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Semi-related, I've got an iPad 1st gen, and wanted to gift it to my nieces in El Salvador for school work. So, I wiped it, hoping to give them a blank slate to

Semi-related, I've got an iPad 1st gen, and wanted to gift it to my nieces in El Salvador for school work. So, I wiped it, hoping to give them a blank slate to install whatever they need. I wish I hadn't - I could find absolutely nothing to install on the device from the Apple Store. Everything requires new iOS version (which is fine, of course), but I also can't install old versions of software on the iPad. Basically, I screwed myself by wiping the device because now the default, pre-installed apps are the only apps that will ever run on this thing again.

JadeNB 9y ago
Can you restore from an old backup? (iTunes by default preserves at least the most recent backup when you sync; in fact, I don't know how to stop it from keeping at least one.)
kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
This same sickness affects old iPhones too.
eugeniub 9y ago
Are you sure? IIRC when I played with my old iPhone 3Gs (older than iPad) earlier this year, I could still install the old versions of apps, even if the new ones required higher iOS versions. I kinda have to question the value of giving someone a 7 year old device with a $50 market value that can't run any modern apps. Why not just send her $50 to buy a new Android tablet that probably runs whatever she needs?
- jtreminio 9y ago
  I tried most of Google's offerings, iPad refused to install them. > I kinda have to question the value of giving someone a 7 year old device The device is perfectly usable. The battery life is still great on it, the screen is unscratched, it runs school-related apps just fine (or, did). What am I supposed to do with the thing now? Just junk it? edit: I ended up giving them an Android tablet. I still have this iPad, and would love to at least give it to an organization that can hand it off to someone in need. Something inside me absolutely balks at the idea of throwing away a perfectly usable, modern device just because the parent company turns a blind eye to it.
  - Retric 9y ago
    It's 5 years old which is when a lot of corporate computers end up in the junk heap even if they are still running.
    - Cyph0n 9y ago
      Why are you comparing a personal tablet to a corporate computer? Consumer needs and expectations are vastly different from those of businesses.
    - megous 9y ago
      Not really, there's big refurbished computers market, where this stuff ends up.
  - gambiting 9y ago
    Well, you could just jailbreak it, find the compatible version of all apps that you need and sideload them. If you bought them previously, I don't see any moral issues with this.
- dep_b 9y ago
  Once downloaded in your account you can still access them.
dep_b 9y ago
If you install an app on a newer device while using the same account sometimes the older download becomes available for the older device as well. This worked really well for an iPhone 4 stuck on iOS 8 or 7 somebody gave my stepdaughter.
analogmemory 9y ago
Can you jailbreak it?
- duskwuff 9y ago
  Probably, but what does that gain you? It's still an old OS, and most software that a user would want is still going to be unavailable.
sedachv 9y ago
This kind of user-hostile and environmentally destructive and unsustainable planned obsolescence is exactly why you should use GPLv3 and the AGPL as your Free Software licenses. Apple and Google's current software offerings have been built on Free Software and what this is what we get in exchange.
- orangecat 9y ago
  There are plenty of reasons to criticize Google's lack of long-term support, only 2 years of OS updates for the Nexus and Pixel lines is lousy. But this is perfectly reasonable. Android 2.2 was released 7 years ago. The Nexus One and original Motorola Droid can run it; any device that can't has been obsolete for years.
  - sedachv 9y ago
    I am typing this comment on a Thinkpad T43, a model that was released in 2005. It does not matter that you think 7 years ago is a long time. There is nothing "perfectly reasonable" about planned obsolescence. If a thing is still usable and someone wants to use it, preventing them from doing so is violating their freedom.
    - orangecat 9y ago
      I am typing this comment on a Thinkpad T43, a model that was released in 2005. Phones have advanced much more rapidly than computers in the last 10 years. If a thing is still usable and someone wants to use it, preventing them from doing so is violating their freedom. You are free to continue using your Android 2.1 devices, just not with Google's store. It is your position that no service provider should ever be allowed to drop support for any hardware that might still be functioning? Are you equally outraged at F-Droid's "planned obsolescence" in requiring 2.3? (https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=f-droid&fdid=org.fdroid.fdroid https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=f-droid&fdid...)
      - sedachv 9y ago
codinghorror 9y ago
a 1st gen iPad .. I'd just buy and gift them a $329 iPad (2017) which is an INSANE deal for what you get, arguably the best value per dollar of any Apple device, ever.
- jtreminio 9y ago
  I bought them a modern Android tablet ... and I'm still stuck holding an iPad that can't do much of anything.
  - morganvachon 9y ago
    I have the opposite problem: I have a 1st gen iPad that still has all the old apps we used on it, but it sat on a shelf for a year and now the battery won't charge. I've tried all the little tricks scattered across the 'net and nothing. I can get the screen to power up to the "Connect to iTunes" logo, but it won't charge in that mode and won't boot the OS off the charger alone. I'd love to get it running, as you said it's still a very capable device and if nothing else would be a good digital newspaper for the bedside. Unfortunately, I think it's toast and I'm going to have to send it to the recycler.
  - codinghorror 9y ago
    They still sell Android tablets? Who buys them? Also it's more than a little weird to expect a V1 product in its genre, from 2010, to still be useful 7 years later. I think your expectations are all messed up here.
    - fulafel 9y ago
      Hint: An iPad is an unaffordable luxury to most people.
      - codinghorror 9y ago
        Not when it is being given as a gift
thought_alarm 9y ago
Since 2012 and iOS 6, the App Store will offer to install the most-recent compatible version of an app. You can buy the most-recent version of app on your computer using iTunes (or a newer iOS device), and then download the last compatible version to your iOS 6 device.
- futurix 9y ago
  Original iPad only had iOS 5 - so no such luck. Same applies for pre-3GS iPhones and first 3 generations of iPod Touch.
nevster 9y ago
To anyone who has this problem, there's the option to download older versions but you have to be logged in to the appstore using an apple id that was used to download that version previously.
ThatDan 9y ago
There's a trick to downloading older versions of apps still in the App Store: https://medium.com/@iosight/how-to-legally-download-any-previous-version-of-an-app-store-app-through-itunes-9b45559b8357 https://medium.com/@iosight/how-to-legally-download-any-prev... I was able to get this working recently* to get an older version of Pandora installed on an original iPhone. Problem with this method is you're guessing at version numbers to find a version that will work, but it's neat when it does! *The article says certificate pinning breaks this, but there's a comment about how to add Charles Proxy's certificate to your trust store which seems to circumvent this.

JadeNB 9y ago

Can you restore from an old backup? (iTunes by default preserves at least the most recent backup when you sync; in fact, I don't know how to stop it from keeping at least one.)

kevin_thibedeau 9y ago

This same sickness affects old iPhones too.

eugeniub 9y ago

Are you sure? IIRC when I played with my old iPhone 3Gs (older than iPad) earlier this year, I could still install the old versions of apps, even if the new ones required higher iOS versions. I kinda have to question the value of giving someone a 7 year old device with a $50 market value that can't run any modern apps. Why not just send her $50 to buy a new Android tablet that probably runs whatever she needs?

jtreminio 9y ago
I tried most of Google's offerings, iPad refused to install them. > I kinda have to question the value of giving someone a 7 year old device The device is perfectly usable. The battery life is still great on it, the screen is unscratched, it runs school-related apps just fine (or, did). What am I supposed to do with the thing now? Just junk it? edit: I ended up giving them an Android tablet. I still have this iPad, and would love to at least give it to an organization that can hand it off to someone in need. Something inside me absolutely balks at the idea of throwing away a perfectly usable, modern device just because the parent company turns a blind eye to it.
- Retric 9y ago
  It's 5 years old which is when a lot of corporate computers end up in the junk heap even if they are still running.
  - Cyph0n 9y ago
    Why are you comparing a personal tablet to a corporate computer? Consumer needs and expectations are vastly different from those of businesses.
  - megous 9y ago
    Not really, there's big refurbished computers market, where this stuff ends up.
- gambiting 9y ago
  Well, you could just jailbreak it, find the compatible version of all apps that you need and sideload them. If you bought them previously, I don't see any moral issues with this.
dep_b 9y ago
Once downloaded in your account you can still access them.

dep_b 9y ago

If you install an app on a newer device while using the same account sometimes the older download becomes available for the older device as well. This worked really well for an iPhone 4 stuck on iOS 8 or 7 somebody gave my stepdaughter.

analogmemory 9y ago

Can you jailbreak it?

duskwuff 9y ago
Probably, but what does that gain you? It's still an old OS, and most software that a user would want is still going to be unavailable.

sedachv 9y ago

This kind of user-hostile and environmentally destructive and unsustainable planned obsolescence is exactly why you should use GPLv3 and the AGPL as your Free Software licenses. Apple and Google's current software offerings have been built on Free Software and what this is what we get in exchange.

orangecat 9y ago
There are plenty of reasons to criticize Google's lack of long-term support, only 2 years of OS updates for the Nexus and Pixel lines is lousy. But this is perfectly reasonable. Android 2.2 was released 7 years ago. The Nexus One and original Motorola Droid can run it; any device that can't has been obsolete for years.
- sedachv 9y ago
  I am typing this comment on a Thinkpad T43, a model that was released in 2005. It does not matter that you think 7 years ago is a long time. There is nothing "perfectly reasonable" about planned obsolescence. If a thing is still usable and someone wants to use it, preventing them from doing so is violating their freedom.
  - orangecat 9y ago
    I am typing this comment on a Thinkpad T43, a model that was released in 2005. Phones have advanced much more rapidly than computers in the last 10 years. If a thing is still usable and someone wants to use it, preventing them from doing so is violating their freedom. You are free to continue using your Android 2.1 devices, just not with Google's store. It is your position that no service provider should ever be allowed to drop support for any hardware that might still be functioning? Are you equally outraged at F-Droid's "planned obsolescence" in requiring 2.3? (https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=f-droid&fdid=org.fdroid.fdroid https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=f-droid&fdid...)
    - sedachv 9y ago

codinghorror 9y ago

a 1st gen iPad .. I'd just buy and gift them a $329 iPad (2017) which is an INSANE deal for what you get, arguably the best value per dollar of any Apple device, ever.

jtreminio 9y ago
I bought them a modern Android tablet ... and I'm still stuck holding an iPad that can't do much of anything.
- morganvachon 9y ago
  I have the opposite problem: I have a 1st gen iPad that still has all the old apps we used on it, but it sat on a shelf for a year and now the battery won't charge. I've tried all the little tricks scattered across the 'net and nothing. I can get the screen to power up to the "Connect to iTunes" logo, but it won't charge in that mode and won't boot the OS off the charger alone. I'd love to get it running, as you said it's still a very capable device and if nothing else would be a good digital newspaper for the bedside. Unfortunately, I think it's toast and I'm going to have to send it to the recycler.
- codinghorror 9y ago
  They still sell Android tablets? Who buys them? Also it's more than a little weird to expect a V1 product in its genre, from 2010, to still be useful 7 years later. I think your expectations are all messed up here.
  - fulafel 9y ago
    Hint: An iPad is an unaffordable luxury to most people.
    - codinghorror 9y ago
      Not when it is being given as a gift

thought_alarm 9y ago

Since 2012 and iOS 6, the App Store will offer to install the most-recent compatible version of an app. You can buy the most-recent version of app on your computer using iTunes (or a newer iOS device), and then download the last compatible version to your iOS 6 device.

futurix 9y ago
Original iPad only had iOS 5 - so no such luck. Same applies for pre-3GS iPhones and first 3 generations of iPod Touch.

nevster 9y ago

To anyone who has this problem, there's the option to download older versions but you have to be logged in to the appstore using an apple id that was used to download that version previously.

ThatDan 9y ago

There's a trick to downloading older versions of apps still in the App Store: https://medium.com/@iosight/how-to-legally-download-any-previous-version-of-an-app-store-app-through-itunes-9b45559b8357 https://medium.com/@iosight/how-to-legally-download-any-prev... I was able to get this working recently* to get an older version of Pandora installed on an original iPhone. Problem with this method is you're guessing at version numbers to find a version that will work, but it's neat when it does! *The article says certificate pinning breaks this, but there's a comment about how to add Charles Proxy's certificate to your trust store which seems to circumvent this.