bad Vista was.

Really depends on your usage. Some iPod users are rightfully pissed off as the UI changes in one app affect them more than an iPhone user who might use the music app less.
 
Really depends on your usage. Some iPod users are rightfully pissed off as the UI changes in one app affect them more than an iPhone user who might use the music app less.

Are you referring to the new way of displaying songs for an artist?
 
They may change that according to how much feedback they get about it.

Well I'm sure the possibility of "may change that" is really comforting to people who are unhappy with what Apple have done to their devices now.

I know if I was in that position I'd be pissed off to the point of looking for a new music player.
 
Really depends on your usage. Some iPod users are rightfully pissed off as the UI changes in one app affect them more than an iPhone user who might use the music app less.

I was about to say our kids use the music on their ipods non-stop, then remembered they appear to be be lucky ones with 4G and no IOS7 support :D
 
Well I'm sure the possibility of "may change that" is really comforting to people who are unhappy with what Apple have done to their devices now.

I know if I was in that position I'd be pissed off to the point of looking for a new music player.

Oh yes, I'm very pissed. I paid 400€ for my 64GB iPod and now it's crippled to the point that I miss my old clickwheel iPod. Browsing music on that was more pleasant than it is now on iOS7.
If this isn't changed in the coming weeks, I'm going to my local consumer protection office to inform me about ways to demand my money back. Crippling core functionality with a software update like this is not acceptable, especially considering how easy it would be to go back to iOS6 if Apple only allowed it.

And what's with people who claim that it isn't as bad as Vista? I've used XP, Vista, iOS6 and iOS7. Vista was nowhere near as bad as iOS7. Actually, the only thing that was really bad about Vista were the drivers. I got a ton of Bluescreen crashes but they were always caused by the nVidia graphics driver.
Here however, it's iOS7 itself that had crippled the usability of the calendar and music apps along with constant cashes of core apps. iOS7 is worse than Vista, and Apple makes it impossible to roll back to the previous version.
 
"Certain situations"? How is plain listening to music on an iPod a special case? It's the whole purpose why i bought the device in the first place. I don't do anything else than select and album, listen to it, select a new album, listen to it,... and so on. And still the device crashes all the time. This is not a "certain situation", it's a disaster.
The special case is that YOU are having a problem that other people are not. I don't mean the album thing; that's a feature, even if an undesirable one. But the routine crashing is not normal. Many people using 7's music player are not having that problem, so there's *something* different in your case.

The "printed info" was all over the web, detailed videos and walkthroughs on Apple's site months before the release, the beta program producing copious reviews (both positive and negative), everything you needed to know was out there.
Up until the last clause, you're right. But no, that's very clearly and obviously NOT "everything you needed to know." How it works on your device, with your apps and your pattern of usage is absolutely vital to deciding what OS is better, and you cannot get that information with a reasonable level of accuracy from any amount of reading.

The test drive - that's a no, and it's always going to be a no. This is an operating system. Performing the update isn't trivial, promising the user that they can just "try it out" on their device means guaranteeing a safe round trip for all their data, and it also requires the user to actually give the new OS a fair crack and not just freak out at the change after 5 minutes and retreat permanently back to the old version, which helps nobody.
Giving no valid reason whatsoever for its "always going to be a no." Nobody said rolling back an operating system had to be easy. But why, other than those rooted in the desire itself to force everyone to use the new version, should it be worse than the computer equivalent: wipe the system, install the old OS the same way you would before the new existed, restore data from the last compatible backup?

You try it in a shop, you refuse the update until you're satisfied with the feedback you heard etc.. but when you update it's a one way street and has to be.
I'm sorry, but that it "has to be" is a boldfaced lie, pure and simple. Absolute proof of its falsehood is the two or three days where it was allowed. And you haven't given any reason that's actually worth the typing for WHY people should have take that it will work for them in real life as well as it works on a display device at the store on faith, rather than being able to backtrack (with the loss of a few days' data) if it's unsatisfactory. "Because Apple/developers/anyone at all other than the user himself need you to use the new version" doesn't qualify. Especially given the obvious fact that many of what people here consider bugs will never be fixed, either because they're deliberate or because the underlying problem is squeezing software that demands just a bit too much onto devices that can barely handle it.

And (so far, at least) I love iOS 7.

I can think of two reasons, though, not to allow downgrades. One definite, the other at least plausible, and neither, as far as I can tell, much mentioned. The first is that not cutting off iOS 6 installations in the first place is a very different thing from re-allowing them. If they'd never stopped letting people downgrade, that would have been great, but starting to *now* would be a PR disaster.

The other, I'm far less sure of, but it's Activation Lock. iOS 6 doesn't have it. If a stolen device with 7 is locked, and if it were possible to install 6, would doing so bypass the protection? If so, that would make what is probably 7's most valuable practical feature absolutely worthless on everything but the iPhone 5C and 5S. THAT would be a truly legitimate reason not to allow downgrading.
 
The other, I'm far less sure of, but it's Activation Lock. iOS 6 doesn't have it. If a stolen device with 7 is locked, and if it were possible to install 6, would doing so bypass the protection? If so, that would make what is probably 7's most valuable practical feature absolutely worthless on everything but the iPhone 5C and 5S. THAT would be a truly legitimate reason not to allow downgrading.

Activation Lock persists even if iOS 6 is reinstalled on the device. It is a server side thing and not dependent on the firmware you are on. That being said, you must have been on iOS 7 at some point to enable it.

This was confirmed during the beta period when people were able to reinstall iOS 6. People who did so noted that Activation Lock was still active after they restored to iOS 6.
 
Oh yes, I'm very pissed. I paid 400€ for my 64GB iPod and now it's crippled to the point that I miss my old clickwheel iPod. Browsing music on that was more pleasant than it is now on iOS7.
If this isn't changed in the coming weeks, I'm going to my local consumer protection office to inform me about ways to demand my money back. Crippling core functionality with a software update like this is not acceptable, especially considering how easy it would be to go back to iOS6 if Apple only allowed it.

And what's with people who claim that it isn't as bad as Vista? I've used XP, Vista, iOS6 and iOS7. Vista was nowhere near as bad as iOS7. Actually, the only thing that was really bad about Vista were the drivers. I got a ton of Bluescreen crashes but they were always caused by the nVidia graphics driver.
Here however, it's iOS7 itself that had crippled the usability of the calendar and music apps along with constant cashes of core apps. iOS7 is worse than Vista, and Apple makes it impossible to roll back to the previous version.


You really don't remember Vista, then, do you?

iOS 7 works fine in almost every regard. There are some bugs, yes, and I'm not huge into the music app change, but it's a minor thing for me. I can still navigate it.

Quit being over dramatic.
 
You really don't remember Vista, then, do you?

iOS 7 works fine in almost every regard. There are some bugs, yes, and I'm not huge into the music app change, but it's a minor thing for me. I can still navigate it.

Quit being over dramatic.

I had no trouble on Vista, it's better than XP and basically the same as 7.
 
I had no trouble on Vista, it's better than XP and basically the same as 7.

Haha. That wins the prize for possibly the stupidest thing I've read all week (and frequenting this forum I've read a lot of stupid in the last seven days).
 
I had no trouble on Vista, it's better than XP and basically the same as 7.

I'd choose xp over vista any day. The difference was there was nothing stopping you buy xp at the same time and installing it with full support from microsoft.
 
I smell a class action coming on that Apple cannot win. While I like 7 'ok', I still can't get my head around the notion that unlike any other electronic device, there is no reverting back to factory (or original purchase) state.

There is a host of reasons a customer would want or need to go backward, even if only temporarily. I don't believe Apple has a legal leg to stand on in refusing to revert a device back to its orginal state.

Flame away, and remember, I'm ok with 7 with no real need to go back.

Quaint notion of ownership? Really?


No one has been able to go back to the original purchase state in awhile. When was the last time you could go back to iOS 6.0? Last I heard is no one could do that for quite some time.
 
You allow users to change back to an older OS and it will create feature and app incompatibility, will create fragmentation of OS updates and will allow security risks as you wont get the latest updates and fixes...

I can't see what else there is to it. Any issues with the current OS can be fixed and most likely will be as this is only the first released build of the OS.
 
I can't see what else there is to it.

You can't see that anyone running an iPhone 4 or ipad 3 or below slows down the experience on ios7? That's what there is to it. Apple slowing down their own devices to make more profit by making people upgrade to newer devices.

If you're simply ignoring that then you aren't being honest enough to the issue.
 
You can't see that anyone running an iPhone 4 or ipad 3 or below slows down the experience on ios7? That's what there is to it. Apple slowing down their own devices to make more profit by making people upgrade to newer devices.

If you're simply ignoring that then you aren't being honest enough to the issue.

You might of had an argument if I wasnt running an iPhone 4 32gb. Its nowhere near as good or fluid as an iPhone 5S but it is not the drama yourself and others make it out to be.

The fact is the tech is outdated, I will be updating to the 6, you can update, make do or move on to another make. The choices are that simple.
 
You allow users to change back to an older OS and it will create feature and app incompatibility, will create fragmentation of OS updates and will allow security risks as you wont get the latest updates and fixes...

I can't see what else there is to it. Any issues with the current OS can be fixed and most likely will be as this is only the first released build of the OS.
A huge number of people use 3GS these days and can't be on iOS 7 even if they wanted to, and if you throw in tons of people who got the original iPad when it was released and still have and use it, you have that much larger of a userbase all who can't use iOS 7. Apple not any developers aren't exactly worried about that causing some sort of fragmentation or other issues. If people were allowed to downgrade that would just add on to that already fairly large population of users without creating a black hole or anything else problematic happening.
 
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