IPAD2 very slow after IOS 8 upgrade

Star Travler,

Do you own an iPad2 running iOS 8.0.2 that is operating as well as it ran using iOS 7? This is a simple question. If you do own an iPad2 running iOS 8.0.2 that is operating well, what were the exact steps you used to upgrade your iPad? If your have no personal experience with the upgrade from iOS 7 to 8 on an iPAD 2, please refrain from posting on this forum. We are trying to figure out how to get our iPads working without spending too much time or money. If your only recommendation is Apple Support and the Genius Bar, we got that message a few times already - we don't need to hear it again.

@ChrisPhillips - Great post and very much appreciated that you took the time to inform us of your time spent with Apple support. I will write hard copy letters to both Craig Federighi and Tim Cook. As a retired executive, I know how many emails are received daily, both from other company execs and customers. Generally speaking, a good old fashion snail mail letter has a much better chance of reaching the recipient than an email does. Thanks again.

"Host" edited out the names of Apple's senior vice president of software engineering as well as the name of the CEO, both of whom I contacted personally about this issue. Neither has responded. This is an important piece of information that the users of this group need to know. If "host" removes this post, I, at least, will know how little interest Apple has in actually resolving this issue.

Note that "host" has no problem leaving my name on the top of these- I'm not ashamed of my posts.

I am sitting here just wishing I could get wifi to work consistantly.. I want to check my email, go on social media,, and watch Netflix, but it is so slow or barely responding. This is exactly why I bought this ipad..2-3 yr old computers are and should not be outdated and time for a replacement. My old windows computer I had for 7 yrs, it may have been slower but it worked. Isn't that the point?

Apple is selling iPad 2s ... right now today ... as we speak, and you can order it and have it shipped right to your door. It allows users to have iOS 8.0.2 on it and Apple does not say it has any problems doing so. You will get a new two year warranty on it (today, if you sign up to get that) and it will be covered for another two years. It's obviously working just fine by Apple.

In addition, there are numerous users who have updated and have no problems and they have posted here on this forum ... to that effect.

Now, if you are having problems and you can't seem to find "other users" to be able to help you out, then you need to get Apple Support to help you out. The fact that you can buy an iPad 2 straight from Apple - TODAY - and get a two-year warranty on it (if you choose so) ... shows that Apple has no problems with the iPad 2s.

1: The iPad 2s that are being sold refurbished are running iOS 7.1.2. Fact.

2: It can't run iOS 8, which is why most of us are here. You have an iPad 4, Star traveller- why are you here?

3: I wrote this post from my office iMac. I didn't get any double letters. It's pretty clear to those of us with affected iPads that the problem lies with the iPad. Again: Why are you here?

ChrisPhilips wrote:

1: The iPad 2s that are being sold refurbished are running iOS 7.1.2. Fact.

2: It can't run iOS 8, which is why most of us are here. You have an iPad 4, Star traveller- why are you here?

3: I wrote this post from my office iMac. I didn't get any double letters. It's pretty clear to those of us with affected iPads that the problem lies with the iPad. Again: Why are you here?

Are you interested in proving a point or fixing your iPad?

I have a friend whose iPad 3 slowed down by around 30%, based upon upon before and after measurements. Web browsing, he said, is considerably slower.

My iPad 4 (and iPhone 5S), thankfully, were not much affected at all. Based upon that, I'm not surprised that an iPad 2 would be affected even more. It's probably due to a combination of processor speed (e.g., 1.0GHz for iPad3 vs. 1.4GHz for iPad4) and RAM size.

Short summary: Unfortunately, sorry, but I don't think there's a lot you can do about it at this point, other than to get a much-more-capable (lighter, faster, vastly-higher-quality-screen) new iPad. New models are expected out toward the end of October, I'm told. If they have one with Touch ID, I might even consider taking the leap myself! Well, that and listen for reports of others experiencing slow-downs of the sort that you reported here.

Personally, I share in Chris' frustrations at having an upgrade sent to one's device and then being told by others (after the fact) that we iPad2 owners should have known better and have no right to voice opinions regarding ANY other thoughts or experiences after installing that upgrade. IF, the upgrade was not meant for our clunker iPad 2's, Apple could have kindly informed us (or not issued it to our devices) of what may result...but they did not. So, here we are.

I found some helpful suggestions here, and that has returned a lot of the speedy function to my iPad 2. Other problems still persist (copy & paste, tabs not holding online content) but, us owners of iPad2 would like to see them all addressed in some manner.

So, we are here...and elsewhere and bad news travels fast. If anything, the moderators will see our complaints and either direct us so, but perhaps they will also realize there's a huge problem in size & scope with this upgrade across a large swath of Apple's user base and it's loyalty to an otherwise pretty cool product line is being severely tested.

Any additional snark or 'helpful' suggestions here telling us that we're "in the wrong forum" or are just not 'with it' only hardens our resolve to use every outlet possible to inform the maker that there's a problem we'd like addressed.

mr88cet wrote:

I have a friend whose iPad 3 slowed down by around 30%, based upon upon before and after measurements. Web browsing, he said, is considerably slower.

My iPad 4 (and iPhone 5S), thankfully, were not much affected at all. Based upon that, I'm not surprised that an iPad 2 would be affected even more. It's probably due to a combination of processor speed (e.g., 1.0GHz for iPad3 vs. 1.4GHz for iPad4) and RAM size.

Short summary: Unfortunately, sorry, but I don't think there's a lot you can do about it at this point, other than to get a much-more-capable (lighter, faster, vastly-higher-quality-screen) new iPad. New models are expected out toward the end of October, I'm told. If they have one with Touch ID, I might even consider taking the leap myself! Well, that and listen for reports of others experiencing slow-downs of the sort that you reported here.

I think that it's amazing that someone would actually do benchmark testing prior to updating an operating system. If this friend was that worried, why did she/he do the update?

mr88cet wrote:

I can't answer for him of course, but he's unusually meticulous about such things.

Again, if he's that meticulous and that scared about the update, why did he proceed? If I were in his shoes, I'd wait until others updated and I'd examine their results.

I haven't asked him, but just as a guess, he may have based the "before" time upon a wweb page that he goes to frequently, and therefore knew how long it takes "by heart," so to speak. That, more than having taken a specific "before" measurement. Just a guess...

We each noticed something curious though: Initial speed of iOS 8 right after installation was not where it settled out finally. Mine seemed considerably slower for the first … oh, half hour or so … while it gradually improved up to very little difference - perhaps 5%ish slower. (That I base upon my intuitive feel only; I don't have any before/after numbers.) Anyway, it appears to go through a period of adjusting performance after installation. I saw that on my iPhone 5s too.

Hello Apple???

IOS8 has literally crippled my ipad2. The quantity of serious issues would fill several single-spaced pages. The ipad2 is unambiguously included in the list of supported machines for upgrade to IOS8. Is anyone paying attention to this? At the moment, there are 567 people on this forum who have the same problem. I would estimate that perhaps 1% of iPad users even know about this forum so I'm going to venture a guess that this software problem is affecting tens of thousands of users. I think that warrants a speedy solution. At the very least, an announcement should be made to those users who, by simply following your directions, have rendered their Apple computers almost useless.

If anyone wants to write me, I have found a number of 'get me barely working!' solutions I would be happy to share.

I can hardly contain my growing anger, disappointment with Apple for their silence.

I know of at least 5 other people who have a 2 and will not update until this is sorted. They would not be on any IT forum. I have the only updated I pad2 in my family. I am the only one with an issue.

From Ian's iPad