Ipad 4 support

The iPad 4th generation is ineligible and excluded from upgrading to iOS 11

With the introduction of iOS 11, ALL support for older 32 bit iDevices and any iOS 32 bit apps has ended.

Your iPad 4 is a 32 bit hardware device.

The new 64 bit coded iOS 11 ONLY supports newer 64 bit hardware iDevices and 64 bit software, now.

The iPad 4 is incompatible with this new iOS, now.

No need to panic or worry though.

Your iPad 4th gen will still work and function as it always has, but will no longer receive any more app updates sometime in the foreseeable future.

The 4th gen iPad has had over 5 years of iOS upgrades/updates

The final app updates your 4th gen iPad will receive will be its last!

Your iPad 4 will survive and stay a viable, functioning iPad for a couple more years.

Currently, iPad 4 models are STILL receiving app updates, but look for this change over time.

This is why Apple introduced the new, lower cost 2017 iPad 5 model, in April

Apple is trying to get older iPad 2, 3, 4 and 1st gen Mini iPad users to upgrade to more modern iPad hardware in anticipation of iOS 11, which will render all older 32 bit iDevices obsolete, in time.

Good Luck to You!

This Intel CPU chip flaw is too early in its discovery to know what any electronics and computer manufacturers are going to do at this early stage.

This is a 15-20 year CPU chip flaw/security flaw.

Many users still using lots of older, legacy devices, computers and OSes.

There is really no way to know what Apple and other computing/electronics companies are going to do about legacy devices, computers and legacy mobile devices.

If you haven't had any issues all of these years with your iDevices and any other computing devices, chances are good that you won’t encounter any issues in the near or foreseeable future.

Currently, these vulnerabilities are still theoretical as there have been no known confirmed reports of these vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild, as of yet!

So, as long as you are accessing trusted websites, NOT engaging in illegal web activities, like torrenting and pirating of music, video/movie media content/software and do not open emails and email attachments from unknown or untrusted sources, your exposure to this CPU flaw is negligible.

I am still using iPad 2 and 3 models and an older legacy computer with older OS and legacy software and I while I am just as concerned about these vulnerabilities, I am NOT too worried, at all, about my computing devices being affected/exploited by Spectre OR Meltdown security issues, as long as I keep as safe as I can online.

The type of CPU/chip level code knowledge needed to recreate these security exploits is NOT something an average hacker is capable of implementing easily.

Good Luck to You!

The iPad 4 reached end of support life with iOS 10.3.3 as its last update. Whether Apple plans to release an update to address the recently discovered vulnerabilities for the iPad 4, is unknown, but not likely.

With that said, the vulnerabilities are still at this time just that. There are no known exploits that take advantage of them at this time, and its unlikely any hacking organization would take the time to build exploits for older devices with a minimum value.

They are more likely to focus their efforts on newer equipment, and greater targets they can get more from.

At this time, there is no real reason to be concerned, and you can continue to use your iPad 4 as you have been doing. Also since these exploits require software to be physically installed on the device, to take advantage of the vulnerabilities, as long as you stick to software form the App Store, and don't go visiting shady websites, the risk factor is very very minimal.