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How is performance on iPad 2 ?, still running 7.1.2

J

Johnick

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2013
74
8
Hi,

My iPad 2 is running 7.1.2 and I avoided iOS 8 after all the horror stories of it making older devices virtually unusable. 8.3 was supposed to be a minor improvement, but I said Id hold out for 9 seeing as Apple said it would be leaner and focus on being optimized better for older devices. Can anyone else share their experiences ?.

Thanks in advance
 
mikzn

mikzn

macrumors 68040
Sep 2, 2013
3,005
2,299
North Vancouver
Johnick said:
Can anyone else share their experiences ?.
Click to expand...

Works well enough for me - have iPad 2 running 9.1 beta - which seems quite a bit better than 9.0 and better than 8.4

I don't think it will run as fast as 7.1.2 but you will skip 8 and have a few of the new features added.
 
pituin

pituin

macrumors member
Apr 11, 2015
30
26
Mine just lags everywhere. I'm using it primarily for Plex and Kindle, still performing ok. Web browsing is just horrible, and resource-intensive apps often crash on me. I'm on 9.1 beta, after trying the public release, but there's no big difference. It's just the end of the line for our iPads.
 
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east85

east85

macrumors 65816
Jun 24, 2010
1,343
495
Not on an iPad 2 but I am on two A5 devices that run somewhat sluggishly as they did in iOS 8 (roughly the same). Word is that 9.1 will be better, so maybe wait until then.
 
azhava

azhava

macrumors 6502a
Aug 29, 2010
942
1,293
Arizona, USA
I'm running 9.0 on an iPad 2. It seems smoother/faster than it was under any 8.x version and battery life is about the same or slightly better.
 
S

salzrat

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2015
71
30
I have an ipad 3 and I second those that recommend to stay on 7.1.2. I would give a lot to be able to downgrade to 7.1.2.

On 9.1, it might actually seem usable at first, but there are simply so many small parts that lag that it isn't fun anymore. Worst are Safari (lag when typing) and iBooks (lag when turning pages in landscape mode).
 
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S

salzrat

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2015
71
30
C DM said:
As would usually be the case with any update. You won't really know what it will be like for yourself unless you risk trying it basically.
Click to expand...

And that is a really big risk, since you can't go back. If there is not a strong reason to update, then don't. There are not really that many features that actually work on an iPad 3 anyway...
 
S

salzrat

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2015
71
30
vertsix said:
Your mistake was updating your iPad 2 to 7.1.2.

Should've stayed on 6.1.3. :p
Click to expand...

Well, on iPad 2 you can always go back to 6.1.3 using the Odysseus exploit... But I wonder whether it's worth it. 7.1.2 was not so bad performance wise, and many apps require 7 or higher...
 
wchigo

wchigo

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2015
467
218
arstechnica did an article on the performance of the iPad 2 comparing 8.4.1 and 9.0 GM. The consensus seems to be that they're about the same, but 9.0 GM is milliseconds slower or faster depending on the app you are opening, and neither of them are as fast as you staying on iOS 7. I'm going to link to the article here and also put in a few choice paragraphs from the article itself, though I may not completely agree with their final suggestion.


"Using the iPad 2 with iOS 9 feels very similar to using it with iOS 8, and our app launch tests mostly bear that out—iOS 9 mostly either stays level or adds a couple of tenths to a second to app launch times. Going from iOS 7 to iOS 8 resulted in much more noticeable increases. Unfortunately, if you've been sitting on the sidelines with iOS 7 this whole time hoping that iOS 9 would bring salvation, that doesn't seem to be the case."



"If you're running iOS 8, the answer to the above question is "yes." It doesn't make anything appreciably worse, and for all the stuff you're missing you're still getting a whole bunch of the new features we highlighted in our iOS 9 review. It's got the better, more legible software keyboard, the upgraded first-party apps, the new APIs for third-party Spotlight searches, and more.

If you're still running iOS 7, at this point we'd say you should probably upgrade, not because you won't take a small performance hit but because developers will increasingly abandon that older OS version if they haven't already. Apple's iOS updates roll out quickly, but the downside of that is that there's not a ton of incentive for developers to support older releases forever and ever. It's common for developers to support the current release and the immediately previous release, but starting today that doesn't cover iOS 7 anymore. And though it's not going to make your old device feel new again, iOS 9 is probably Apple's best, most stable x.0 iOS release in years."
 
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Wando64

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Jul 11, 2013
2,339
3,112
IOS9 has been a pleasant surprise for me and my experience is absolutely positive.
To me this is the best iOS version since the old days of v6.

I am running it on an ipad2, an Air and an iPhone 5s.
All three are working great and particularly the iPad2 has come back to life after having become a bit sluggish with ios8.

Of course YMMV, but I personally only have good words for IOS9 on all my devices.

EDIT: Ocviously I am running 9.0.1
 
T

thekayman

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2014
303
53
9 is really no different than 8. It doesn't run great but it's usable. You'll get stutter, apps lagging, Safari tabs reloading all the time, occasional app crashes, etc. If you have a use for the new features of iOS 8/9 (and there's a whole bunch of them), go ahead and upgrade, you'll get used to the drawbacks.
 
I

Isamilis

macrumors 68020
Apr 3, 2012
2,191
1,074
That's kind of my dilemma too, whether stay on IOS 6 or go to IOS 7. Finallt I went to the latter, just because lot of my favs apps required IOS7. However, I stop in 7.1.2 due to better performance and battery life compared to IOS 8.

vertsix said:
Your mistake was updating your iPad 2 to 7.1.2.

Should've stayed on 6.1.3. :p
Click to expand...
 
Mercifull

Mercifull

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2012
344
302
My iPad 2 lags... but so did iOS8 and iOS7. Upgrade, enjoy the better features then save up your pennies to replace it.
 
J

Johnick

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2013
74
8
iOS 9.0.1 seems to run about the same as 8 did on my 5th gen iPod touch, but the battery life is noticeably better. I only using it for listening to podcasts though.
 
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