Why does apple slow down old devices?

There is NO way to revert to a earlier iOS version once you upgrade/update to a new iOS.

Have you tried a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons?

In Settings app, General settings panel, turn OFF Background App Refresh.

In Settings app, under General settings, Reset panel, at the right bottom of the list, Reset All Settings.

In Settings app (NOT from the iOS Control Panel) turn OFF Bluetooth when not using any Bluetooth devices.

There is still a Control Panel glitch with turning ON/OFF WiFi OR Bluetooth.

Also, in general, if you want a faster IDevice, on all of my iDevices, I turn off most of the iOS motion graphics eye candy, by simply turning ON Reduce Motion in Settings app, General, Accessibilty settings.

Make sure you aren't running scads and scads of background apps in the iOS 11 Control Panel/App Switcher.

If you are, you need to quit the bulk of these background running apps by tap and hold a finger on an app window in the switcher and slide your finger upwards to quit an app. You should be able to use more than one finger to quit more than one app window simultaneously.

Also, make sure you don’t have scads and scads of active website tabs running in the web browser.

If you do, greatly reduce the amount of active website tabs your web browser.

Also, tap the link below and see/try my other iOS/iDevice performance tips here.

Slow iPad on iOS 9, 10 or 11!

Good Luck to You!

NorthTexasRedHead wrote:

Apple could show their customers who only want to upgrade devices once every 3-4 years some respect by leaving out the latest bells and whistles that slow their machines down and just giving security updates.

What about their customers who want the most advanced technology yesterday? What about their customers who post here within a month or two of a major release asking when the next major release will be out?

NorthTexasRedHead wrote:

Banks and credit cards will often require you update to the latest iOS, in particular if there has been some large hacking event. So yes, security updates are important and older OS's are not supported by some financial institution apps. My bank in particular requires you to update to the latest OS if I want to bank from my phone - if I can't bank from my phone then I might as well have a flip phone.

What does that have to do with Apple? If your financial institution decides to not provide a version of their software that will run on an older Apple device because it is running an older iOS, then how is that Apple's problem? Here's a list of all of the devices that Google no longer (or will shortly no longer) provide any security or other updates for:

• Nexus 5X: September 2017
• Nexus 6P: September 2017
• Nexus 9: October 2016
• Nexus 5: October 2015
• Nexus 6: October 2016
• Nexus 7 (2013): July 2015
• Nexus 10: November 2014

See any similarities?

GB

This issue I think has raised a few issues. The Apple customer base is clearly divided into two camps:

• There are those who bought an Apple device to get work done. They want a stable system that does the job and are not interested in so called enhancements. Apple has consistently ignored this group despite the fact that they usually identify the problems - but the problems are never solved, we simple get an update. This is my group.
• Then there are those who MUST have the latest version because the additional (pointless) features give them a "high". In this group we have the emoji crowd and those that spend their life "sharing" it. They must accept that continual updating WILL make their h/w obsolete. They are the money makers for Apple. Anyone who has used Apple products must realize that there is a continual development programme which makes devices obsolete.

Someone said earlier that "I for one prefer technology to advance." Continual updating of the software to add "features" is not tech advancement.

Is paying £1000 for an iPhone (in the UK) really good value for money when the battery can't be changed easily when it expires? All batteries fail sooner or later. My Android phone has a removal battery for that very reason and costs less than a tenth the price!

I have used Apple devices now for six years after a long time with Microsoft based PC's. Apple gear is good - but it is spoilt by the process described above. I still have a list of things that Windows did better and some of these items Apple still doesn't do as efficiently.

I agree with you Jeremy...

But, the trouble with the IT industry generally (and this goes for both MS and Apple) is two fold:

1. They have to make a profit by always "enhancing" the product. This means you have to make old hardware redundant by ensuring that the new software degrades performance. Many of us would prefer not to upgrade because the "enhancements" are unwanted and unneeded.
2. Updates are needed because the software is vulnerable to various forms of criminality and therefore this is used as an excuse to provide the "enhancements" in item 1. Why is software so vulnerable? Because it was never designed (as a complete system) to resist attack.

If security updates were kept separate from "upgrades" we would not have this issue. Eg: Word for Windows 97 would still be a useful and powerful tool and who cares if we can't insert emojis into the text or share it (insecurely) with half the planet! Sorry to use a Windows example but Apple doesn't provide software of that caliber.

I have lost count of the number of PC's (and now Apple equivalents) I have sent to the scrap heap because the software made them redundant. You are right - It is irresponsible to the consumer and the environment. Did they ever have any reputation?

No, it is the never-ending demand for new and exciting stuff and never being satisfied with what you have that "makes" you buy a new one. The older ones still work, and still provide an enormous amount of functionality. My iPad 1 has can do everything that it could when I purchased it, and with iCloud, even more. It is fast, efficient, and easy to use. Of course, that's because I don't need it to function like the most current iPad, or have the ability to send messages (with balloons)....

Same reason some people have to buy a new car every year. Because they have to have whatever the latest innovation is, and have it right now. So, as long as people feel that without the most current of everything they just cannot survive, then companies like Apple will continue to innovate, and those innovations will be beyond the capacity of earlier versions of the device that the gimme consumer must have, and that will mean that those that cannot live without the latest and greatest will purchase them.

GB

vakstro wrote:

... it's [sic] devices have half the life expectancy they used to have in my opinion.

Fascinating opinion. Here are some facts.

In other words the last operating system a model iMac could run became superseded in approximately five years. That has been an approximate length of time for every Mac model built, ever. A Mac's functional obsolescence is very approximately seven years.

A seven year old Mac can still run Apple's latest operating system, meaning a typical Mac's functional obsolescence is even greater than it has been in the past. When upgrading operating systems a Mac will almost always benefit from additional RAM, but that has also always been the case since the original Macintosh was introduced in 1984.

Sadly you seem to be missing the point. The world continually demands bigger and better. When bigger and better is delivered, the hardware has to change to keep up. So, older hardware is simply not going to be as efficient with upgraded software. My iPhone 1 and my iPad 1 still work just great. But that is because I didn't try to use them like an iPhone 7Plus and an iPad Air. Within the scope of the hardware functionality, and running software that works on that level of hardware, they work absolutely the way they were designed to work.

Software is easy to keep changing and upgrading, and as long a a physical device can run it, then it can be used. That doesn't mean that it is always a good idea to push a piece of hardware to its absolute limits simply because you want the newest and best.

Hardware is something that has a limited lifetime, and that is true of all technological hardware. All of it. Not sure what you mean by "Service oriented Technology" nor how it realates to the OP who you are responding to, but there is no conspiracy here - no evil plan. This is simply how technology has worked since day 1. And with the ever-increasing gimme, gimme, gimme attitude of today's consumers, it is likely to just keep speeding up, because no on seems happy with what they ever have....

GB

Sadly, it is you and the other fanboys slinging around the same old argument about "newer software means it needs newer hardware".

All technology feels and acts as the latest and greatest on day 1 of you owning it. Go ahead, take a video of day 1 of the newer apple release and test the speed of that, then do it for the newer version and compare the two. It might run 5-10% faster, even though the specs show 50%-90% increase. It eventually slows down for no apparent reason except for updates (as many users attest).

As much as Apple pushes its statements on how much faster this year's model is than the last, why on earth would they ever scale the processing load and storage size of an update with the newer model? Wouldn't it make sense to just keep things running efficiently or to have some lightweight option out there? Download version L for security patches and bug fixes, or download version M for the max update with freeform texting availability and the newer lock screen look. I get that the newer model can handle a lot more, but that doesn't mean use as much as you can. If everytime you brought your car in to a mechanic and he welded some new item to the interior or trunk, or caused your mpg to go down because of an update HE FELT YOU NEEDED, wouldn't you be ****** off? Well, it was extra space, you can't prove the mpg went down because of the update, and the good news is that the newer version of your car already has it built in. So, stop complaining and go buy a new car already.

I could really care less about tapping the home button to have the screen move, or all of the stupid apps that they force on my phone, or even that dreadful U2 album they put on my phone for free (they did this to a lot of people). I want a FAST and POWERFUL phone, not the Japanese girl's dream phone with cute ways to add emojis or responses to texts...****, a lot of it is only good for iPhone to iPhone. Which is really stupid when most of my friends use Android.

Apple already does the whole automatic scaling of iOS for different, older iDevices.

Many Older iDevices get a percenatge of the entire iOS upgrade/update.

Some old iOS devices only get a very small and barebones features of an iOS upgrade/update!

What are YOU talking about?

Users' iDevices are slowing because they do stupid things with them or don't know how to use these devices to get optimal operation and performance.

The major one is these people/users have some ADHD issues and can't wait or research, in advance, to upgrade/update their devices to make sure that the upgrade/update doesn't contain any detrimental operational/features issues.

They leave waaaay toooo many apps open and constantly refreshing in the background.

Too many open and active web browser tabs.

They drain down their iDevice's storage down to near empty.

Before you post a single rant in an Apple product support forum ( something you shouldn't be doing as it violates the Terms of Use Agreement you HAD to agree to before using these forums) get yer facts straight!

mattman2005 wrote:

All technology feels and acts as the latest and greatest on day 1 of you owning it. Go ahead, take a video of day 1 of the newer apple release and test the speed of that, then do it for the newer version and compare the two. It might run 5-10% faster, even though the specs show 50%-90% increase. It eventually slows down for no apparent reason except for updates (as many users attest).

What changes is people's perception, not the device. What seemed amazing when first purchased, seems slow compared to newer models (and, people attest to being abducted by aliens).

You say you want a powerful phone. Powerful by the standards of which year? The iPhone 7 is a powerful phone. Five years from now it will seem quaint, not because it's any less powerful than it is now but because technology has advanced. There are somethings that get more valuable with age. Consumer electronics do not fall into that category.

Well, if Apple was catering to one consumer they might do just what you suggested. However, they don't just cater to you - they cater to the populace at large, and they are no different than any company trying to sell the latest and greatest. Supply and demand, my friend - it's called Capitalism.

And, 1) I am not a "boy", and 2) My post has nothing to do with being a "fan" of anyone. It has to do with being in technology for almost 40 years, and it has been this way from day 1. Hardware is built with the knowledge that is available at the time. Being hardware, it is not easily modified. Software is much more pliable, and moves at a much faster pace since it is "virtual" rather than physical. So, as new software features that are demanded on a daily basis are developed, the hardware has to be built to catch up. That means a new device.

So, like it or not, that is how the world works. My iPad 1 works just great, and has only the features that came with the iPad 1. Runs on 5.1.2, but so what? It does what it was designed to do. But, it is not as fast nor as powerful as the newest iPads by a long shot.

So, it doesn't matter what your requirements are, if they are requirements that exceed the physical hardware of a previous model, then you are going to have to get a newer one. You want speed and power (and I imagine, capacity), so you are going to have to join the hoards and upgrade. Your reason is no more pure than the Gen Z'r who wants 3d touch and magical balloons and confetti they can send with their texts.

Time to get off your high horse and bite the bullet. You want just like everyone else wants - bigger, newer, better. You want bigger, newer, better, you have to buy it.

If you can find the time, take a minute to look at an iPhone 1. It was built only 10 years ago. Possibly actually seeing what the technology afforded at that time vs. what you consider to be a "basic" phone now will help to put some perspective on the rapid march of progress for you.

GB

GB

Apple scales updates to older devices? Really? Where is your data on that? I understand telling a small lie, but geez dude.

Secondly, I don't know who you think you're talking to here. If a "typical Apple user" is bogged down by their device running slow, they will either buy a new device, complain to their friends who also own iOS devices, or talk to someone about how to make it run faster. Your typical forum poster already knows about deleting old apps, freeing space on their device and closing out background running apps.

Again, refer back to the mandatory and forced update I was given. I am well aware of waiting to see what backlash comes when Apple releases a new update. We're not talking about us updating as soon as new update is available, we go as long as possible before we are almost forced to update or when months have passed where bug fixes and slowdowns SHOULD have been fixed.

John Galt wrote:

mattman2005 wrote:

Again, refer back to the mandatory and forced update I was given.

I'll do that as soon as I find the pink unicorn that forced it upon you.

I want a pink unicorn!!!

You do realize that same guy went on a rant saying most Apple users have ADHD, I guess you can just ignore that one. Another guy went straight to the troll response with pink unicorns.

Just because the features are supported by new models doesn't mean they scaled back the update at all. What that means is that the hardware in the older models is incapable of supporting the new features. Teams of testers go through and figure out what works, what doesn't work, and what doesn't work well. The architects and directors decide if it's worth investing more time and efforts into getting older models to handle the feature or just add logic to bypass the new feature.

Trust me when I say that I have been looking for barebone updates with just bug fixes and security patches. I don't care about the latest iOS version and any new features.

I understand what you're saying and in the strictest sense, you're right. But the prompts or "recommendations" to update become so incessant that it's almost fair to say they are forced. Yes you can make the prompts stop, but only temporarily, and just like any instabilities in full release updates, all you can do is find workarounds. Not sure that's the mark of a premium product, at least in my opinion.