Q: IPAD2 very slow after IOS 8 upgrade

To address your question, as well as the concerns of Star Traveler, who seems to think we're all just sitting around complaining because we're too stupid to call tech support:

On Thursday, September 18th I brought my iPad2 to my office to sync and backup the device, which I do on a fairly regular basis. I received notification to upgrade the device to IOS8, which I did. When I got home I immediately noticed degradation in performance, and later at a meeting I discovered my data no longer worked. The next day, Friday, I called Apple, who suggested I take it to a local Apple store to have them look at it. I called and set up an appointment for the next available convenient time, which was 5:30 Monday afternoon, the 22nd.

My first contact at the genius bar was a dumpy middle-aged hipster wanna-be with a stupid hat who asked me, “What do you expect for free tech support?”

While I was waiting for a “genius” I called tech support from the store. After 45 minutes I finally got an escalation agent, Pamela, who handed me off to a genius bar employee, Pat.

Pat told me I couldn’t remove iOS 8 and restore to the previous operating system, even though I was willing to wipe my iPad and reinstall all the apps and programs by hand. “It can’t be done,” he said. Pat told me there was nothing Apple could do for me, but the next update might fix the problem.

I upgraded to 8.0.2 as soon as it became available, and also spoke with Joey R. iOS Senior Advisor, who listened to my story, asked a few questions and handed me off to Escalation Agent Sergio S. who told me that there was nothing Apple could do for me, that the iPad 2 was at the end of its service life and that he would send me $70 worth of accessories from the Apple store for my trouble.

I found out on October 2nd (too late) that Apple was “signing” iOS 7.2 for users who wanted to downgrade until September 27th- far into my many hours of pleading with Apple “geniuses” and others who told me it couldn’t be done.

I went back to the Apple store on October 3rd, and spoke with an Apple employee who told me I never should have upgraded to iOS 8.

I am now on IOS 8.0.2- the latest iteration as of this writing, and the device is still almost useless.

The iPad2 is almost universally unable to function with this software, and the Apple Support Community is full of people in the same situation as me, with iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPad Minis that no longer function.

<Personal Information Edited By Host>

@Star Traveler - A couple of questions.

1. Can you provide an Apple link where Apple is selling the iPad 2 with iOS 8?

2. Why did Apple allow iOS 8 to be installed on the iPad 2 when they knew or shoul have known the iPad 2 is not capable of handling iOS 8?

3. Have you notiiced all the posts with a double letter at the beginning of the post? LLike this? If you think people are doing this on purpose, I have news for you. The SSecond letter is being added by Safari. I guess that's "normal" operation for an iPad 2? I ddon't tthink sso.

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.

davidfrommanteca wrote:

 

@Star Traveler - A couple of questions.

 

1. Can you provide an Apple link where Apple is selling the iPad 2 with iOS 8?

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/ipad/ipad2

 

2. Why did Apple allow iOS 8 to be installed on the iPad 2 when they knew or shoul have known the iPad 2 is not capable of handling iOS 8?

 

It can run iOS 8, and people are doing it. In fact the overwhelming majority of users are doing it. Apple is selling it right now. You can buy it TODAY from their online store, and Apple does allow anyone with an iPad 2 to upgrade to iOS 8.0.2 because it does work.

 

3. Have you notiiced all the posts with a double letter at the beginning of the post? LLike this? If you think people are doing this on purpose, I have news for you. The SSecond letter is being added by Safari. I guess that's "normal" operation for an iPad 2? I ddon't tthink sso.

That's been addressed before in other posts. It's a problem with the software that is running this forum.

You're right, David- but I don't have time for "snail mail" as I need to get my iPad back up before an upcoming business trip. If your letters get you somewhere, please let us know!

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?

Looking at his level & post count (what ever they mean), nothing better to do.

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.

RCMatty wrote:

 

Looking at his level & post count (what ever they mean), nothing better to do.

Why don't you investigate?

@Philly_Phan - Just igmore him (Star Traveler) and then everything makes sense. :-)