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Why don't Apple allow us to use what ever IOS we want?

Dog Bone Malone

Dog Bone Malone

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 25, 2023
449
561
Muffsville, Jannerbama. UK.
Look, it's not a thing I've ever thought about until now for what ever reason. But- why don't Apple allow us to use what ever IOS we want? 15,16,17,18 etc? Yes. it may be a stupid question, but as I said, I've never given much thought before. After reading about so many people not happy with IOS 26, this got me thinking?

I guess maybe it's because Apple haven't got the time or resources to fully support multi IOS's?, things like that? I'm just saying that there would be an awful lot of happier iPhone users if you could choose what ever IOS worked best for your device - or at least the ability to roll back from IOS 26 to the IOS of your choice.

I'm going to put my tin hat on now and wait for the incoming! If it get's to much, I'm off to the pub.
 
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Couple of primary reasons:
  • The OS versions are built with assumptions of which hardware will be under them. This adds huge efficiency, at the cost of the OS's only being supported on certain models of hardware.
  • The more versions of the OS Apple needs to support, the more versions they have to apply fixes, security patches, tech support, etc. Keeping the number of valid OS's to a minimum keeps things sane from a support perspective.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
Reasons why…
1) Compatibility with hardware
Click to expand...

iOS 17 is compatibility with iPhone 15 Pro Max, yet I cannot downgrade to iOS 17 if I want.

Apple_Robert said:
2) Security
Click to expand...

Maybe, but Apple allows you downgrade macOS versions on Macs.

Apple_Robert said:
3) Removes extra cost to support older OS releases
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't have to support older OS releases.

Apple_Robert said:
4) Limit Apple’s liability
Click to expand...

So why aren't Apple applies same logic to macOS?

Apple_Robert said:
5) Product sales growth
Click to expand...

So Apple doesn't need product sales growth on Mac?
 
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Aoligei said:
Apple doesn't have to support older OS releases.
Click to expand...

  • When it comes to Apple devices out in the world, there are, by far, more iPhones than anything else.
  • iPhones are used by many folks that don't have any other Apple devices.
  • iPhones are the Apple device more people are going to be using in front of other people than any other
These points are relevant because public perception of iPhones is far more pervasive, and far more impactful, than other Apple products. To that end, they're going to prefer to enforce up-to-date OS's on people's phones. If someone is running an OS version that is a couple years old, that is not supported anymore, that increases the chances that other people will see the degraded experience -- and they're likely not going to be aware that the person decided to run something old. The observer is simply going to see an iPhone being buggy, which leaves an impression.

Apple would definitely prefer to have as many phones as possible running the latest software.
 
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Aoligei said:
iOS 17 is compatibility with iPhone 15 Pro Max, yet I cannot downgrade to iOS 17 if I want.



Maybe, but Apple allows you downgrade macOS versions on Macs.



Apple doesn't have to support older OS releases.



So why aren't Apple applies same logic to macOS?



So Apple doesn't need product sales growth on Mac?
Click to expand...


iPhones are a consumer device, Macs have traditionally been aimed at work.

Also, the iPhone was a relatively clean break when it was released with no existing market focused on running old software, so new policy from the outset.

As to why can you downgrade Macs? That's not going to be the case forever. Various laws put the onus on companies like Apple and Microsoft to ensure their customers are secure, and they're not going to do that by maintaining/supporting installs of old out of support OSes.

In the future if you want to run old OS on your Mac you'll likely have to virtualise it.
 
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AdamInKent said:
I’d add that, by encouraging a high percentage of users to adopt the latest OS, Apple incentivises developers to use the latest OS functionality in their apps.
Click to expand...
I don't know if that's the case anymore, but it used to be a major selling point to app developers that the vast majority of iOS/iPadOS users were always on the latest version, which made developers' lives easier with fewer versions to target compared to the far more fragmented Android ecosystem. Even though Android had the largest market share globally, iOS dominated the revenue from app sales by a wide margin, so Apple used metrics like OS adoption to help cement their lead in the app market.
 
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Simply because Apple believes the latest version is the best version. It’s the same reason why Apple doesn’t let you run macOS on iPad or tvOS on Mac.

Furthermore, Apple sells security as a huge benefit of iPhone. Old iOS versions are vulnerable and would be a PR disaster.
 
It's for money. and also so they have to support less for older iOS versions.
"Not the newest version of iOS your device supports? Don't care."
although in the iOS 26 example it simply seems ******** when the OS is so unstable.
I was gonna use iOS 7 as an example, but it looks like people actually mostly liked iOS 7 when it released
 
I’m guessing it is simply cost.
The cost of maintaining older versions and then testing new apps on all versions would be high.
A lot of development and R&D resources gets drained if they have to look at older versions to ensure security, compatibility etc.
Better to invest resources in newer and current solutions.
 
CyberDavis said:
I’m guessing it is simply cost.
The cost of maintaining older versions and then testing new apps on all versions would be high.
A lot of development and R&D resources gets drained if they have to look at older versions to ensure security, compatibility etc.
Better to invest resources in newer and current solutions.
Click to expand...

Its not just cost, its also feasibility.

Like it or not, the number of competent Apple operating system engineers/programmers on the market capable of maintaining the macOS/ipadOS/etc. kernel is... small.

You can't just throw more money at hiring more people beyond a certain point, because the people with the skills simply do not exist in volume, because there's only a small number of them working with the source code.
 
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Dog Bone Malone said:
why don't Apple allow us to use what ever IOS we want? 15,16,17,18 etc?
Click to expand...
Why should they?

I’m being serious - it’s obvious simpler to not support downgrading. So in order for them to go to the expense & trouble of doing so, there’d need to be a reason.

Of course one reason is “it will make some customers happier” - I can’t think of any others. Seems clear that isn’t enough motivation though.

For macOS there’s a little more motivation… since apps can be loaded outside of the App Store, some apps might not properly support the latest version. So for business customers especially, it makes sense to allow older versions to be installed. iOS is more of a “closed ecosystem” though, only App Store officially supported, so that’s less of a factor.
 
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IMO,

- Sale growth (most important here)
- Jailbreak (in jailbreak community people used to downgrade when the new iOS jailbreak was taking too long)

I have not use iOS for a couple of years now let alone the status of jailbreak for iPhone/iPad and, my current broken devices (iPhone/iPad Mini) are stuck on iOS 9, iOS 10/11/12).
 
App compatibility as well. Developers frequently stop supporting old apps - for security, cost and sales reasons as well, same as Apple.
 
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Especially because Apple likes to brag
"Our latest iOS is the best since the introduction of sliced bread and the users love and adopt it in masses!"

Although for iOS 26 the numbers aren't as good as they were used to:
telemetrydeck.com

iOS Versions Market Share in 2026 | TelemetryDeck

🧡 Helping developers improve their apps with immediate, accurate and private analytics.
telemetrydeck.com telemetrydeck.com

[edit] ...and I'm dead sure, the numbers would be even worse, if users could go back! 👍
 
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I'm okay with Apple no longer releasing updates to older iOS versions, but with some users experience of iOS 26.x even on the latest models, and iOS 9.x on iPhone 4s, I really want Apple to allow downgrades to the latest update of the older versions (18.7, 17.7, 16.7, etc.) officially, not through hoops like how you downgrade iPhone 4s from iOS 9.x to iOS 6.x (although sometime 2018-2019 you can downgrade to iOS 6.x using iTunes then they completely stopped allowing it)

I would really like to downgrade my iPhone 11 Pro Max back to iOS 13.7 but because of some features introduced in newer versions, I would either go with 15.x or iOS 16.1
 
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Dog Bone Malone said:
Look, it's not a thing I've ever thought about until now for what ever reason. But- why don't Apple allow us to use what ever IOS we want? 15,16,17,18 etc? Yes. it may be a stupid question, but as I said, I've never given much thought before. After reading about so many people not happy with IOS 26, this got me thinking?

I guess maybe it's because Apple haven't got the time or resources to fully support multi IOS's?, things like that? I'm just saying that there would be an awful lot of happier iPhone users if you could choose what ever IOS worked best for your device - or at least the ability to roll back from IOS 26 to the IOS of your choice.
Click to expand...

Pure product/marketing decision. Apple clearly could support iOS 18 on all devices that previously ran it, easily continue to include device support in the updates it makes available for previous hardware, and allow DFU installs to any version of iOS that previously ran on that device. That it wants to keep people on the iOS upgrade treadmill -- even when the next version isn't really ready -- and seemingly desperately tries to get people to upgrade are all choices.

Supporting every device back to 15, 16, etc unlikely as there would be real cost to maintaining those branches for years on end. Similarly for running versions of iOS that never shipped with the device (e.g. porting iOS 15 to the iPhone Air).

Another thing Apple could do -- but assuming they won't do -- is slow down the pace of major releases. It's not like major versions are even shipping feature completely anyway. It would probably save money (but I am guessing forfeit even greater revenue) by releasing a major version ~ 3 years (e.g. iOS 12 would have been followed what was iOS 15 but still 3 years later but without all the interim versions -- ditto for iOS 18 after iOS 15).

The issue is that the costs (whether +/-) of maintaining iOS are all relatively small fixed costs against much larger revenue with high gross margins. In the short-term, anything that reduces revenue -- even if it reduces iOS development costs -- will likely hurt net margin a lot.
 
ProbablyDylan said:
Hubris. Why would the user want to? Apple knows best. The customer just needs to get with the program. 🙄
Click to expand...
This would be ignoring the significant, compelling reasons to keep the number of supported OS versions as narrow as possible.

It's not hubris. It's what actually makes sense from a financial, organizational, and support set of perspectives.
 
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