5 ms·

Does anybody still use iOS 9? If someone hasn't updated their OS in 8 years, is it reasonable for them the expect app updates on it?

ryandrake 3y ago
I have a device (an O.G. iPad) that is stuck on iOS 5.1.1. The hardware still works beautifully, as well as the day I bought it, but thanks to Apple, it's pretty much a brick now. 3P apps refuse to support it because they've all moved their minimum OS version beyond that. Perfectly working junk purely because of software choices.
- MissTake 3y ago
  “Thanks to Apple”? The original iPad was a 32 bit A8 single core CPU that topped out as 1Ghz and with 256MB Ram and used the ARMv7 instruction set. How do you expect a modern day OS with requirements to deal with real world sensors, and user requirements that didn’t exist back then, to run against that? The latest iPads have 2GB Ram, are 64 bit, run multiple cores and have embedded motion coprocessors and neural capabilities running a much later instruction set. Let’s be reasonable here - that device is now about to be 14 years old. And, if “the hardware works beautifully” how is it “pretty much a brick”? iPads are not the same as laptops or desktops. Sure, you can still run some Linux distros on older 32 bit hardware, but everyone who does knows of the limitations of doing so and realize that they lack the horsepower of modern day computers and use them accordingly.
  - arprocter 3y ago
    I used to roll my eyes at the 'Apple = planned obsolescence' thing; but on the macOS side OpenCore pretty much proves that it's true The amount of hardware that's been thrown away just because they decided it's time you bought a new Mac is insane We're about to see something similar when Windows 10 hits end of life, and everything without a TPM will get trashed
    - MissTake 3y ago
      Still rocking my MBP from 2015 playing all the 32 bit games on it. I use a 2019 MBP at work which I do all my development on with JetBrains, DBeaver, Postgre Server and Podman on. And I also have a home M1 MBA which is my take anywhere device for when we need a full blown computer. Even my old iPad Pro 9.7 is in use as a monitor on my work machine. Not seeing this need to throw devices out yet just because there are newer flashier machines out there.
      - arprocter 3y ago
        Apple supports the last 3 named OS versions - anything older won't be getting security updates Which strangely means if you have an Intel Mac that Apple dropped support for, you could run Windows 10 and still be supported until next year
        MissTake 3y ago
        Not sure your point, here. If Apple don’t release MacOS 15 for my 2019, even by your statement, I’d still be supported until mid 2026, and not have to change my OS.
  - ryandrake 3y ago
    > “Thanks to Apple”? Yep. They are the ones that chose to end software support for the device a mere 2 years after it was released. Or did someone else make that decision? > And, if “the hardware works beautifully” how is it “pretty much a brick”? Because it only runs the pre-installed apps, and not even all of them because several of the pre-installed apps rely on non-functioning cloud services. This is the fault of 1. Apple for ending OS support, 2. Cloud services ending support for old apps, and 3. 3rd party apps ending support for old devices + Apple not allowing users to download the "latest compatible version." > iPads are not the same as laptops or desktops. Sure, you can still run some Linux distros on older 32 bit hardware, but everyone who does knows of the limitations of doing so and realize that they lack the horsepower of modern day computers and use them accordingly. That decision about accepting the limitations and trade-offs should be in the hands of end users, not the device's manufacturer. I can install a relatively recent Linux distribution on my 20 year old PC and decide for myself whether I can live with the performance.
    - MissTake 3y ago
      > Yep. They are the ones that chose to end software support for the device a mere 2 years after it was released. Or did someone else make that decision? You’re totally correct - and there seemed be be few changes in iOS 6 that necessitated that move. That said, getting it above iOS 11 was never going to happen given the architecture change. >That decision about accepting the limitations and trade-offs should be in the hands of end users, not the device's manufacturer. I can install a relatively recent Linux distribution on my 20 year old PC and decide for myself whether I can live with the performance. iPad users are not even remotely in the same group as Linux users. As a Linux user using old hardware you are making an educated decision to do so, knowing all the pitfalls. Your average iPad user just wants the thing to run at speeds comparable to current devices and with minimal loss of functionality. An iPad is not a full blown computer like a modern day laptop is. I used to be an Android girl. I owned an original Xoom and later on, a Nexus 7. They were both unusable within a few years because the needs of the OS was greater than the devices could handle: and that’s even after I rooted them both and upgraded to the latest Cyanogen versions at the time.
    - bdlowery 3y ago
VagabundoP 3y ago
I'd love a minimal ios/linux variant to run software on old Apple devices. I have a bunch of devices that I could repurpose for PDF reading, light video or radio streaming etc. The hardware is well built but the apple lockdown says I can't get alternate OSs on this thing. You can even go back to the original ios version - because of jailbreaking.
- cykros 3y ago
  If you wanted to do it on really old Apple devices, I had Linux running on an iPod photo back in 2005 or so. It ran Doom, and also worked as a Redbox (there were still a few payphones around back then). But yes, it'd be nice for something not quite that old too.
- LocalH 3y ago
  Apple should be forced to fully open up TSS for a device when they move them into "vintage" or "obsolete" status
pquki4 3y ago
I know a professor who was still using iPhone 3GS just a few years ago. So there you go.
hexagonwin 3y ago
My iPad 3 with its high res retina display is still very usable for watching videos, but is stuck on iOS 9.3.6.
thiht 3y ago
On the other hand, VLC goes out of their way to give updates to users of old OS versions. Why won't Google and Microsoft let them do it? According to VLC there are still millions of users of outdated Android TV and I agree with them: it's unreasonable to ask all these people to buy a new TV if it's still working. I get that manufacturers don't update the OS for more than n years (if at all). I get that some developers decide to not deliver updates for OS older than n versions. But wanting to deliver updates for these users should not be impossible.
Turing_Machine 3y ago
To be fair, iOS 9 wasn't EOLed until July 2019 (only about 4.5 years ago). Still, that's a... long time.

ryandrake 3y ago

I have a device (an O.G. iPad) that is stuck on iOS 5.1.1. The hardware still works beautifully, as well as the day I bought it, but thanks to Apple, it's pretty much a brick now. 3P apps refuse to support it because they've all moved their minimum OS version beyond that. Perfectly working junk purely because of software choices.

MissTake 3y ago
“Thanks to Apple”? The original iPad was a 32 bit A8 single core CPU that topped out as 1Ghz and with 256MB Ram and used the ARMv7 instruction set. How do you expect a modern day OS with requirements to deal with real world sensors, and user requirements that didn’t exist back then, to run against that? The latest iPads have 2GB Ram, are 64 bit, run multiple cores and have embedded motion coprocessors and neural capabilities running a much later instruction set. Let’s be reasonable here - that device is now about to be 14 years old. And, if “the hardware works beautifully” how is it “pretty much a brick”? iPads are not the same as laptops or desktops. Sure, you can still run some Linux distros on older 32 bit hardware, but everyone who does knows of the limitations of doing so and realize that they lack the horsepower of modern day computers and use them accordingly.
- arprocter 3y ago
  I used to roll my eyes at the 'Apple = planned obsolescence' thing; but on the macOS side OpenCore pretty much proves that it's true The amount of hardware that's been thrown away just because they decided it's time you bought a new Mac is insane We're about to see something similar when Windows 10 hits end of life, and everything without a TPM will get trashed
  - MissTake 3y ago
    Still rocking my MBP from 2015 playing all the 32 bit games on it. I use a 2019 MBP at work which I do all my development on with JetBrains, DBeaver, Postgre Server and Podman on. And I also have a home M1 MBA which is my take anywhere device for when we need a full blown computer. Even my old iPad Pro 9.7 is in use as a monitor on my work machine. Not seeing this need to throw devices out yet just because there are newer flashier machines out there.
    - arprocter 3y ago
      Apple supports the last 3 named OS versions - anything older won't be getting security updates Which strangely means if you have an Intel Mac that Apple dropped support for, you could run Windows 10 and still be supported until next year
      - MissTake 3y ago
        Not sure your point, here. If Apple don’t release MacOS 15 for my 2019, even by your statement, I’d still be supported until mid 2026, and not have to change my OS.
- ryandrake 3y ago
  > “Thanks to Apple”? Yep. They are the ones that chose to end software support for the device a mere 2 years after it was released. Or did someone else make that decision? > And, if “the hardware works beautifully” how is it “pretty much a brick”? Because it only runs the pre-installed apps, and not even all of them because several of the pre-installed apps rely on non-functioning cloud services. This is the fault of 1. Apple for ending OS support, 2. Cloud services ending support for old apps, and 3. 3rd party apps ending support for old devices + Apple not allowing users to download the "latest compatible version." > iPads are not the same as laptops or desktops. Sure, you can still run some Linux distros on older 32 bit hardware, but everyone who does knows of the limitations of doing so and realize that they lack the horsepower of modern day computers and use them accordingly. That decision about accepting the limitations and trade-offs should be in the hands of end users, not the device's manufacturer. I can install a relatively recent Linux distribution on my 20 year old PC and decide for myself whether I can live with the performance.
  - MissTake 3y ago
    > Yep. They are the ones that chose to end software support for the device a mere 2 years after it was released. Or did someone else make that decision? You’re totally correct - and there seemed be be few changes in iOS 6 that necessitated that move. That said, getting it above iOS 11 was never going to happen given the architecture change. >That decision about accepting the limitations and trade-offs should be in the hands of end users, not the device's manufacturer. I can install a relatively recent Linux distribution on my 20 year old PC and decide for myself whether I can live with the performance. iPad users are not even remotely in the same group as Linux users. As a Linux user using old hardware you are making an educated decision to do so, knowing all the pitfalls. Your average iPad user just wants the thing to run at speeds comparable to current devices and with minimal loss of functionality. An iPad is not a full blown computer like a modern day laptop is. I used to be an Android girl. I owned an original Xoom and later on, a Nexus 7. They were both unusable within a few years because the needs of the OS was greater than the devices could handle: and that’s even after I rooted them both and upgraded to the latest Cyanogen versions at the time.
  - bdlowery 3y ago

VagabundoP 3y ago

I'd love a minimal ios/linux variant to run software on old Apple devices. I have a bunch of devices that I could repurpose for PDF reading, light video or radio streaming etc. The hardware is well built but the apple lockdown says I can't get alternate OSs on this thing. You can even go back to the original ios version - because of jailbreaking.

cykros 3y ago
If you wanted to do it on really old Apple devices, I had Linux running on an iPod photo back in 2005 or so. It ran Doom, and also worked as a Redbox (there were still a few payphones around back then). But yes, it'd be nice for something not quite that old too.
LocalH 3y ago
Apple should be forced to fully open up TSS for a device when they move them into "vintage" or "obsolete" status

pquki4 3y ago

I know a professor who was still using iPhone 3GS just a few years ago. So there you go.

hexagonwin 3y ago

My iPad 3 with its high res retina display is still very usable for watching videos, but is stuck on iOS 9.3.6.

thiht 3y ago

On the other hand, VLC goes out of their way to give updates to users of old OS versions. Why won't Google and Microsoft let them do it? According to VLC there are still millions of users of outdated Android TV and I agree with them: it's unreasonable to ask all these people to buy a new TV if it's still working. I get that manufacturers don't update the OS for more than n years (if at all). I get that some developers decide to not deliver updates for OS older than n versions. But wanting to deliver updates for these users should not be impossible.

Turing_Machine 3y ago

To be fair, iOS 9 wasn't EOLed until July 2019 (only about 4.5 years ago). Still, that's a... long time.