iOS 11 Performance on Original iPad Air?

[Sharkoneau]

Hey guys,

I’m the tech guy in my family, and I have a family member who currently owns the first iPad Air. I’m doing beta testing myself on my iPhone 7, and havd been largely impressed so far.

Can anyone speak to the performance of the new software on the iPad Air? It runs iOS 10 well, although new iterations always bring question marks. Thanks!

 

[Prabas]

I only use it when I absolutely have to since installing iOS 10, it's too slow for my standards, I guess 11 didn't make it worse, it's just as bad.

 

[fox1401]

Hey guys,

I’m the tech guy in my family, and I have a family member who currently owns the first iPad Air. I’m doing beta testing myself on my iPhone 7, and havd been largely impressed so far.

Can anyone speak to the performance of the new software on the iPad Air? It runs iOS 10 well, although new iterations always bring question marks. Thanks!

I have installed iOS 11 on my 1st gen iPad Air, the response is a bit slower than iOS 10 but not very significant. you won't notice the difference if you are not a heavy gamer, since i only experienced some minor lag when i run Star Wars Heroes.

 

[Sharkoneau]

I have installed iOS 11 on my 1st gen iPad Air, the response is a bit slower than iOS 10 but not very significant. you won't notice the difference if you are not a heavy gamer, since i only experienced some minor lag when i run Star Wars Heroes.

Thanks for the input! I ended up watching a speed test video on YouTube, testing 10.3.3 vs. 11B6. There was more delay, but nothing horrible - like you said.

 

[Stefan johansson]

Just running the iOS and simple apps like browsers,low res video viewers and such won't cause too much lag,but running high resolution videos at high frame rates,editing large photo files,or playing CPU intensive games is something different.

 

[numberfour]

Doubt that I will update my iPad air any further if there's no speed improvements. It's so sluggish on 10.3.3

 

[nerdriot]

The biggest lag I’ve noticed is when typing, but I haven’t updated to the latest version yet so maybe that’s been addressed.

I will tell you, though, that the latest versions of iOS 11 are MUCH better on the original iPad Air than the first few.

 

[Sharkoneau]

Doubt that I will update my iPad air any further if there's no speed improvements. It's so sluggish on 10.3.3

That sucks, sorry to hear that. To my knowledge, with the relatively limited time I've spent using it, 10.3.3 runs pretty well on hers. I know a lot of neat features are coming to the iPad, so I'm sure it'll be a balancing act of performance/features. Trying to weigh it all.
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The biggest lag I’ve noticed is when typing, but I haven’t updated to the latest version yet so maybe that’s been addressed.

I will tell you, though, that the latest versions of iOS 11 are MUCH better on the original iPad Air than the first few.

Wouldddd you like to keep me in the loop regarding performance on the latest beta? It would be much appreciated

 

[nerdriot]

Will do! I’m headed out at the moment, but will report my experience when I’m back home.

 

[Sharkoneau]

Will do! I’m headed out at the moment, but will report my experience when I’m back home.

You da man (I think)!

 

[nerdriot]

You da man (I think)!

Okay, so far it’s pretty stable. The folder selection animation lag is gone (woooo!), the keyboard seems more stable, and I’m able to play most higher-end games pretty well. On the flip side, some games (like Office Space) are super laggy.

All in all, it’s super stable for me.

 

[Sharkoneau]

Okay, so far it’s pretty stable. The folder selection animation lag is gone (woooo!), the keyboard seems more stable, and I’m able to play most higher-end games pretty well. On the flip side, some games (like Office Space) are super laggy.

All in all, it’s super stable for me.

Thanks for the update! Definitely good to hear some positive news amongst some detracting comments. I know I won’t be the most popular person if things don’t work out well. Although I have an IPSW and can back it up, figured it would be good to feel it out.

 

[CopyChief]

Interesting, thanks for the update. My iPad Air runs pretty well on 10.3.3, but I've been itching to try out some of the new features. Might have to make the leap now that it's more stable.

 

[Sharkoneau]

Interesting, thanks for the update. My iPad Air runs pretty well on 10.3.3, but I've been itching to try out some of the new features. Might have to make the leap now that it's more stable.

After one hell of a backup process last night, I installed it on the Air. Honestly, it runs very well. Things are very smooth - only issues I’ve noticed are a slight stutter when pulling down NC, and apps tend to launch slightly slower. Other than that, the software is impressive.

 

[CopyChief]

After one hell of a backup process last night, I installed it on the Air. Honestly, it runs very well. Things are very smoothly - only issues I’ve noticed are a slight stutter when pulling down NC, and apps tend to launch slightly slower. Other than that, the software is impressive.

Same experience here. The install process is so easy anymore, it almost seems anticlimactic. But the new features work well even on this old iPad.

 

[Sharkoneau]

Same experience here. The install process is so easy anymore, it almost seems anticlimactic. But the new features work well even on this old iPad.

True that! I was just bummed to see that true Split View doesn’t work on the Air. That stinks, completely forgot about that caveat but the new features are nice nonetheless.

 

[gobikerider]

What it works well considering the age of the device incredible. But I thought Apple had "planned obsolescence".

 

[PurrBall]

Honestly, iOS 10 was borderline usable on my iPad Air, but with iOS 11 it is unusably slow, even with a clean restore...

 

[aakshey]

Yes. This is exactly what planned obsolescence is. Each version onwards of iOS 7 has been slower on the iPad Air. iOS 9 was borderline usable. iOS 10 was slightly slower but crashed less. iOS 11 is unusable.

 

[gobikerider]

Yes. This is exactly what planned obsolescence is. Each version onwards of iOS 7 has been slower on the iPad Air. iOS 9 was borderline usable. iOS 10 was slightly slower but crashed less. iOS 11 is unusable.

Your the minority I've heard the Air is performing relatively good in ios 11 and it's not even finalized. Once it releases do a clean install you'll see

 

[Sharkoneau]

What it works well considering the age of the device incredible. But I thought Apple had "planned obsolescence".

Haha well, you won’t exactly find me chirping with that crowd. Newer software iterations grow ever more complex and powerful, and that often requires better hardware support. But let’s not poke that bear in this thread too much

 

[MEJHarrison]

I'm thrilled to hear my old Air still has some life left in it. It splits its time between being a streaming device for TV / Movies and games. But my gaming is more of the point-and-click adventure style games. So I'm predicting no issues. And I have the 128GB version, so I still have plenty of space. I think I can get away with just upgrading the phone this year.

 

[gobikerider]

Haha well, you won’t exactly find me chirping with that crowd. Newer software iterations grow ever more complex and powerful, and that often requires better hardware support. But let’s not poke that bear in this thread too much

That may be and yah things may load slower, but if you look over to the Android side, well you wont find a tablet as old as the iPad Air that even runs the latest version of Android.

 

[Starfighter]

I can't believe people think iOS 10 is "borderline usable" on an iPad Air, it's like we collectively forgot how _really_ sluggish hardware/software was to use. The occational stutter in the UI is no big deal for me, I was completely happy both on iOS 9 and iOS 10. Sometimes the text input would lag behind a few seconds at the very beginning, but that's about it. I won't buy a newer iPad just because of that.

 

[Dave-Z]

it's like we collectively forgot how _really_ sluggish hardware/software was to use.

Gosh, I know. The Pentium/Celeron early days were horrible. At least now the slowest computer is still fast.