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Apple Dropping Support for iCloud Backups on iPhones and iPads Running iOS 8 and Earlier

I tried iOS 9 on my iPhone 4S, it was slow as molasses on a cold morning and Apple let me downgrade back to iOS 6 and then I upgraded back to iOS 8.4.1, now they’re telling us that they’re not supporting us anymore. o_O📱
 
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Surprisingly there are still a few apps that run iOS 8 and the App Store allows you to download them, especially if they’re in your purchase history.
What takes me off is they don’t provide an update for the Apple TV third generation, you can’t sign into iCloud any longer so you can’t use it as a slideshow application, but you can still sign into the store to view your videos that you purchased.
 
magicschoolbus said:
Honestly, would a device still even work on iOS 9 with most apps out there? We're talking about software from 2015 would never been updated by the consumer.. that's crazy
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We have more than one iPhone 4 and use plenty of different apps on them! Ebook readers, various astronomy apps, databases, notes, todo, etc. The old versions were feature-rich and provide good entertainment and utility. Not crazy at all.

Yes, we have newer devices, but those iPhone 4's still get use. The iPhone 4 itself remains a good device. Good form factor, easy to hold, real home button, long lasting battery life, etc.

ELman said:
I can't image any third party apps still support as far back as iOS 8.
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Recently released apps may not, but there are gobs of 3rd party apps that still function just fine on earlier iOSs. We're running our iPhone 4's on iOS 6! They worked well back then and still do today. For sure, many apps have been updated or new versions have been put out that won't work, but the old versions work like a charm.

In fact, there are many apps that are no longer available, so you need to have a device with an old iOS to run them! From that perspective, devices with newer iOS's are the problem as they cut off the ability to use superb older apps!

In addition, several apps were purchased and left to wither on the vine. For example, we still use several classic ebook apps that were bought by big corporations and then deliberately abandoned in favor of their own reader apps! I’m thinking of such brilliant apps as Stanza and eReader. Their designs were superb and have features that Apple's latest Books incarnation still doesn't have.

scorpio vega said:
Most apps don’t work with iOS 8 or earlier lo
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Hmm… depends upon which apps you're talking about. The thousands of apps that worked under iOS 6 and 7 still work under them!

Certainly, most *current* apps designed for recent iOSs won't work, but their older versions still work fine under the old iOSs! Plus, if you owned it before, you can still download it today. If it's sitting there on your iOS 6 device right now, it typically will still run fine. (There are some frustrating exceptions such The NY Times app that *requires* users to be on recent iOSs or iPad OSs — so if your device can't be upgraded you can no longer get the news via the app if you’re a subscriber.)

In any case, just offering the perspective on this from a long-time i-device user who still has several older devices… with older apps... that still are a treat to use!
 
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I appreciate this will be a little off topic (and I may get slammed a little in the process).. but.. the fact that you are 'forced' in one way or another to change or upgrade does suck a little. I know that eventually, things do have a lifespan, but I think we tend to forget the 'upgrading' (or whatever you wish to call this situation) isn't always an option for some people. It does erk me when people say 'its old and obsolete anyhow or its old that no one cares about it'. That does come across as somewhat ignorant. I have a max spec'd 2017 15" Intel Macbook Pro with Touchbar and I love it! It did everything I needed and would not have changed was I not 'forced'. People started experiencing issues with Touch ID in Ventura and (correct me if I am wrong) Apple dropped support for it in Sonoma - If I remember, I couldnt install Sonoma on it. It was only a matter of time before more support was dropped as they had move away from Intel. Not sure in other countries, but in Australia, Macbook Pro's are damn expensive. Entry level 16" starts at $4,000. When your entry level Pro laptop costs around the same and in some cases more than a second hand car, something is wrong. I did get an M3, but if I can get 7, 8 - hopefully 9 years out of it, considering what I paid, then I will be somewhat ok with that.
 
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dannyyankou said:
I’m shocked they were even still backing up iOS 8 devices.
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IMO devices that far out of date have no reason being on any network (thus kinda defeating the purpose of iCloud).

Not as easy as an off-support Intel Mac, where one can install Linux or Boot Camp to Windows and get a few more years.
 
ELman said:
True, but if the app gets updated it could.
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Apps are tagged with the minimum required iOS version, and older versions continue working on older iOS versions. The only common way apps stop working is when they rely on external services that are being changed in incompatible ways, which many apps of that era don’t.
 
Developers can continue to support older iOS versions if they choose to do so.
Facebook messenger was putting out updates for iOS 12 as recently as this summer, I think it has ceased but it shows that if they desire to support older devices they can.
Another good example is the Telegram app, we’re are still receiving updates for iOS 12 and older A10 androids. That developer wants to have as many as possible clients connected to their services for ad revenue and premium services.
We recently moved all our chat groups to the telegram platform because of all the features and support of older android and Apple devices.
 
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Only one month notice heads up for affected users. Considering the likely demographic of potential users who are still backing up their devices on iOS 8 or before devices, this is quite harsh, not to mention deleting their backups too. I bet if Apple would want to throw away all of those users, they could’ve either not notify them or only notify them in just 2 or 3 days prior, and then argue “yeah we sent out notices”.
Meanwhile, Google Has sent out numerous notices regarding their changes to Google timeline, which many people probably would not care and id argue is not as impactful as device backups.
I don’t mind Apple moving away from old systems. I do mind when they don’t let affected people know about this plenty ahead of time. But then it’s Apple so they will get away with it. :rolleyes: Sad.
 
redheeler said:
That's why it's a good idea to backup locally. Nothing lasts forever on cloud services and they can delete your data any time they want. Keep local backups of everything and keep them up-to-date.
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This should’ve been the obvious takeaway for all people but sadly that’s like the exception not the norm.
Your data, your responsibility.
 
LogicalApex said:
Stuff like this is why I don't trust anyone's cloud for my long term storage or backups.
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Exactly. Cloud storage offers Convenience at the expense of privacy and data safety. Users should naturally be responsible to their own data. Sadly that’s a point that never truely stick to the most, with most happily giving away their role in Managing their own digital lives To the likes of Apple.
 
voodoo111 said:
but in Australia, Macbook Pro's are damn expensive. Entry level 16" starts at $4,000. When your entry level Pro laptop costs around the same and in some cases more than a second hand car, something is wrong
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Yeah. Ive been wanting to keep a local backup of my entire photos library for months but struggle to save up that AUD$10000 for a macbook with 8TB internal storage. It was absolutely beyond crazy. 8TB external storage was far cheaper but I couldn’t use it as photos library since it was on external drive.
 
Shirasaki said:
Exactly. Cloud storage offers Convenience at the expense of privacy and data safety. Users should naturally be responsible to their own data. Sadly that’s a point that never truely stick to the most, with most happily giving away their role in Managing their own digital lives To the likes of Apple.
Click to expand...
The physical storage upgrades are marked up so heavily by Apple that people look at cloud storage as an alternative (and Apple benefits there as well).
 
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I just replaced the battery in my iPhone 5s last week. Good thing it's running iOS 10! I guess this is a reminder to check my iPhone 4s to see what version it is on.
 
LogicalApex said:
Sure, there might only be 1 user still using this and who was still paying for that support since iCloud backups aren't free unless you can stay inside the extremely small 5GB tier. I would just expect that Apple would still give them users a decent heads up as courtesy. Especially since they aren't just nuking the support, but also the backups themselves. I think it would also be nice to give users a way to download the backup so they could restore it via iTunes or whatever locally in the future and they could be responsible for its storage going forward.

Stuff like this is why I don't trust anyone's cloud for my long term storage or backups.
Click to expand...

But apple clearly says you can still Bàck it up through iTunes. Clearly these ppl don’t care about modern tech so that’s why they have it.
 
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Saturn007 said:
We have more than one iPhone 4 and use plenty of different apps on them! Ebook readers, various astronomy apps, databases, notes, todo, etc. The old versions were feature-rich and provide good entertainment and utility. Not crazy at all.

Yes, we have newer devices, but those iPhone 4's still get use. The iPhone 4 itself remains a good device. Good form factor, easy to hold, real home button, long lasting battery life, etc.



Recently released apps may not, but there are gobs of 3rd party apps that still function just fine on earlier iOSs. We're running our iPhone 4's on iOS 6! They worked well back then and still do today. For sure, many apps have been updated or new versions have been put out that won't work, but the old versions work like a charm.

In fact, there are many apps that are no longer available, so you need to have a device with an old iOS to run them! From that perspective, devices with newer iOS's are the problem as they cut off the ability to use superb older apps!

In addition, several apps were purchased and left to wither on the vine. For example, we still use several classic ebook apps that were bought by big corporations and then deliberately abandoned in favor of their own reader apps! I’m thinking of such brilliant apps as Stanza and eReader. Their designs were superb and have features that Apple's latest Books incarnation still doesn't have.



Hmm… depends upon which apps you're talking about. The thousands of apps that worked under iOS 6 and 7 still work under them!

Certainly, most *current* apps designed for recent iOSs won't work, but their older versions still work fine under the old iOSs! Plus, if you owned it before, you can still download it today. If it's sitting there on your iOS 6 device right now, it typically will still run fine. (There are some frustrating exceptions such The NY Times app that *requires* users to be on recent iOSs or iPad OSs — so if your device can't be upgraded you can no longer get the news via the app if you’re a subscriber.)

In any case, just offering the perspective on this from a long-time i-device user who still has several older devices… with older apps... that still are a treat to use!
Click to expand...
You can still download it today but it will lack the features of the updated versions thus most ppl have likely upgraded to use newer features on most apps.

I think it’s is ridiculous to support any app before say iOS 12 and that’s being generous.
 
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I lately even wondered that I still could backup (and sync?) my 4s with iOS 9 to a macOS 15.x beta. If I remember correctly in iTunes older versions weren't supported that long.

Much worse is that to activate the Advanced iCloud Data Protection that was introduced with iOS 16, I had to remove an iOS 15 device from my account to activate it in iOS 17.x.

You can't even use the AppStore anymore with that device after removing it from iCloud. Same for macOS 12.


Screen Shot 2024-11-19 at 03.11.07.png


To turn on Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, you need:

An Apple Account with two-factor authentication.

A passcode or password set for your device.

At least one account recovery contact or recovery key. If you don't already have one, you'll be guided to set one up when you turn on Advanced Data Protection.

Updated software on all of the devices where you're signed in to your Apple Account:

iPhone with iOS 16.2 or later
Pad with iPadOS 16.2 or later
Mac with macOS 13.1 or later
Apple Watch with watchOS 9.2 or later
Apple TV with tvOS 16.2 or later
HomePod with software version 16.0 or later
Windows computer with iCloud for Windows 14.1 or later

Managed Apple Accounts and child accounts are not eligible for Advanced Data Protection.
 
How many devices are we talking. about - maybe 1000-5000? I'll bet, at least 80% of them just lay around with no actual use... We talk about devices with 3G and / or maybe few gigs of ssd.
 
I can't imagine any technical reason for that. A backup just store files. Those files can be 30 years old.

I still have backups of photos I took in 2005. I don't say "Oh, they are too old. I have to delete them.".
 
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