iPad We need to file a complaint!

[Gix1k]

Around the Air 1 model, the iPad had enough horsepower for my kid and wife to watch movies and play various games. At this point, I have three Air 1's, 2 Mini's and an Air 2 that still work perfectly fine, but have maxed out on IOS updates that have basically rendered them useless due to most apps requiring a later version.....even movie apps!! Trade and resale value is crap. You're literally forced to upgrade to a new device. I bought an Air 4 to replace my Air 2. Then bought an Air 5 and gave the Air 4 to wife. Kid to getting a Mini 6 next month for Bday.

 

[rui no onna]

At least they still have trade in value. I think you’d get pretty much $0 for any Android or Windows tablet released circa 2013-14 (almost 8-9 years old). They perform even worse than same vintage iPads, too.

 

[StumpyBloke]

Your original iPad Air was released nearly 9 years ago: try getting that longevity from any other tech manufacturer… You won’t.

How long do you expect them to support them? You do not have a leg to stand on if you want to complain, but you go for it. You won’t get anybody else joining you though in my opinion.

 

[iStorm]

...and an Air 2 that still work perfectly fine, but have maxed out on IOS updates that have basically rendered them useless due to most apps requiring a later version.....even movie apps!! ... I bought an Air 4 to replace my Air 2.

Huh? iPadOS has not dropped support for the Air 2 yet. It can get the latest version of iPadOS 15. All my apps still work fine on my Air 2.

 

[Gix1k]

I’m not looking for Apple support. I’m just saying at least allow movie apps and such to still be useable. Sure, they still have “value” and work better than any Android tablet, but what good is that if you cannot do anything with them other than native stuff.

 

[Gix1k]

Huh? iPadOS has not dropped support for the Air 2 yet. It can get the latest version of iPadOS 15. All my apps still work fine on my Air 2.

Sure that one still works. Just listing my iPad inventory.

 

[Gix1k]

Your original iPad Air was released nearly 9 years ago: try getting that longevity from any other tech manufacturer… You won’t.

How long do you expect them to support them? You do not have a leg to stand on if you want to complain, but you go for it. You won’t get anybody else joining you though in my opinion.

So because it was released 9 years ago it’s too old to watch a Peacock app, Paramount, Disney, etc….why? It should still be able to do those things, maybe not as good, sure.
It’s just me talking, guy….Apple doesn’t care what I think.

 

[rui no onna]

I’m not looking for Apple support. I’m just saying at least allow movie apps and such to still be useable. Sure, they still have “value” and work better than any Android tablet, but what good is that if you cannot do anything with them other than native stuff.

It’s not Apple but the app developers (Disney, etc) that are requiring the minimum firmware version though. Afaik, Netflix still works even if you can’t install the latest version.

From the app developer’s standpoint, it’s likely not worth the cost for them to test multiple versions for backwards compatibility. Also, it may not even be possible if they’re using API or codecs that’s only present on newer firmware/hardware.

 

[RRC]

Yeah… good luck with that one!

Do we complain that a ten year old car isn’t like new? No…

It’s had a long life, time to upgrade and buy a new one to last another decade.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Honestly, I blame people like you for all these products/updates not being better or impactful. Apple has to support unnecessarily old tablets like yours which means the next big OS update is a big dud because of your old hardware. I like tech evolution and think Apple should limit mobile device support (e.g. iPads, iPhones) to 5yrs max.

 

[dwig]

At least they still have trade in value. I think you’d get pretty much $0 for any Android or Windows tablet released circa 2013-14 (almost 8-9 years old). They perform even worse than same vintage iPads, too.

Perhaps, but I still get OS updates for my 8 year old Dell Venue 8 Pro, which now is running Win10, and which has very few software compatibility issues. The only limitation is that it runs Win10/32bit so there are a few apps that I can't update to the newest versions, all that I ever used in the past still work today.

 

[rui no onna]

Perhaps, but I still get OS updates for my 8 year old Dell Venue 8 Pro, which now is running Win10, and which has very few software compatibility issues. The only limitation is that it runs Win10/32bit so there are a few apps that I can't update to the newest versions, all that I ever used in the past still work today.

Most apps that are not internet dependent still work fine on older iPads, too.

My non-DRM comic and ebook reader apps still worked perfectly fine on the iPad 4th gen (iOS 6 and 10) before I traded that in last year. I believe the Kindle and Netflix apps worked fine as well.

The problem is new apps or when some app developers stop older app versions from working.

Backwards compatibility is a strong point of x86 and probably a huge reason why Windows is so bloated.

 

[Gix1k]

Yeah… good luck with that one!

Do we complain that a ten year old car isn’t like new? No…

It’s had a long life, time to upgrade and buy a new one to last another decade.

A bit of a dumb analogy. A 10 year old car can still go where a 2022 car can go. Takes the same gas, same tires, same roads.

 

[Gix1k]

Honestly, I blame people like you for all these products/updates not being better or impactful. Apple has to support unnecessarily old tablets like yours which means the next big OS update is a big dud because of your old hardware. I like tech evolution and think Apple should limit mobile device support (e.g. iPads, iPhones) to 5yrs max.

You’d blame the consumer because they buy something that satisfies their need and “the next best thing” is more than their use case?

 

[Gix1k]

The experience should be what forces a person to upgrade. Things become unbearable to use to the point I want to do nothing but trash it and rush out to buy the new one….NOT what I had was working fine, you updated software and pushed me out.

 

[icanhazmac]

Honestly, I blame people like you for all these products/updates not being better or impactful. Apple has to support unnecessarily old tablets like yours which means the next big OS update is a big dud because of your old hardware. I like tech evolution and think Apple should limit mobile device support (e.g. iPads, iPhones) to 5yrs max.

I could not disagree more with your opinion.

We should be forced to "throw away" perfectly capable devices after only 5 years? Even with recycling that is an environmental disaster. "Disposable" goods are responsible for a large portion of our environmental and economic woes.

 

[darngooddesign]

Can't you stream with Safari?

 

[ArkSingularity]

To be fair, Apple's hardware has come a LONG way in the last decade. The iPad Air 2 has an A8X in it, which is basically based off the iPhone 6 processor and is about 1/4 the speed of modern iPhone processors. Trying to run any modern version of iPadOS on this processor is going to cause some performance problems.

The tablet/mobile space is changing much faster than the computer space. 10 years on a Mac is very doable (my old one from 2012 still works to this day), but on a tablet, these things just weren't powerful enough back then. They've come a LONG way in the years since.

 

[Gix1k]

To be fair, Apple's hardware has come a LONG way in the last decade. The iPad Air 2 has an A8X in it, which is basically based off the iPhone 6 processor and is about 1/4 the speed of modern iPhone processors. Trying to run any modern version of iPadOS on this processor is going to cause some performance problems.

The tablet/mobile space is changing much faster than the computer space. 10 years on a Mac is very doable (my old one from 2012 still works to this day), but on a tablet, these things just weren't powerful enough back then. They've come a LONG way in the years since.

You’re missing the point….I don’t care that these devices cannot get iOS 15.4.1….they work fine on iOS 12 or wherever they stopped. Your point is valid, they would run terribly on the latest firmware, BUT the device should still have access to apps to be useful.

 

[subjonas]

Honestly, I blame people like you for all these products/updates not being better or impactful. Apple has to support unnecessarily old tablets like yours which means the next big OS update is a big dud because of your old hardware. I like tech evolution and think Apple should limit mobile device support (e.g. iPads, iPhones) to 5yrs max.

I blame oblivious consumers like you for climate change and filling the planet with trash.

 

[LibbyLA]

Perhaps, but I still get OS updates for my 8 year old Dell Venue 8 Pro, which now is running Win10, and which has very few software compatibility issues. The only limitation is that it runs Win10/32bit so there are a few apps that I can't update to the newest versions, all that I ever used in the past still work today.

Wow! I still have one of those but haven’t kept it charged. I replaced it with various Surface devices, with a Go 2 being my current one.

 

[sparksd]

I've run into similar issues with Windows apps that wouldn't run on older versions of Windows. The issue lies with the developers not maintaining support for older versions.

 

[ArkSingularity]

You’re missing the point….I don’t care that these devices cannot get iOS 15.4.1….they work fine on iOS 12 or wherever they stopped. Your point is valid, they would run terribly on the latest firmware, BUT the device should still have access to apps to be useful.

I don't disagree, but the apps themselves are now a lot more hefty than before. Some of it can be chalked up to software bloat (and it's true, it has become a problem across many of the apps that are being used). But a lot of additional functionality is also present and these applications do more, are bigger, require more RAM, and are more computationally expensive.

I disagree with arbitrary cutting off compatibility for a plethora of reasons (if someone wants to install Firefox on a Pentium 3 computer and they're willing to use the Linux binaries for it, there should be no reason that they can't). But modern mobile applications generally aren't going to perform as well on a lot of the older devices because of hardware limitations, and especially RAM limitations. These old tablets can't hold a candle to the newer ones, mobile CPUs have come a LONG way just in the last few years alone.

Apple is actually a lot better about this than Android in my opinion. Apple tends to sometimes arbitrary cut off compatibility for certain applications, but they do give OS updates for far longer than Android does. Many Android tablets are lucky to get more than a single OS upgrade in their lifetime, and I see many iPads lasting 5+ years (which is pretty good for any kind of mobile device these days).

I expect that in the coming years, tablets will last longer and be replaced less. Hardware in tablets is now approaching Mac-class (with the iPad Air now coming with an M1), and I don't think the M1 will be obsolete any time soon.

 

[BigMcGuire]

As someone who updates Macs every 3 years, iPhone at least every year/2 years, and iPads every few years ..... much respect. To get that much usage out of a device is pretty good in my opinion.

I hope to use my current devices a little bit longer now having read this thread.

 

[TiggrToo]

A bit of a dumb analogy. A 10 year old car can still go where a 2022 car can go. Takes the same gas, same tires, same roads.

Our 10 year old car no longer gets GPS updates. So yeah, the car analogy works 100%.