End of Life? End of Support? End of Security Updates?

Here is the list of what Apple no longer supports:

Vintage and obsolete products - Apple Support

It is updated regularly. You can see the last update date toward the bottom of the page.

Apple does not provide such a list or website, because as I tried to explain above, they cannot see into the future.

Microsoft decides when they will stop support for a specific operating system. They make the choice, so they can tell you ahead of time. They also don't have yearly major OS updates and as such are forced to retain support for their OS version longer since they don't update it as often.

The also do not really make hardware products, so don't really give you a list of devices that will not longer receive updates as much as a list of operating system versions they have chose to no longer support. Whether they could or not or if there is any reason for stopping support is unknown.

Apple makes devices as well as operating systems, and as such, they announce which devices will be receiving the new update when the new update is revealed. Anything not in the list of compatible devices, does not get it. The list is generally released around 3 months before the release of the new OS.

In the case of iOS 12, Apple released the compatibility list here, at the bottom of the page: iOS 12 Preview - Apple

In the case of Mojave: Apple introduces macOS Mojave - Apple

That is as much advance warning as Apple gives.

There is no specific list because the support life is very fluid with Apple. They have been known to issue security updates for older OSes if its extremely necessary.

Again, as we have said several times: for mobile devices, iPads/iPhones expect a 5 year support cycle.

For computers expect a general OS update cycle of 7 or 8 years, and 2 more for security updates based on the OS being run.

Now, while a particular operating system may cease to get security updates, the computer it is running on may still be supported if running a newer operating system. i.e OS upgrades also contain security patches and updates and should be installed as well.

In the case of your Mac running OSx 10.6.8. a quick trip to the App Store App would reveal a probable supported update in the form of maybe El Capitan.

So even if Snow Leopard is not getting support, El Capitan still would on the same computer.

While 10.6.8 itself may not be getting any updates, 10.11 el Capitan is currently, and your computer may be able to update to it.

imalreadytaken wrote:

Where can I find a road map from Apple that discloses whether or not Apple has ended security update support for past products, and when Apple projects to end security update support for current products?

I will give some specific device examples, following the suggestions of "how to write a good question", but shouldn't there be a perpetually accessible page on Apple's Support website whereby End of Life or End of Support information is available for consumers and businesses alike to refer to on a continual basis in order to budget for equipment replacement to meet security concerns when otherwise perfectly working equipment is no longer supported?

After an hour of searching, no clear and definitive resource has yet emerged. A few press releases picked up by news articles from years ago, where the thrust of the article was the announcment of new product. And again, from years ago is not helpful going forward. Much of those articles is laden with prognostications from pundits, which history proved inaccurate.

I am looking for answers straight from Apple on what Apple still supports, and what Apple no longer supports. What is safe to continue to use on the internet, and what is no longer safe. Microsoft is very clear on this. They clearly identify the end of mainstream support, and the end of security support, for each of their operating systems. I would like this information for Apple hardware as well as Apple operating systems, since earlier Apple hardware may not be compatible with current Apple software.

Examples devices I would like to know the end of security support for include, but are not limited to:

Current Devices:

iPhoneSE (several years old, first year model, currently running iOS 11.4). How long will security support be made available for this device?

Older Devices:

IPadAir

IPad2

iPhone5c

iPhone4s

iTouch4

MacBookPro (the last model with a user exchangable battery)

I'd rather not have to join a forum just to ask this question again in a few years, when devices are replaced. Isn't there a page where Apple informs consumers of the company's support plans and current status of past products?

This is a user to user technical forum, there is no Apple here. No one here would know when Apple decides those things, you'll know like everyone else when Apple announces it.

It's impossible even for Apple to know ahead of time when the end of support will come for a specific device.

Nobody can see into the future and know that device may not be compatible with an update next year or 2 years from now. Once the update is generally at a finished state then its possible to know what devices may support it and which ones may not after its been tested.

Apple announces product compatibility when they announce new updates so you know which devices are still compatible, and which will not receive the update when it is released.

In general consider for mobile devices about a 5 year support cycle. Though there have been instances where updates to older models have been made available.

For your specific devices, the iPhone Se is still supported, but is unknown when it will stop being supported.

The iPhone 5c stopped being supported last year with iOS 11, and the iPhone 4s has not been supported since 2015 with the release of iOS 10.

The 4th Generation iPod Touch stopped receiving updates in 2014

The iPad Air is still supported, and the iPad 2 stopped receiving updates in 2016 with iOS 9.3.5 being the last one.

2012 MacBook Pros are still currently supported.

Microsoft does not know when support will end for a particular device, it determines the moment in time they will stop issuing updates and security patches for a particular operating system.

That does not mean device running that OS is no longer supported, as it may be able to update to a newer still supported OS and still receive updates.

Basically Microsoft just states when they will stop support, rather than when a device is no longer able to handle the updates.

Apple does it the other way. Support exists for the device until the device can no longer run the current version of the OS.

In general Apple is known to provide security updates for OS versions up to 2 or 3 versions down of the current one if truly required.

i.e El Capitan is still receiving security updates, older OSes are not.

For iOS the security patch is generally a new version of the OS.

Whether a device is secure also depends on what you do, and what threats are out there. With Windows, the lack of security updates means devices are susceptible to new threats and no fixes will come for those.

With Apple products threats are less frequent, and as such a non updated iOS device may still be secure enough to use, if no new threats are found. And only become insecure if a truly nasty threat is discovered. and then if the device is really old, it may not even be subject to that threat anyway.

For the last several years, Apple has been providing Security and Safari updates to operating systems on a sliding three-year window. That said, and if this pattern continues, then once Mojave ships, updates will likely cease for El Capitan (10.11), and only Sierra (10.12), High Sierra (10.13), and Mohave will receive attention. No new features will be added to Sierra/High Sierra.

Apple can change this behavior at any time, and it is their final call what and when they will provide product support.

Hello imalreadytaken,

I'm sorry, but Apple is not Microsoft. You are not going to get a straight answer from Apple. And if you do, you should be extremely suspicious and have a plan in place for when that straight answer is no longer true.

The best guideline is AppleCare - which you should always purchase. When your AppleCare expires, but a new product. Based on your list above, you need to do some purchasing.

I appreciate your intent to assign a helpful to me, but you can only assign a max of 2 helpfuls. Which you already have.

The forum sometimes presents login issues. It is not specifically aimed at you, nor anything you said. Apple admins here do not block you or otherwise ban you for expressing an opinion or asking a question, unless the post violates the Terms of service for the forum. Its just glitches that can occur with the forum software. No persecution of any kind.

As to the future seeing, yes the devices are made by Apple, as well as their software updates. But as much as people think so, Apple does not and cannot know what they will support in 2 or 3 or 5 years time. Because they have not yet developed the updates that would be being applied to devices then. The updates don't yet exist to know whether a particular device may support them.

By the same token Microsoft, does not know what updates they will make in 3 years time, but they can and arbitrarily determine when they will stop making them available for a particular OS version.

Apple tests the updates and determines what OS updates a device can run. This means the update needs to exist and have known requirements and generally be tested on a device before they can determine whether it will be supported or not.

For security patches, they make them available to the OS they determine require them once they are made. Much like Microsoft. Or do you think Microsoft knows what updates they will be putting out in 5 years for Windows 10?

As a rule of thumb, If the OS version is more than 3 years old, don't expect security patches or other support for it.

If the computer is more than 8 Years old, don't expect support for OS upgrades to a new OS version.

For iOS devices, expect update support for around 5 years. Apple generally does not issue security fixes for older iOS versions.