Why is iOS 8 destroying my iPad 2?

The iPad 2 will most likely be my last foray into Apple products. While it originally functioned as a robust and productive device, it is no longer. Indeed, after each IOS upgrade, the devices have become more and more sluggist, unresponsive, and outright unproductive. These products were offered on the market as late as March 2014. From a business perspective, these technology assets were expected to have a 2 year lifecycle, and thus are still on my books.

Likewise, when AppleTV first arrived on the market it was also a robust and productive device. However, that too has changed. For screencasting presentations, Miracast is now a much more robust, compatible, and productive alternative without the capricious limitations imposed by AppleTV.

See later response. The iPad 2 products were offered on the market as late as March 2014. From a business perspective, technology assets are expected to have a 2 year lifecycle. The iPad 2 devices clearly do not. From an enterprise procurement perspective, that is unacceptable in the business world.

The later iPad2s were superior in specs to the earlier iPad2s.

Cheers

Pete

Please everyone go here and let Apple know:

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

I too am running an iPad 2 that has been crippled by software updates. I wish I could roll back to iOS 6 or 7. The fact we are forced to stay on current software is ridiculous.

Who forced you?

Pete

Apple must maintain the security of its devices by updating them.

For sure older devices will work slower with newer softwares and we don't have to be even smart to know that.

Every device has life and actually Apple is a company that supports its devices much longer than any top Android maker.

You shouldn't consider an old iPad working on older OS a good choice since your security is not taken care of as it could have been if you had the latest OS.

You might say that Apple could have released some security patches for iPad 2 instead of allowing an iOS 8 upgrade but put yourself in Apple's position. They are now selling the 6th generation iPad and that is one of the ways they make money.

Imagine you are Apple and you sold iPad 2, 4 years back and still trying to make it as safe as possible after a total of 4 years besides the fact that the hardware is old and is not able to keep up but you still push it because security is the first priority.

If I was Apple I also wouldn't have released only security patches for older devices since after 4 years of service to my customers' old devices; I believe I was gonna deserve making some new money from them to buy my new updated devices...

Well, Pete ... Apple's refusal to sign SHSH blobs other than 8.4 is how we are forced. I have zero choice in what my OS is now. This product went from snappy and responsive to "press a button, wait 10 seconds" and "you might want to get a cup of coffee while I bring up the keyboard, Broseph".

Updating an OS shouldn't be like Shrödinger's Cat where a device is both working and completely crippled at the same time. The sad part is that it is becoming well-known that Apple does this as a part of planned obsolescence. When a new iOS update is released, I commonly hear among my non-technical friends and family: "Whatever you do, don't update!" ... definitely advice I should have listened to in the case of my iPad 2.

Apple could very easily sign older, more responsive software with minimal effort / labor on their part so I could at least give away Apple products as hand-me-downs in my family as eReaders.

Logic dictates that a company will be unable to support a legacy device forever - just like the iPhone 4 is set to iOS 7. So the argument that Apple is concerned about security doesn't hold up - there always has to be a point at which the user will be locked to a version of iOS. The question is just which version of iOS will they be locked to. It's just a little strange how it's always a version of iOS that runs so poorly as to make the device unusable and forces the user to upgrade to a newer device.

My complaint is simply that Apple does not allow its users to downgrade from 8.4 to a previous, responsive version ... because they stop signing the SHSH blobs.

Apple has to know what they're doing, and is doing it for planned obsolescence. It's become common knowledge that Apple slows their devices down. When an iOS update is released, I hear non-technical friends say: "Whatever you do, don't upgrade!" People know it cripples their device speed. Just Google "downgrade iPad 2" or search that term on YouTube and look under video comments ... there are literally thousands of Apple customers begging for a way to get back to a responsive version of software.

It's a calculated, mean move, basically ... just a way for Apple to sell more devices.

You might wish to repost this in the official whiners' thread.

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to help, much appreciated.

You're very welcome.

HELLO ALL 😁

Please understand that Apple needs to make money and it is not evil that a 4 year old Apple iPad 2 product will run slow on the latest iOS. You can not downgrade but also you do not have to upgrade to a newer iOS in the first place.

It is your own mistake if you do so.

If you get old yourself and go to a gym and try to work as hard as a 22 years old and then end up in a hospital please only blame yourselves.

There are also many companies that stopped supporting older versions of their apps and require you to upgrade to a higher iOS and this means your older devices are becoming less useless any moment passed...

It is clear that the whole industry is pushing you to upgrade your software and hardware and yes of course if you are in that industry you will make money from it. But since everything is getting more advanced any moment it means you have to continue changing with your environment almost as fast as it changes and if not you'll stay behind.

The iPad 2 can still be used for some basic things. You can just give it to a younger family member or anyone who can make a use of it.

Regards,