6 ms·

Yes but iOS 11 was really slow. Does it run faster than iOS 6?

donkeyd 8y ago
That is an incredibly unfair and ignorant question. No, of course not, there are more, compute heavy, features and it's not worth it to spend huge amounts of time to support a phone you're no longer selling.
- badpun 8y ago
  > it's not worth it to spend huge amounts of time to support a phone you're no longer selling Unfortunately, without the newer versions of the iOS the phone loses functionalities pretty quickly (the apps will require newer versions of iOS), which, quite conveniently for Apple, will make you need to buy a new one. Aka planned obsolescence. But kudos for getting at least one version of iOS to perform better than the last one (if that's true). That would be awesome if they actually kept this as a long-term trend.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Apple has allowed users to download the “last compatible version” since 2012. I reset my first generation iPad - last updated 2011 - last year and was able to load and run older versions of most of the apps for streaming services that were available back then - Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Spotify, Plex, etc.
    - badpun 8y ago
      "Last compatible" means no more security updates, which basically means - we no longer care about the flaws we've made, go ahead and risk your privacy (including for example your life savings if you bank online). Also, my experience with the last compatible version (for iPhone 4 IIRC) was that IIRC neither Skype nor Hangouts worked anymore. Plus the whole device was incredibly slow.
      - scarface74 8y ago
        What security flaws do you expect in older versions of apps that were able to escape the iOS sandbox that were later fixed by updating the applications? What exploit has there been in an app that let it exfiltrate data from another app or read your web browsing history for any version of iOS? As far as Google, it’s no surprise that Google abandoned older protocols. That’s kind of their MO....
        badpun 8y ago
        I'm talking about security fixes to non-newest versions of iOS. Apple just does not do them.
        scarface74 8y ago
        To nitpick actually they have. IOS 6.1.2 came out 6 months after iOS 7 But what unpatched security flaws have been reported in older versions of iOS that would allow an attacker to install a keylogger or otherwise exfiltrate user data?
        badpun 8y ago
        > But what unpatched security flaws have been reported in older versions of iOS that would allow an attacker to install a keylogger or otherwise exfiltrate user data? I don't follow the field of iOS security. I only know that, like everyone whose computing devices handle sensitive data and/or money, I want my system to be patched ASAP if a vulnerability is detected. AFAIK, Apple makes no such guarantees.
        scarface74 8y ago
        The alternative is Android that has a much weaker security model and where the manufacturers don’t offer patches for more than two years if at all. But as far as iOS, I am not aware of any unpatched security vulnerabilities that have been reported in over ten years that would allow an app to exfiltrate sensitive data from another app on a none jailbroken device.
  - badpun 8y ago
    Wow the downvotes without comments are interesting. I can only guess that they are from people who are so used to getting f*cked by the tech industry that they don't see anything wrong in having to throw away a perfectly-functioning device only because it's 3-5 years old. Now imagine cars were made like that.
    - rimliu 8y ago
      Maybe people just don't think your claim that everyone throws away perfectly-functioning devices is true.
      - badpun 8y ago
        Ok not neccesarily throw away then, but, as someone else said, put them in the drawer or give them some non-phone function. For example, my iPhone 4, still perfectly functional but crippled with iOS update that made it too slow to be usable, is now a white noise machine near my bed.
  - grzm 8y ago
    iOS support has steadily increased over time. "[iOS 12] covers five previous generations of iPhones, stretching back to the iPhone 5S." https://www.fastcompany.com/90237242/take-apples-advice-dont-rush-to-buy-a-new-iphone https://www.fastcompany.com/90237242/take-apples-advice-dont... Yes, as hardware improves and the OS and applications take advantage of this hardware, newer applications may run slower on older hardware. I'm not aware of any phone manufacturer or OS for which this isn't true. AFAIK, there is no other system that supports this level of backwards compatibility.
    - badpun 8y ago
      It shows that sustainability is not even an afterthought. Everybody is ok with throwing away perfectly working devices (i.e. devices that were blazing fast just a couple years ago and now, with some crippling os updates, take 10 seconds to open a PDF) just because they're 3-5 years old. Let's see if Apple really does change their policy on this. For premium, very expensive phones, it would be reasonable for them to be fully functional (with no slowdowns) for at least 5 years.
      - grzm 8y ago
        Would you care to provide information about how Apple compares with others in the industry?
        badpun 8y ago
        I don't have this information. However, IMO the current Apple's approach suits a vendor of $300 phones, not $1000+ ones. If Apple really wanted to be the technologic leader in this field, the gigantic markup and the billions of dollars that they make on phones should be funneled into engineering excellence (stability, security, performance, device longevity) and not gimmicks (face recognition). Unfortunately, it seems that the market does not demand engineering excellence even from premium products.
        saagarjha 8y ago
lowkeyokay 8y ago
From my experience iOS runs quite decently on 5S and on 6, my current phone.
- garyrob 8y ago
  I'm having the same experience as an iPhone 6 user. I'm having trouble finding much reason to upgrade.
heartbreak 8y ago
The iPhone 5S was launched with iOS 7, so this question can't be answered by any consumer.
saagarjha 8y ago
A tentpole feature of iOS 12 was to improve performance regressions from earlier versions of iOS.

That is an incredibly unfair and ignorant question. No, of course not, there are more, compute heavy, features and it's not worth it to spend huge amounts of time to support a phone you're no longer selling.

badpun 8y ago
> it's not worth it to spend huge amounts of time to support a phone you're no longer selling Unfortunately, without the newer versions of the iOS the phone loses functionalities pretty quickly (the apps will require newer versions of iOS), which, quite conveniently for Apple, will make you need to buy a new one. Aka planned obsolescence. But kudos for getting at least one version of iOS to perform better than the last one (if that's true). That would be awesome if they actually kept this as a long-term trend.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Apple has allowed users to download the “last compatible version” since 2012. I reset my first generation iPad - last updated 2011 - last year and was able to load and run older versions of most of the apps for streaming services that were available back then - Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Spotify, Plex, etc.
  - badpun 8y ago
    "Last compatible" means no more security updates, which basically means - we no longer care about the flaws we've made, go ahead and risk your privacy (including for example your life savings if you bank online). Also, my experience with the last compatible version (for iPhone 4 IIRC) was that IIRC neither Skype nor Hangouts worked anymore. Plus the whole device was incredibly slow.
    - scarface74 8y ago
      What security flaws do you expect in older versions of apps that were able to escape the iOS sandbox that were later fixed by updating the applications? What exploit has there been in an app that let it exfiltrate data from another app or read your web browsing history for any version of iOS? As far as Google, it’s no surprise that Google abandoned older protocols. That’s kind of their MO....
      - badpun 8y ago
        I'm talking about security fixes to non-newest versions of iOS. Apple just does not do them.
        scarface74 8y ago
        To nitpick actually they have. IOS 6.1.2 came out 6 months after iOS 7 But what unpatched security flaws have been reported in older versions of iOS that would allow an attacker to install a keylogger or otherwise exfiltrate user data?
        badpun 8y ago
        > But what unpatched security flaws have been reported in older versions of iOS that would allow an attacker to install a keylogger or otherwise exfiltrate user data? I don't follow the field of iOS security. I only know that, like everyone whose computing devices handle sensitive data and/or money, I want my system to be patched ASAP if a vulnerability is detected. AFAIK, Apple makes no such guarantees.
        scarface74 8y ago
        The alternative is Android that has a much weaker security model and where the manufacturers don’t offer patches for more than two years if at all. But as far as iOS, I am not aware of any unpatched security vulnerabilities that have been reported in over ten years that would allow an app to exfiltrate sensitive data from another app on a none jailbroken device.
- badpun 8y ago
  Wow the downvotes without comments are interesting. I can only guess that they are from people who are so used to getting f*cked by the tech industry that they don't see anything wrong in having to throw away a perfectly-functioning device only because it's 3-5 years old. Now imagine cars were made like that.
  - rimliu 8y ago
    Maybe people just don't think your claim that everyone throws away perfectly-functioning devices is true.
    - badpun 8y ago
      Ok not neccesarily throw away then, but, as someone else said, put them in the drawer or give them some non-phone function. For example, my iPhone 4, still perfectly functional but crippled with iOS update that made it too slow to be usable, is now a white noise machine near my bed.
- grzm 8y ago
  iOS support has steadily increased over time. "[iOS 12] covers five previous generations of iPhones, stretching back to the iPhone 5S." https://www.fastcompany.com/90237242/take-apples-advice-dont-rush-to-buy-a-new-iphone https://www.fastcompany.com/90237242/take-apples-advice-dont... Yes, as hardware improves and the OS and applications take advantage of this hardware, newer applications may run slower on older hardware. I'm not aware of any phone manufacturer or OS for which this isn't true. AFAIK, there is no other system that supports this level of backwards compatibility.
  - badpun 8y ago
    It shows that sustainability is not even an afterthought. Everybody is ok with throwing away perfectly working devices (i.e. devices that were blazing fast just a couple years ago and now, with some crippling os updates, take 10 seconds to open a PDF) just because they're 3-5 years old. Let's see if Apple really does change their policy on this. For premium, very expensive phones, it would be reasonable for them to be fully functional (with no slowdowns) for at least 5 years.
    - grzm 8y ago
      Would you care to provide information about how Apple compares with others in the industry?
      - badpun 8y ago
        I don't have this information. However, IMO the current Apple's approach suits a vendor of $300 phones, not $1000+ ones. If Apple really wanted to be the technologic leader in this field, the gigantic markup and the billions of dollars that they make on phones should be funneled into engineering excellence (stability, security, performance, device longevity) and not gimmicks (face recognition). Unfortunately, it seems that the market does not demand engineering excellence even from premium products.
        saagarjha 8y ago

lowkeyokay 8y ago

From my experience iOS runs quite decently on 5S and on 6, my current phone.

garyrob 8y ago
I'm having the same experience as an iPhone 6 user. I'm having trouble finding much reason to upgrade.

heartbreak 8y ago

The iPhone 5S was launched with iOS 7, so this question can't be answered by any consumer.

saagarjha 8y ago

A tentpole feature of iOS 12 was to improve performance regressions from earlier versions of iOS.