My iPhone 13 is still running 15.7.1 and is really performing well, especially in battery life. It's seriously a perfect device, minus the new security updates. Anyone else sticking with iOS 15?
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Anyone else here still running iOS 15 on an iOS 16+ capable device?
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Yes. Still running 15.7.1 on 2019 iPhone 11 and 2022 iPhone SE. iPad Air 2 and iPad 8 both on iPadOS 14. I don't like Apple's rapid release cycle. There's no reason to invent a new MacOS and iOS/iPadOS every single year. They are still fixing bugs in the current release when the next version is released. Absolutely insane. I update my devices contingent on when the apps I need to use no longer work.
It's somewhat ironic that the iPhone 15 minimum system requirements are only High Sierra 10.13 (6 years old and no longer supported by Apple with updates at all!!) or Windows 10 (a nearly 10 year old operating system).
iPhone 15 Technical Specifications
I wanted to, but the mass reports of iOS 16.X instability, heating, and battery issues pushed me away. I'd rather a more stable OS and take more precautions security-wise for the time being than hate using my phone.
And I'm glad it's working well for you! Lots of mixed and far-leaning reviews regarding this release and even 17.0, so I'm hesitant on upgrading right now.
I honestly don't understand lots of their UI changes. The new lock screen doesn't look good, and my god what did they do to MacOS and system preferences? The special uniqueness of using a Mac is now gone with MacOS going to an iOS UI 😔
Very nice! I can understand their OS changes due to development costs and market competition, but the user experience suffers due to the new bugs introduced. Many of which don't get resolved for a long time.
Perhaps those system requirements are due to iOS 17 supporting older devices that are already compatible with those systems. What's very odd is Apple releasing PDFs of their new OS's feature lists now. And on top of that, those PDF's were created using MacOS Mojave's Preview app lol
Download the latest iOS. You'll be pleasantly surprised. I promise.
The horror stories you read online are from a minuscule percentage of iOS users.
People are quick to post online when they have a bad experience but not so quick to share good ones.
Thank you for your assurance, I do appreciate it! I am going to do a little more research tonight, but will most likely upgrade. So much for this thread 😂
You can download iOS 16 today, and update to iOS 17 next week on September 18. If you have any iOS 17 issues or decide you don't like it, there's a small time window where you'll be able to downgrade back to iOS 16.
Just remember that 1) once you upgrade to iOS 16 you can no longer downgrade to iOS 15 since it's no longer being signed by Apple; 2) Once the window closes and Apple stops signing iOS 16, you'll be stuck with iOS 17 and any bugs that come with it.
That's the biggest downside to iOS updates: there's no way to downgrade once the versions are no longer being signed.
Thank you for taking the time to write this out! Fortunately I've been an iOS nerd since the beginning (before iOS 3!), and understand Apple's limitations. That is indeed the biggest downside, especially when the current version(s) these days have many serious bugs. This is why so many like us don't wish to upgrade immediately.
Looks like you might, as I am experiencing some Messages data loss... And after some research, there are threads on MR with this issue and no clear solution lol. THANKS HELMSLEY 😂
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I’m not sure about 17, but I’m on 16.6.1 and battery hasn’t been bad (so far). 15.7.1 all around was much better had a smoother UI. 16 stutters a lot, and Notification Center is a glitchy mess
It's too bad they didn't give the option to switch to the classic UI/lockscreen. Windows 11 has been getting flack for the same thing.
Off topic:
Combine Win11's Apple rip-off "dock", higher system requirements and dropping 32-bit processors, I think we'll be seeing Windows 10 for a while. I work for a large corporation--with the LTSC extended support releases I think it will be a while until we upgrade. 75% of the hardware probably has to be replaced to support Win11.
Unfortunately the price to pay with Apple is important security fixes(not to sound like the typical MR or Reddit user lol) in exchange for potential unstable and unpolished software updates. The stutters are a known issue throughout iOS 16’s life cycle and it’s still there on iOS 17.0
I am in the same boat with my 13 mini. Everything working well and I cannot afford problems and glitches as this is my business phone. Not sure what the best way forward is.
I think most of the updates are overrated. We still have an iPhone 6 and Original iPad Air on iOS 12, and two iPads on iOS 14. Both work fine.
When iPadOS 15 came out, the "multitasking" split screen dots at the top of the screen were annoying. When you're trying to tap the top of the screen to scroll to the top of the page, you can inadvertently enable split screen. Terrible UX design in my opinion. When I realized this I immediately reset them back to iOS 14 which is where they're staying for now. (See below and Google "ipados 15 three dots" if you don't know what I'm referring to).
I also don't like how you lose the extra screen space with the icons in iPadOS 15:
iPadOS 15 ruined my iPad’s homescreen
What I’ve learned: take everything posted on any kind of forum or the internet with a grain of salt. Everyone either has a different experience, doesn’t notice/care about issues, or just regurgitates other’s comments with no substance.
My two cents:
-On a personal use case with no sensitive information on their phone, I probably would’ve stayed on iOS 15. 16 is fine, but has random UI and system bugs, a poor Notification Center, and I hate the lock screen/wallpaper nonsense.
-For a business use case that holds sensitive information, bank accounts, business documents, account numbers, etc., it would be best to be on a secure OS.
Obviously posting online, we are a small minority that cares to discuss these shortcomings with iOS. But it’s really amazing that we pay a premium to own Apple products, and many have to worry about how OS updates will negatively affect our devices.
This speaks volumes about their software quality over the years, even though they continue to make record profits. Do they even care anymore?
This speaks volumes about their software quality over the years, even though they continue to make record profits. Do they even care anymore?
I think that it’s like I said on the other thread: Apple keeps obliterating devices through iOS updates (see A6 on iOS 10, the iPhone 6 on iOS 12, the iPhone 6s and 7 on iOS 15), and people keep updating.
So really... if they break iOS adoption records every year... why would they care? People will update anyway, and people will recommend others to update anyway.
Good point. Except, if they are still updating iOS 12, 15, and 16, how many people are still using these devices? There must be a substantial amount of these devices still active.
There are millions of devices that aren’t the latest. A minority upgrades every year. Which is the sad part.
Forum enthusiasts are far more likely to upgrade every year, others... just tolerate a device which works well, but battery life suffers, the keyboard starts lagging, and the device is overall slower. Many attribute this to the device being old, but they’re wrong. I have an iPhone 6s on iOS 10 and it works perfectly fine. My iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12 has no keyboard lag, and it has better battery life than the numbers I’ve seen from the 14 Pro Max on iOS 17.
It doesn’t have to be like that. You don’t have to have the latest device for excellent battery life and performance. You just have to avoid that update button.