When y'all say older iPads/minis won't support software upgrades...

[ssledoux]

Does that mean if you do the upgrade the iPad/mini won't work at all, that it'll be super slow, or that it'll only have issues with certain applications?

I've bought iPad minis for all 5 of my grandkids. Three have the mini 2s and the 2 youngest have original minis.

The 2 that still have original minis are babies/toddlers and the minis are pretty much just used in the car to watch Mickey Mouse episodes which have been downloaded to them, or really simple Fisher Price baby apps.

At what point will the original minis be affected to where they won't even do this? Do I keep downloading updates? Do I ignore that? What is the best way to handle this so they can continue to watch the videos and maybe a simple app or two?

I do plan to upgrade the older kids over the next year or so to mini 4s (or 5s if that should happen), so the little ones would get hand-me-down 2s at that point, but I want to be sure they'll be okay a while longer.

 

[maflynn]

If its not supported, then you cannot upgrade to that version, its just not available to you.

I'd be hesitant even if it was, because it may run extremely slow

 

[M. Gustave]

You should keep your OS up to date, if only for security reasons. At some point it won't allow you to go further.

It might get a bit slower as the years tick by, but so what? Your toddlers are going to complain that their device is 'laggy'?

 

[12vElectronics]

My iPad mini first gen is running ios7. I'm too scared to update it further because it works fine right now.

 

[ericwn]

Just keep using them. At some stage, the hardware will be outdated in a way that no further major iOS updates (like jumping up a version from 8 to 9 etc) will be showing up in Settings. For what you describe as use at the moment, I wouldn't worry about the oldest iPads, they only play some video files back. That won't change for the lifetime of the device.

 

[rui no onna]

iOS 9 is the last major firmware update that the original iPad mini (and other A5-based devices) will receive. All things considered, that's a pretty darned long time to be supported. The iPad 2 is what, 5 years old?

Main concern is app support but in general, I've found old firmwares continue to be supported for a fairly long time (e.g. at least 2 years after release). Even now, I still get app updates for iOS 6. With internet-based apps (e.g. video streaming, finance), there's a possibility that old app versions will stop working. That's really not a concern for offline apps. New apps may sometimes require the latest firmware (e.g. Disney Movies Anywhere required iOS 7 upon release, HBO Now required iOS 8). Offline video playback is an excellent use for older iPads as that's reliant on dedicated hardware decoding and is unaffected by firmware updates.

For people in this forum, it's sometimes a balancing act between firmware updates, performance, app support and budget. Doubt your toddlers would be as picky so if I were you, I'd just keep their iPads updated to the latest supported firmware. It's probably gonna be slower than if you stick with older firmware but I doubt they're gonna complain.

 

[ssledoux]

Thanks. I certainly wasn't worried about them noticing. I just didn't know if I was going to update it to a point where it would keep things from working. I've never really run into that because I've updated my iPads just about every time a new one has been released.