Update iPad Pro 9.7 to 15? What is performance like?

[bmac89]

Hello,

I have the original iPad Pro 9.7” 2016 which I use as my primary device. Is anyone still using this device and how does it perform on iPadOS 15? Or perhaps you have chosen not to update? How does performance compare to 13 and 14? I like to get as much life out of my electronic devices so I don’t want to update and basically turn the device into a slug. I’m definitely not one to regularly buy new devices.

I know iPadOS 16 is imminent but I have no intention of updating straight away. However if anyone is running the iPadOS 16 beta on the iPad Pro 9.7” I would be interested to know what the performance is like. Being a beta, obviously things can change rapidly but I’m still interested to know.

Many Thanks!

 

[FeliApple]

Firstly, I’d like to apologise because I can’t answer your question. I have a 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12. Which iOS version is your 9.7-inch iPad Pro on, and how’s battery life and performance for you?

Mine on iOS 12… I’d describe performance as decent (occasional keyboard lag, which wasn’t present on iOS 9, before Apple forced me to iOS 12 three years ago, otherwise it’s good) and battery life as highly mediocre, barely scraping 10 hours with light use (maybe even less, 8 or 9), whereas it would get 13-14.5 on iOS 9. How’s yours?

I don’t know if this helps, but if I may, the other device with a comparable SoC is the iPhone 6s. People have reported mediocre performance (a little more lag, maybe, especially whilst using the keyboard), even though it’s not unusable, but abhorrent battery life. It is highly likely that the same issue remains on iPadOS 15. Performance will be mediocre but usable, and battery life will be abhorrent. I tried an iPhone 6s on iOS 13 (which is not 15), and the keyboard is scarily laggy. I’m used to something a lot better, considering I use an iPhone 6s on iOS 10 daily.

 

[rmc2000]

Hello,

I have the original iPad Pro 9.7” 2016 which I use as my primary device. Is anyone still using this device and how does it perform on iPadOS 15? Or perhaps you have chosen not to update? How does performance compare to 13 and 14? I like to get as much life out of my electronic devices so I don’t want to update and basically turn the device into a slug. I’m definitely not one to regularly buy new devices.

I know iPadOS 16 is imminent but I have no intention of updating straight away. However if anyone is running the iPadOS 16 beta on the iPad Pro 9.7” I would be interested to know what the performance is like. Being a beta, obviously things can change rapidly but I’m still interested to know.

Many Thanks!

I have an iPad Pro 9.7” 2016, wifi, 32GB and a Smart Keyboard. I have used it with iPad OS 15 and it is presently running iPad OS 16. The iPad is still usable, though does have moments where there is a pause between touch input and registering that touch input. It also is no longer possible to run software updates without connecting to a computer. After a fresh iPad OS install, the system portion of available storage quickly eats a good deal of space. Even with just a few apps installed, updating the OS for a small update will require temporarily removing the apps for space.

To best speak on usability, in testing, I can just pull out my phone to do whatever it is I am trying to do on the iPad and I am finished before the iPad even begins to catch up. Though it is usable with patience, I would not be able to function with this as a primary device.

 

[bmac89]

Which iOS version is your 9.7-inch iPad Pro on, and how’s battery life and performance for you?

Mine is on 13. I can’t remember if I even used 12. I think I may have gone straight from 11 to 13. From the two replies so far it sounds like the performance is (or is likely to be) even worse than I expected.

I haven’t noticed keyboard lag but I have noticed that when opening or switching apps there is often a black screen before it loads. Also it crashes if you switch between multiple apps too quickly and Safari tabs tend to reload if you switch apps and back.

The reason I was asking is because I was wondering whether to update to 15 before the shutoff with the release of 16 as I expect 16 will be the last update and would likely be brutal for this device.

I have an iPad Pro 9.7” 2016, wifi, 32GB and a Smart Keyboard. I have used it with iPad OS 15 and it is presently running iPad OS 16. The iPad is still usable, though does have moments where there is a pause between touch input and registering that touch input.

To best speak on usability, in testing, I can just pull out my phone to do whatever it is I am trying to do on the iPad and I am finished before the iPad even begins to catch up. Though it is usable with patience, I would not be able to function with this as a primary device.

That sounds terrible. Delayed touch input and finishing task on phone before ipad even catches up. This sounds much worse than I expected. Was it this bad on 15 as well?

I find my device on 13 is still usable. The only functional slow down in daily use is when opening or switching an app it can sometime have a black screen before loading. Apart from this the ipad sometimes crashes if I switch between multiple apps too quickly.

 

[FeliApple]

Mine is on 13. I can’t remember if I even used 12. I think I may have gone straight from 11 to 13. From the two replies so far it sounds like the performance is (or is likely to be) even worse than I expected.

I haven’t noticed keyboard lag but I have noticed that when opening or switching apps there is often a black screen before it loads. Also it crashes if you switch between multiple apps too quickly and Safari tabs tend to reload if you switch apps and back.

The reason I was asking is because I was wondering whether to update to 15 before the shutoff with the release of 16 as I expect 16 will be the last update and would likely be brutal for this device.



That sounds terrible. Delayed touch input and finishing task on phone before ipad even catches up. This sounds much worse than I expected. Was it this bad on 15 as well?

I find my device on 13 is still usable. The only functional slow down in daily use is when opening or switching an app it can sometime have a black screen before loading. Apart from this the ipad sometimes crashes if I switch between multiple apps too quickly.

So performance is even more mediocre on iPadOS 13? Yeah, I wouldn’t do it. That coupled with what the other user said (and the fact that you cannot go back) makes it a one way ticket to a possible decline in performance that, should it materialize, would render the iPad barely usable. The other user’s description is honestly quite scary. Considering the 6s is pretty bad on iOS 13 though, I guess that’s to be expected.

 

[ThrowerGB]

Hello,

I have the original iPad Pro 9.7” 2016 which I use as my primary device. Is anyone still using this device and how does it perform on iPadOS 15? Or perhaps you have chosen not to update? How does performance compare to 13 and 14? I like to get as much life out of my electronic devices so I don’t want to update and basically turn the device into a slug. I’m definitely not one to regularly buy new devices.thesamethemachine,

I know iPadOS 16 is imminent but I have no intention of updating straight away. However if anyone is running the iPadOS 16 beta on the iPad Pro 9.7” I would be interested to know what the performance is like. Being a beta, obviously things can change rapidly but I’m still interested to know.

Many Thanks!

I have the same machine. It has 256 GB with 89.43 GB still available. It’s running iPadOS 15.7, the latest version. I’m not using it with any peripherals. I have cellular turned off and just use WiFi. I don’t store photos in iCloud to save space and don’t download music, so there’s not a lot of traffic for WiFi to deal with.

It responds just fine for me. But I can’t really remember what it was like when I got it. Of course a lot of the apps we have these days do more than in the past, so that may have an impact. I also understand that how much memory you have free can have an impact on performance too.

 

[erikkfi]

I have noticed that when opening or switching apps there is often a black screen before it loads. Also it crashes if you switch between multiple apps too quickly and Safari tabs tend to reload if you switch apps and back.

My 9.7" Pro doesn't have these issues on iPadOS 15, even. Although my use cases are pretty light: news apps, Apollo, banking, Mail. Interested in hearing from others on whether going from 15 to 16 makes a noticeable further dent in the usability of this frankly great device.

 

[FeliApple]

My 9.7" Pro doesn't have these issues on iPadOS 15, even. Although my use cases are pretty light: news apps, Apollo, banking, Mail. Interested in hearing from others on whether going from 15 to 16 makes a noticeable further dent in the usability of this frankly great device.

How’s battery life on iPadOS 15 (how many hours of screen-on time)? I ask because I saw a significant (3 to 5-hour decline, from about 12.5-14 hours to 8-11, depending on usage) when Apple forced my 9.7-inch iPad Pro from iOS 9 to iOS 12. The few posts I’ve seen about this iPad say it is around 5-6 hours of screen-on time, which would be about 3 to 5 hours below what I’m getting now (best case scenario). How’s yours? How many hours are you getting with that light use?

 

[Furby2005]

I'm running iPadOS 16.1 on a 9.7-inch iPad Pro with no glitches or slowdowns whatsoever. If anything, the iPad feels smoother and more responsive than ever. Battery life is fine too. Sadly, this will probably be the last OS update this model receives, frankly I was surprised but very pleased that it was included. I've never had any issues with running the most up-to-date OS available on any of my Apple devices; indeed it's often beneficial to push them beyond the official releases, such as El Captain on my Mac Pro 1,1 and Monterey with OCLP on my mid 2012 MacBook Pro.

 

[bmac89]

I thoroughly regret updating my iPad Pro 9.7 to 15.7.

It has turned a perfectly functioning device into a totally useless device.
I have never experienced any update this buggy and slow before and I have done many beta tests. There is literally not one single app or OS feature that works even remotely normally. The only thing that still works are the hardware buttons.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ipados-15-7-extremely-buggy-ipad-unusable.2367539/

I am (or atleast was) a big Apple fan for the past 15+ years but if I ever buy another Apple device I will NEVER update the OS unless I can downgrade back. I have learnt my lesson the hard way!

 

[Populus]

I thoroughly regret updating my iPad Pro 9.7 to 15.7.

It has turned a perfectly functioning device into a totally useless device.
I have never experienced any update this buggy and slow before and I have done many beta tests. There is literally not one single app or OS feature that works even remotely normally. The only thing that still works are the hardware buttons.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ipados-15-7-extremely-buggy-ipad-unusable.2367539/

I am (or atleast was) a big Apple fan for the past 15+ years but if I ever buy another Apple device I will NEVER update the OS unless I can downgrade back. I have learnt my lesson the hard way!

Which iPadOS version where you on prior to this update to 15.7? Maybe you were on iPadOS 14?

I noticed a slight performance hit on my iPhone 8, going from iOS 14 to 15 but nothing especially bad, but I understand that on an A9 device it will probably be more noticeable.

 

[FeliApple]

I'm running iPadOS 16.1 on a 9.7-inch iPad Pro with no glitches or slowdowns whatsoever. If anything, the iPad feels smoother and more responsive than ever. Battery life is fine too. Sadly, this will probably be the last OS update this model receives, frankly I was surprised but very pleased that it was included. I've never had any issues with running the most up-to-date OS available on any of my Apple devices; indeed it's often beneficial to push them beyond the official releases, such as El Captain on my Mac Pro 1,1 and Monterey with OCLP on my mid 2012 MacBook Pro.

When you say that battery life on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is fine, what exactly do you mean by that? How many hours of screen-on time are you getting?

 

[ThrowerGB]

Sorry@FeliApple. I haven't made any measurements. My response was a qualitative impression.

 

[Furby2005]

When you say that battery life on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is fine, what exactly do you mean by that? How many hours of screen-on time are you getting?

I generally average about a couple of hours use a day, and after 3 days I usually still have about 40-50% battery left.