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Bromio

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 6, 2014
311
30
Hi,

Think of a user that just uses his iPad in a very simple way, i.e. Safari, iBooks, Goodreader, Notability, Reminders... Apple releases new iOS versions and by the third or fourth upgrade (maybe sooner, maybe later), the device becomes slow.

Is there any reason for this user to have upgraded?
 

username:

macrumors 6502a
Dec 16, 2013
707
365
No. The only reason to upgrade is for new features and app updates. If you don't need those then don't update. My dads iPhone 5 is still on iOS 6 and even though he wanted Apple music he still didn't upgrade.

But I had an iPhone 4s on iOS 8 and it worked fine, so I disagree that apple products become slow.
 

Bromio

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 6, 2014
311
30
Some apps won't run on older versions of the OS. Makes more sense to upgrade than to not upgrade.

Maybe you are not interested in those app, if so, you can upgrade. But why should you update systematically?
 

Ludatyk

macrumors 603
May 27, 2012
5,952
5,120
Texas
Maybe you are not interested in those app, if so, you can upgrade. But why should you update systematically?

Reason being.. Is to take advantage of the features an app provide. I, for one... Look for updates to apps. It shows the dev cares enough to update to add additional features to their app.

I understand, that some people uses their iPad in a very minimal way. I have family that I have to check their updates & show them new features to certain apps that they haven't known. It's all in away of improving your experience with the iPad.
 

Bromio

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 6, 2014
311
30
Reason being.. Is to take advantage of the features an app provide. I, for one... Look for updates to apps. It shows the dev cares enough to update to add additional features to their app.

I understand, that some people uses their iPad in a very minimal way. I have family that I have to check their updates & show them new features to certain apps that they haven't known. It's all in away of improving your experience with the iPad.

Based on the title of the OP's post the user doesn't need a device at all.

The user may be happy with the features their apps currently offer. I mean, if all new traits were better, there were no reasons to not upgrade, but, for example, in my case iOS 8.4 added a new functionality I'm not interested at all (Apple Music), but it changed the way I manage audiobooks, so that now it's worse for me.

What I want to say is that sometimes new features don't improve the iOS experience.
 

Bromio

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 6, 2014
311
30
Web browsing may become troublesome in the long run, if you lack certain web rendering technologies.

That sound interesting. Anyway, wouldn't be more intelligent to upgrade when those problems appear rather than just when the new update is released? I mean, not being an early adopter or even skipping an iOS major version.

Note that I'm talking about iOS versions including features that aren't required by the user. If they were needed, upgrading is the way to go, obviously.
 

batting1000

macrumors 604
Sep 4, 2011
7,464
1,874
Florida
That sound interesting. Anyway, wouldn't be more intelligent to upgrade when those problems appear rather than just when the new update is released? I mean, not being an early adopter or even skipping an iOS major version.

Note that I'm talking about iOS versions including features that aren't required by the user. If they were needed, upgrading is the way to go, obviously.

No iOS version has features that are "required" or completely necessary for all users. Update if you want to or don't update if you don't want to. It's that simple.

As the chip technology gets more and more advanced each year like with the iPad Air 2, it'll take much longer for devices to slow down as the result of an update than it did for an iPad 2, etc.
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,400
13,278
where hip is spoken
Hi,

Think of a user that just uses his iPad in a very simple way, i.e. Safari, iBooks, Goodreader, Notability, Reminders... Apple releases new iOS versions and by the third or fourth upgrade (maybe sooner, maybe later), the device becomes slow.

Is there any reason for this user to have upgraded?
Yes. To rid the device of the red "1" notification that burns one's soul like the eye of Sauron.



Some apps won't run on older versions of the OS. Makes more sense to upgrade than to not upgrade.
If having the latest version of those apps is critical, then yes upgrade. Otherwise, I'll stick with the version of iOS that shipped with the device. I've been burned way too many times to do otherwise.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,156
Slime mentioned, security updates. I do a bit of financial stuff via my iOS devices and I want all the security updates as soon as they are available.
 
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hojx

macrumors 6502
Jan 18, 2014
275
144
Singapore
Hi,

Think of a user that just uses his iPad in a very simple way, i.e. Safari, iBooks, Goodreader, Notability, Reminders... Apple releases new iOS versions and by the third or fourth upgrade (maybe sooner, maybe later), the device becomes slow.

Is there any reason for this user to have upgraded?

Technically no device has to upgrade and you can always choose to keep the original OS version that came with your device, but there are so many compelling reasons for you to upgrade:
  1. Security patches
  2. Bug fixes
  3. App Store app compatibility
  4. General battery life and speed enhancements (in the case of iOS 9)
  5. Graphics enhancement for games/rendering apps (e.g. Metal)
  6. New look to 'refresh' your device (especially in the case of iOS 7)
  7. New features (e.g. two-finger scrolling, etc.)
  8. and more
 

Bromio

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 6, 2014
311
30
Thank you. Security patches, bug fixes and boost in performance, they all make anyone upgrade. It seems reasonable to me. Thank you.

However, regarding those app that one day will stop, I don't get your point. Why not update just when that happens if it is known that slow downs are likely to be suffered? I remember iOS 8 was terrible in my iPad Air 2 after its release, but now it's very good from the performance point of view. In that case I upgraded because I needed the new functionalities (bug fixes). Shouldn't more logical upgrade then, once you're (almost) sure no performance drops will take place?

I know friends that updated their iPad 2's to iOS 8 and they nearly have destroyed their devices. Maybe they could have waited for a while until the operating system was mature, or they could even skipped iOS 8 and waited for iOS 9, which presumably will fix many of those problems.

What do you think?
 

Bromio

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 6, 2014
311
30
Yes. To rid the device of the red "1" notification that burns one's soul like the eye of Sauron.
You can get rid of it by restoring your iPad to default factory values. Then, when it starts to download the undesired update, you quickly remove it (at least in iOS 8). This way iOS will never try to download it and the badge will never appear for this update.

Otherwise, I'll stick with the version of iOS that shipped with the device. I've been burned way too many times to do otherwise.
Will you stick even if, for example, iOS 9 is accompanied by a boost in performance or new amazing features that you really like? Perhaps there is not such a correlation between major updates and slowing down.
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,400
13,278
where hip is spoken
Will you stick even if, for example, iOS 9 is accompanied by a boost in performance or new amazing features that you really like? Perhaps there is not such a correlation between major updates and slowing down.
What good are "new amazing features" if the update slows the device down to be virtually unusable? I've drawn my conclusion based on my first hand experiences with over a dozen iOS devices. I don't expect people who have different experiences than mine to draw the same conclusion... they'll obviously draw a different one.

Without fail, I've seen my devices consistently slow down with each major update (eg. going from 6.x to 7.x, then 7.x to 8.x). I'll update minor point releases if I'm experiencing issues with the current release and the point release addresses those issues without introducing (many) additional ones.

If Apple would allow downgrading, I would set my iPad 2 and iPad 4 back from 8.4 down to 6.1.6... where they were reliable, lightning fast, and buttery smooth.
 
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Bromio

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 6, 2014
311
30
What good are "new amazing features" if the update slows the device down to be virtually unusable? I've drawn my conclusion based on my first hand experiences with over a dozen iOS devices. I don't expect people who have different experiences than mine to draw the same conclusion... they'll obviously draw a different one.

Without fail, I've seen my devices consistently slow down with each major update (eg. going from 6.x to 7.x, then 7.x to 8.x). I'll update minor point releases if I'm experiencing issues with the current release and the point release addresses those issues without introducing (many) additional ones.

If Apple would allow downgrading, I would set my iPad 2 and iPad 4 back from 8.4 down to 6.1.6... where they were reliable, lightning fast, and buttery smooth.

I take your point and I agree with you. But if you would go back to iOS 6.1.6 in your iPad 2, doesn't that mean that you're upgrading? I mean, iPad 2 wasn't shipped with iOS 6.

I'm new on iOS, but an old OS X user. My actual iMac was shipped with Mac OS X Leopard, which was slightly better than Mac OS X Snow Leopard. However, OS X Lion and OS X Mountain Lion were awful. Fortunately, OS X Mavericks brought back what I was experiencing on Snow Leopard, so it boosted my device. I didn't upgrade to Yosemite. What I want to say is that there is not a mathematical correlation between upgrading and slowing down, even though it can exist many times.

Maybe iOS 9 is created to improve A7+ devices. Maybe not. Who knows?

Anyway, I agree with you. After reading all this post I come to the conclusion that:
- If no new features are interesting for that hypothetical user,
- If apps are still supported by his current version,
- If no bugs are being experimented in his current version,
- If he is not worried about security bugs (!),
- If it is well known that the device will slow down...
there is no reason to upgrade. Otherwise, doing it may be interesting.

Luckily, thanks to forums, reddit, reviews... we can know more or less whether a version will drop performance or not.

Thank you all.
 

Rava

macrumors member
Jul 9, 2015
79
57
Some apps won't run on older versions of the OS. Makes more sense to upgrade than to not upgrade.
Some apps won't run on newer versions of the OS either. I lost an app I paid for when I got a new phone on ios 8 because it stopped working and support was discontinued.
 

bushido

Suspended
Mar 26, 2008
8,070
2,755
Germany
cuz i hate being on dated software. its kinda my thing. every day i open the app store and if there arent any app updates i feel kinda disappointed like a little child lol
 
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