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iPhone 6(S)/Plus When will iPhone 6 become unusable do you think?

L

levmc

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 18, 2019
687
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Someone was telling me that since iPhone 6 is now unsupported it will become slow etc so that it would be a good idea to get another phone.

But looking at newer iPhones of similar size, they're all heavier.

6: 129 g
7: 138 g
8: 148 g

If someone wanted to use 6 as long as possible, when would it be until some common apps might not support the latest iOS on 6? Would Twitter always work for years for example before they might stop supporting 6?
 
Might become unusable around the same time my iPhone 4, my iPhone 4s and my iPhone 5 become unusable.
 
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For better or worse, the iPhone 6 is still somewhat popular in emerging markets (think India...). So I'd think it'll still see around 3 years of support for the latest apps - and apps that might be popular in those markets. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc etc etc. And light games.
 
eyoungren said:
Might become unusable around the same time my iPhone 4, my iPhone 4s and my iPhone 5 become unusable.
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What apps do you use with iPhone 4 and what iOS is it on?
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It's good to hear it could last 3 years and that even older models are still usable.
 
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levmc said:
What apps do you use with iPhone 4 and what iOS is it on?
[automerge]1573526888[/automerge]
It's good to hear it could last 3 years and that even older models are still usable.
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My 4 (and my 4s) are media devices that I mainly use for streaming music depending on where I am. That's an older version of Soma FM, Google Music and Pandora. I also use it to monitor my server through iStat Server. That's also an older version of the app that is no longer available in the app store but that is of the same era as the iStat Server I use.

All of those phones are also on my Apple ID so if I happen to be using the phone when a text comes in I'll use them to respond.
 
Imo the iPhone 6/6Plus has become unusable since iOS11. Its 1GB of RAM is really the huge bottleneck. The 6S/6S Plus fare a LOT better and still perform well under iOS13 thanks to their 2GB of RAM.

And yes, newer iPhones are getting heavier due to larger batteries, more components (taptic engine, extra camera module, etc) and use of glass back (iPhone 8 and newer). I don't think we will see a lighter iPhone anytime soon.

As for app support, most apps will still support iOS12. Seems like anything supported by iOS11 or newer will still be oaky in terns of app support.
 
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It’s been unusable for years, all because Apple was being cheap and didn’t properly give it 2gb of RAM. My wife’s mini 4 still works decent because of it.
 
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The 6 is capable of running iOS12. Most popular apps that now require iOS 10-11 to be installed will start requiring iOS 13 in about 2-3 years.
However, if you already have all the apps you need installed, you will be able to continue using older versions of them even when they start requiring iOS 13 as the minimum. You just won’t get the new features. So from the software perspective for basic, core functionality apps you can keep using iPhone 6 for a very long time, 5 years at least. As an example my iPhone 4s which is on iOS 9 still serves ok as a back up phone. All the messengers work, different maps all work, music, mail, and of course native apps all still working fine.
 
I've mentioned this on many posts but the iPhone 6 is far from being unusable.In fact I'm using one right now to type this message. iPhones don't get slower with age, newer versions of iOS slow them down. So if you stay on an older version of iOS, (like the one it shipped with) the phone will stay just as fast as it always was the day you bought it.

For example: my iPhone 6 (plus) is still running iOS 9 and it's exactly as fast as the day I bought it new. It will also be the same speed 5 years from now if it's still running. But eventually you've GOT to upgrade the OS to a newer version. All the apps you've already got will still run but all the banking apps and 3rd party email apps will start closing you out, refusing to work properly or at all. But who needs them? Apple will shut you out if you use too old of an OS. Safari won't work right on a lot of websites, making them unusable.

Then there's the so called security updates on newer iOS versions that really aren't an issue for a law abiding uninteresting user that doesn't visit nefarious websites

I just got an iPhone 8 running iOS 13 and what a let down that is. I've waited 4 years to update the OS and 13 is buggy and definitely not much of a change over iOS 9 except for the most part worse. Some better things, some worse.
Sure the 8 is way faster than my 6 and is running a current version of iOS, but guess what iPhone I use every day? The 6 (plus) on iOS 9.3.5.

Get a 6 and run it until it drops
 
levmc said:
Someone was telling me that since iPhone 6 is now unsupported it will become slow etc so that it would be a good idea to get another phone.

But looking at newer iPhones of similar size, they're all heavier.

6: 129 g
7: 138 g
8: 148 g

If someone wanted to use 6 as long as possible, when would it be until some common apps might not support the latest iOS on 6? Would Twitter always work for years for example before they might stop supporting 6?
Click to expand...

In around two years, when 95% of all Apps in the App Store start to require iOS 13 in order to be installed. But other than that, if you keep the phone in great condition, and have your battery replaced, it can last much longer than that.
 
Elitegate said:
In around two years, when 95% of all Apps in the App Store start to require iOS 13 in order to be installed. But other than that, if you keep the phone in great condition, and have your battery replaced, it can last much longer than that.
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Hard to say that will be in around two years, might be a couple of years beyond that.
 
I've been holding onto my 6 plus and it's unusable for me. The battery health is at 67% so that might be part of the reason.
 
C DM said:
Hard to say that will be in around two years, might be a couple of years beyond that.
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Well iOS 13 is the latest currently, and the Apps now require iOS 11. I'd say it's usually a 2 year period.
 
Elitegate said:
Well iOS 13 is the latest currently, and the Apps now require iOS 11. I'd say it's usually a 2 year period.
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There are certainly quite a few apps that require iOS 11 if not even later, but there are also quite a few that only require iOS 10 or even 9.
 
AppleHaterLover said:
The oldest iPhone I see around these days it the 7 (Plus - the non-Plus has always been quite rare)
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That's kind of neither here nor there as, for example, I see a variety of people using iPhone 6(S) and SE devices.

My comment in terms of going for at least a 6S over a 6 is that the 6S hardware is much closer to what is still reasonable, so to say, for today an near future compared to 6.
 
C DM said:
There are certainly quite a few apps that require iOS 11 if not even later, but there are also quite a few that only require iOS 10 or even 9.
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Yes, there are few left, that's correct, but atleast 70% - 80% require 11 by now. I think an iOS 12 device in 3 - 4 years will be no fun.
 
Elitegate said:
Yes, there are few left, that's correct, but atleast 70% - 80% require 11 by now. I think an iOS 12 device in 3 - 4 years will be no fun.
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I'm not certain about that statistic, but that aside, an iOS device that can't update beyond iOS 12 in 3-4 years will certainly have quite a bit of a lifetime to it, and realistically speaking even if various updates might stop getting new updates, the last versions of those apps would usually be still functional and working essentially as they did before.
 
I think a lot of people that have been using the same phone in the same OD for years aren't very interested in new apps.

Here's an exception: Disney+ streaming app for iOS requires iOS 11 to use it, so occasionally a cool app can come along that's worth the upgrade.
 
now i see it said:
I think a lot of people that have been using the same phone in the same OD for years aren't very interested in new apps.

Here's an exception: Disney+ streaming app for iOS requires iOS 11 to use it, so occasionally a cool app can come along that's worth the upgrade.
Click to expand...

I don't think brand new apps can be 32-bit compatible
 
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