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A friend lent me a 2017 iPad that she's no longer using. I wanted to download Spotify, but couldn't, because I needed a newer version of iOS. The device does n

A friend lent me a 2017 iPad that she's no longer using. I wanted to download Spotify, but couldn't, because I needed a newer version of iOS. The device does not get a new version of iOS, so I tried Safari to see if the web client works. Spotify's web client does not work on that version of Safari. So I tried downloading Firefox and Chrome, but I can't because they no longer support my version of iOS. So I looked for a way to download older versions of apps (Spotify, or an older version of Firefox or Chrome on which Spotify would still work). As it turns out, there's a way: you first need to "purchase" the app you're interested in on a newer device that supports the latest version. Then, you can log into your older device and download an older version of the same app. That means there's a way for me to run an older version of an app that works on my iPad, but nah, I need to first get a newer device and "purchase" it there. My conclusion: the onus is on the device manufacturers to not arbitrarily restrict their users. Jim Nielsen's mom's iPad is perfectly capable of opening that website, but its manufacturers are limiting it artificially.

javajosh 5y ago
Which reminds me to ask - is anyone making a custom OS for iDevices yet? Something like Graphene for iOS? I know about Asahi Linux, but that's for M1 laptops, AFAIK. (Because the "right" solution here is clearly to ditch the OS and install something Linux-y, and then whatever software you need, including recent Chrome). Same question for ChromeOS devices.
- jeroenhd 5y ago
  There are ongoing attempts at running Android on old iDevices, but I doubt they'll ever be as good as custom roms on normal Android hardware.
goda90 5y ago
It gets worse. Even if you could download an old version of Firefox and Chrome to your iOS device, they'd have the same problem as Safari, because Apple bans third party browser engines. Firefox and Chrome for iOS are essentially wrappers on a Safari core.
- brainlessdev 5y ago
  Yes, I forgot about this. It does make it worse! I've commented this elsewhere, too: the incompatibility problem is still anti-user, it affected me when trying to download other types of apps that have nothing to do with browsers.
wizzwizz4 5y ago
> My conclusion: the onus is on the device manufacturers to not arbitrarily restrict their users. Jim Nielsen's mom's iPad is perfectly capable of opening that website, but its manufacturers are limiting it artificially. No, it's not. Firefox and Chrome on iOS both use the operating system's Safari engine. (I mean, yeah, the hardware would support running a more recent browser engine, so your point still holds.)
- brainlessdev 5y ago
  You're right: I forgot that ultimately it's Safari anyway. But this happened to me with several other apps, too, such as Garage Band, some synthesizer apps, even a guitar tuner wouldn't work on a completely capable device that's now basically useless!
julienb_sea 5y ago
This seems like a pretty poor implementation on Apple's app store's handling of out of date app installation. I believe there is a workaround where you can use an online version of the app store to first trigger an app download to your iphone, which would then transition it into that "re-download from cloud" state which lets you get an older version.
- jeroenhd 5y ago
  I've successfully installed an ancient version of iTunes for Windows to associate apps to my account and that method worked for a while, until Youtube pulled support for the version of the Youtube app that the old iPad I got used last. The web player is dog slow, so the iPad is pretty much a fancy glass eBook reader now.
mrpippy 5y ago
2017? I think you have that wrong, the newest iPad no longer getting updates is the iPad mini 3 which was sold from Fall 2014-2015.
- brainlessdev 5y ago
  It's a 2nd generation iPad Pro. The Internet says I should be able to upgrade to iPadOS 15.2, but the device won't give me any updates and it's running iOS 10.
  - eppsilon 5y ago
    Maybe the update function in iOS 10 has stopped working for some reason? You could try updating it with iTunes (or via Finder on newer macOS versions).
  - mrpippy 5y ago
    Weird. I'd check to see if a beta profile is installed (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203282 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203282), if that doesn't work then use a Mac or PC to update it.
  - brainlessdev 5y ago
    Thanks for the suggestions!
  - mcphage 5y ago
    I've got a first gen iPad pro, running 15.1 currently. (Incidentally: thanks for letting me know 15.2 was out, I'm updating now).
Toadtoad 5y ago
There's actually another (terribly convoluted) way to "purchase" apps, with another computer and an old version of iTunes[0]. This version of iTunes supports searching for and purchasing apps, so it can be used to get the license for apps. I used it to get Spotify working on my 2012 iPad, installing iTunes on Linux with WINE. [0] https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208079 https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208079
monocularvision 5y ago
The iPad released in 2017 is the 5th generation which can get iOS 15. Perhaps it was an earlier iPad?

javajosh 5y ago

Which reminds me to ask - is anyone making a custom OS for iDevices yet? Something like Graphene for iOS? I know about Asahi Linux, but that's for M1 laptops, AFAIK. (Because the "right" solution here is clearly to ditch the OS and install something Linux-y, and then whatever software you need, including recent Chrome). Same question for ChromeOS devices.

jeroenhd 5y ago
There are ongoing attempts at running Android on old iDevices, but I doubt they'll ever be as good as custom roms on normal Android hardware.

goda90 5y ago

It gets worse. Even if you could download an old version of Firefox and Chrome to your iOS device, they'd have the same problem as Safari, because Apple bans third party browser engines. Firefox and Chrome for iOS are essentially wrappers on a Safari core.

brainlessdev 5y ago
Yes, I forgot about this. It does make it worse! I've commented this elsewhere, too: the incompatibility problem is still anti-user, it affected me when trying to download other types of apps that have nothing to do with browsers.

wizzwizz4 5y ago

> My conclusion: the onus is on the device manufacturers to not arbitrarily restrict their users. Jim Nielsen's mom's iPad is perfectly capable of opening that website, but its manufacturers are limiting it artificially. No, it's not. Firefox and Chrome on iOS both use the operating system's Safari engine. (I mean, yeah, the hardware would support running a more recent browser engine, so your point still holds.)

brainlessdev 5y ago
You're right: I forgot that ultimately it's Safari anyway. But this happened to me with several other apps, too, such as Garage Band, some synthesizer apps, even a guitar tuner wouldn't work on a completely capable device that's now basically useless!

julienb_sea 5y ago

This seems like a pretty poor implementation on Apple's app store's handling of out of date app installation. I believe there is a workaround where you can use an online version of the app store to first trigger an app download to your iphone, which would then transition it into that "re-download from cloud" state which lets you get an older version.

jeroenhd 5y ago
I've successfully installed an ancient version of iTunes for Windows to associate apps to my account and that method worked for a while, until Youtube pulled support for the version of the Youtube app that the old iPad I got used last. The web player is dog slow, so the iPad is pretty much a fancy glass eBook reader now.

mrpippy 5y ago

2017? I think you have that wrong, the newest iPad no longer getting updates is the iPad mini 3 which was sold from Fall 2014-2015.

brainlessdev 5y ago
It's a 2nd generation iPad Pro. The Internet says I should be able to upgrade to iPadOS 15.2, but the device won't give me any updates and it's running iOS 10.
- eppsilon 5y ago
  Maybe the update function in iOS 10 has stopped working for some reason? You could try updating it with iTunes (or via Finder on newer macOS versions).
- mrpippy 5y ago
  Weird. I'd check to see if a beta profile is installed (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203282 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203282), if that doesn't work then use a Mac or PC to update it.
- brainlessdev 5y ago
  Thanks for the suggestions!
- mcphage 5y ago
  I've got a first gen iPad pro, running 15.1 currently. (Incidentally: thanks for letting me know 15.2 was out, I'm updating now).

Toadtoad 5y ago

There's actually another (terribly convoluted) way to "purchase" apps, with another computer and an old version of iTunes[0]. This version of iTunes supports searching for and purchasing apps, so it can be used to get the license for apps. I used it to get Spotify working on my 2012 iPad, installing iTunes on Linux with WINE. [0] https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208079 https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208079

monocularvision 5y ago

The iPad released in 2017 is the 5th generation which can get iOS 15. Perhaps it was an earlier iPad?