Q: IPAD2 very slow after IOS 8 upgrade

@Dracofear -  I have been dealing nonstop with this issue for about two weeks and it seems you have too.  I am coming to the conclusion that iOS8 has a much higher CPU load, in part due to many additional features though for many other reasons.  I have found that a long trip through settings, turning off a number of Safari's new advanced features has made a difference for me.  Clearing caches as you recommend has helped as well.  It seems Apple was a bit optimistic recommending the ipad2 for its use but by manually stripping new features away I am almost back to ios7 level of performance.  The cellular network dropping remains a big issue though.

I'd like to thank the folks that put the time into posting possible solutions as opposed to simply arm-waving.  I'm running 8.0.2 on an ipad 2 (A1395) and I've been working through several of the suggestions from this thread- and they have helped quite a bit.  With that said, I suspect that when iOS 9 shows up my ipad 2 won't make the list and "downgrading" should remain an option.

AAnd I'd like to thank those of you who have demonstrated a sincere and legitimate anger at having been screwed by Apple instead of just unplugging half the apps and most of the functions and saying "It still runs, kind of- I hope Apple feels my internal discord."

Please do not come to the forums if all you're gonna do is gripe and complain, how about you actually try some of the stuff that people are suggesting? we are all here to help and if you dont want our help then get out. Im sure apple is working really hard on an update to fix this but till then we have to work with what we got. Like previous people have said what I suggested worked, so how about you try that? Grow up and stop being so imature. We are giving you the power to fix the issue, and you choose to gripe and complain instead of trying to fix it. That is your fault, not mine, not apple's. So you can either try to fix the issue, or you can just deal with the problems you are having till apple fixes them.

I was advised not to upgrade my iPad 2 to IOS 7. The hardware, especially the processor, just isn't up to it. Just as old computers won't work well with new versions of Windows, although Microsoft won't stop you from installing them.

I am glad my ipad2 was included in the ios8 approved list, even tho there should have been an asterisk.  If not, I wouldn't be able to share via iCloud drive with my computer and phone and that is a big deal for me.

Right, it's not an easy decision where to draw that line.

Arguably, its a bigger problem on phones and tablets, because the technology is improving much faster than the comparatively mature technology of desktop computers, for example.

"although Microsoft won't stop you from installing them."

You're completely missing the point  - Microsoft won't stop you installing them but more importantly, it won't prevent you from un-installing them and going back to what did work. Ditto Android and Linux.

It's perfectly reasonable that the newest software won't run well on an older machine. What is not reasonable is to actively prevent you from downgrading when you find out it won't.

When Apple was producing unquestionably the best tablets, they could bully their customers like that. They now have strong competition. My mother now has a tablet from another maker and I have one on the way. I will not be held hostage to Apple's fortune.

My interest in this forum now is to flog the two iPad2s in decent working order so I continue to follow gratefully those who try to help.

I cleared my history in safari, but when I went to reset my network settings I got nervous because it was going to reset to factory default. What will I be losing if I do this?

I, too, have followed many of the suggestions made here, mostly involving turning off the features added to 8.0.2. I hated that predictive typing and was glad to get rid of that. Also glad to get rid of the screen jerkiness. I still have apps that are crashing, but maybe that's on their end and not Apple's. My ipad2 is still slower than it was, but it is functioning. I have been thinking about getting a new tablet, but now I'm not sure it will be an Apple product. If we can't trust Apple more than other companies, why not go with another product? I love my Samsung Note 3 phone, so maybe I should go with their tablet. At least my calendars will synch then. Thanks to everyone who gave helpful suggestions.

Before I commit to another iPad type product, I'll wait & see what Apple does regarding this rollout. If they don't improve the function of my iPad2 with a fix, I'll consider an alternative.

I don't work for Apple, and I obviously can't read this minds, but I can see that it's a complicated problem, full of trade-offs.

Apple wants iOS devices to extremely simple (no IT department or manuals needed), but also wants them to do almost everything a desktop computer can do, along with many things desktops (and even laptops) can't.  They need to be thin and light and have superb screens and long battery life, and yet be inexpensive.  New iOS versions need to take the best advantage of the exponentially increasing performance on ultra-low-power device technology, and yet not be too slow on older devices.

It's a complicate balance.  For example, I would suggest that they need to publish more performance-trade-off information to help us decide whether to upgrade an older device or not, but that violates their goal to make them simple to understand.  It's probably fair to say that Apple wants us to upgrade our slower older devices, not only so that they sell more, but also so that they and their app developers have fewer different configurations to support.  I'm not saying that I like or agree with that philosophy (I'd certainly prefer not to have to upgrade often), but just that it's complicated to avoid it coming down to that sooner or later.  When the new iPads come out, probably toward the end of this month, they will probably have very approximately on the order of 3 times the CPU/GPU power of an iPad2.  That's a wide range to have to create a workable product with.

If you're interested in giving "feedback" to Apple, this forum is not the place. Here is the place ...

https://www.apple.com/feedback/

If you're interested in other "users who are helping users" to solve their specific issues, then yes ... this is the place. However, if you have not been able to get the solutions you seek, "talking to Apple" here won't do a bit of good (and is not in the Terms of Use for this forum), as Apple does not interact or reply to users here. They have their official sites for giving customer service. In case you don't know where to go for that ... they are ...

http://www.apple.com/support/

http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

Put me down for this one, too.  Absolutely appalling. A £400 device rendered worse than a cheap tablet because of Apple and they don't have the decency to own up and put it right.

That's an interesting observation, and I've seen the same thing. I thought to myself, "Can this really be happening?" ... but it is. Your device does seem to "adjust" and speed up ... for some reason. It's puzzling to me ... :-) ...

It might be all related to how Apple has designed this new iOS. I just don't know, but it's all good ...