Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Imory

macrumors 6502a
Feb 2, 2013
833
360
Wonderland
Since the other thread might be closed for being superfluous, I'll just post my experience of the Mini 2, 5S and 6 here.

I'm genuinely amazed by Apples subpar efforts in creating iOS 9. Customers and the tech industry wanted better performance instead of a horde of new features with an x amount of issues, seeing as we've been throug two substantial changes with iOS 7 & 8. Yet despite that, iOS 9 runs worse than 7 & 8. It's unbelievable that they failed to improve anything and actually once again made it worse compared to the updated versions of 7 (7.1.2) and 8 (8.1.4) in terms of fluidity.

Spotlight and using the app switcher is god awful. An absolutely atrocious experience on the Mini 2, with additional stuttering in general usage. It's simply laughable when the only job they had for the entire year, was to provide improved performance on all devices.

60 fps my *** Schiller.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
So the consensus seems to be that if you have a 6s or a 6s+, skip this upgrade, but anything older it's probably worth it?
Doesn't really seem there's much to indicate that there's a consensus on much of anything.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: AppleChic76

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
Since the other thread might be closed for being superfluous, I'll just post my experience of the Mini 2, 5S and 6 here.

I'm genuinely amazed by Apples subpar efforts in creating iOS 9. Customers and the tech industry wanted better performance instead of a horde of new features with an x amount of issues, seeing as we've been throug two substantial changes with iOS 7 & 8. Yet despite that, iOS 9 runs worse than 7 & 8. It's unbelievable that they failed to improve anything and actually once again made it worse compared to the updated versions of 7 (7.1.4) and 8 (8.1.4) in terms of fluidity.

60 fps my *** Schiller.
It runs better than the initial iOS 7 and 8 versions when compared to the same time period in the new version lifecycle. But doesn't deliver on the optimization promises in all of the areas for many just yet.
 

Imory

macrumors 6502a
Feb 2, 2013
833
360
Wonderland
It runs better than the initial iOS 7 and 8 versions when compared to the same time period in the new version lifecycle. But doesn't deliver on the optimization promises in all of the areas for many just yet.

I never experienced severe amounts of lag/stuttering on iOS 7, since most of the complaints were directed at how slow the animations were. They were still fluid though.

Well, iOS 8 was just a shambolic piece of **** for the first couple of months. But for the sake of the argument, let's assume you're right. It's pathetic (I don't consider that an exaggeration) when iOS 9 was simply supposed to be an improvement in aforementioned aspects, yet still didn't manage to deliver that on 9.0 or 9.1.

If anything, perhaps they really need to realise that there's no point in rushing out with these yearly iOS releases, when they had 1 year to improve a version which was solely (for the most part) created to improve performance on their devices.
 

BeeGood

macrumors 68000
Sep 15, 2013
1,859
6,120
Lot 23E. Somewhere in Georgia.
Doesn't really seem there's anything to indicate there's a consensus on much of anything.

Could be my own biase, as I've grown a little gun shy about pulling the trigger on iOS updates. It seemed that most people in this thread with 6s/6s+ are saying either no change or worse performance/battery.

I'll probably just install and see for myself. Fingers crossed.
 

Radon87000

macrumors 604
Nov 29, 2013
7,777
6,255
I can't really judge as I came from a 5s that had to be charged before the end of the day. Now on the 6s at the same time, about 7pm, there is 50% battery left.

However with me:
- 3d touch is on
- siri is on
- location services on
- spotlight off (don't use it)
- eye candy off (dislike it)

- lte on
- icloud on
- itune updates on
- apple music off (don't use it)
- wifi on
- screen brightness auto

You turned off all the features that cause lag on my 6.And on top of that you use a 6S.No wonder you dont have lag
 

I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
35,158
25,268
Gotta be in it to win it
You turned off all the features that cause lag on my 6.And on top of that you use a 6S.No wonder you dont have lag
That's my use case for the iphone and has been that way since my first iPhone. As I keep repeating, everybody's use case is different and you have to be very specific in making general statements as they don't apply across the board. Having said that, except for spotlight as it takes a while, I tested with the other options on on 5s and 6s just to see if the phone was crippled. It wasn't.
 

imagineadam

macrumors 68000
Jan 19, 2011
1,704
876
It truly is baffling. I tried out an iPhone 6S the other day and sure once I'm in an app or safari and loading up pages, it is faster than my 6. But just bouncing around the home screen and going in and out of apps my 6 on 8.4.1 is actually faster because of the behavior of iOS 9! They turn off the digitizer completely until animations are completely done and it feels so clunky. Maybe this is to save battery? I don't know but it feels clunky and worse than before to the user. If you gave this iOS to Steve jobs he'd be pretty embarrassed. If they change this one simple behavior I will upgrade in a heartbeat.

A little lag and choppyness is fine but just getting things going is really annoying! These people complaining and OCDing about pulling down spotlight search are nuts! I've never used it once and I always turn off everything it searches for. The thing is useless and they should have never upgraded it in iOS 9. I think opening up all of those search paths and new "indexing" has also contributed to the bog down in 9.
 

Fzang

macrumors 65816
Jun 15, 2013
1,315
1,081
or it's not supposed to.
So if the longer time is not indexing, then what is it?
Indexing the indexes (English) or indices (Latin)?

Your phone is probably slow because it's still reticulating splines.
 

scjr

macrumors 68020
Jan 28, 2013
2,196
1,340
iPhone 6+ is running great. Safari is fantastic. Needs a little smoothing out of animations. Nothing that hinders how well iOS 9.1 is running.

iPad Air running fantastic. Safari is fantastic as well. Very smooth and excellent battery life.

Very happy with iOS 9.1. Bring on the next beta! :)
 

dk001

macrumors demi-god
Oct 3, 2014
11,136
15,489
Sage, Lightning, and Mountains
iPhone 6+ is running great. Safari is fantastic. Needs a little smoothing out of animations. Nothing that hinders how well iOS 9.1 is running.

iPad Air running fantastic. Safari is fantastic as well. Very smooth and excellent battery life.

Very happy with iOS 9.1. Bring on the next beta! :)

Wish I had the same. :confused:
6+ with only initial 9.1 (via iTunes) loaded. No SIM. Just a totally bare bones 6+ 64GB device.
Reduce Motion On.
Scrolling screens, app opening, general puttering through the basic stuff. My wife's 5S is faster and it is on 8.4.1
Reduce Motion Off. It's even slower.

I will say that is is for the most part pretty smooth. There is some lag. Overall I would classify my 6+ on 9.1 as syrupy smooth. There is no snap, pop, or zip in this device. :(
 

scjr

macrumors 68020
Jan 28, 2013
2,196
1,340
Wish I had the same. :confused:
6+ with only initial 9.1 (via iTunes) loaded. No SIM. Just a totally bare bones 6+ 64GB device.
Reduce Motion On.
Scrolling screens, app opening, general puttering through the basic stuff. My wife's 5S is faster and it is on 8.4.1
Reduce Motion Off. It's even slower.

I will say that is is for the most part pretty smooth. There is some lag. Overall I would classify my 6+ on 9.1 as syrupy smooth. There is no snap, pop, or zip in this device. :(

Loaded ipsw here and restored my encrypted backup.

Agreed it needs some smoothing on the 6+, but it does better than 8.4.1 for me. Having said that, I would like a smoother experience well and understand your frustration.
 

teknikal90

macrumors 68040
Jan 28, 2008
3,384
1,945
Vancouver, BC
I have an unlocked iphone 6, 128gb that I filled half way with pictures and music.

Set up as new on iOs 8 when I first bought it.

When the GM of iOS 9 was released, I upgraded, by downloading the GM seed and upgrading via itunes. thinking I will love the extra 1 hour. I was travelling at the time and wanted extra juice

I was wrong. Battery died very quickly and was a major pain the butt during my travels. When the actual GM seed was released to the public, I did OTA update, and did not help the battery. It was horrible, I had to do low power mode all day, and it still would die on me half way through the day.

I updated OTA to 9.0.2 and still encountered the same thing.

I downgraded to 8.4.1, by setting the phone up as new and got much better battery life. A major pain, but I had to do it. I stayed on it until 9.1 was released. I updated via itunes, not a restore, but an upgrade.

Now, with (almost new set up) of iOS 9.1, I'm getting amazing battery life. Yesterday, I had 5 hours of usage plus 14 hours of standby and battery was still at 47%, before I plugged it into the wall before bedtime at 11:30pm.

Cannot be happier with iOS 9.1 now.

PS: I dont use the facebook app.
 

Zombiecrowd

macrumors regular
Oct 3, 2013
105
79
Odd that people are having lag with the new phones. iOS 9.1 on 6s there is zero lag or stutter in app switcher, spotlight search, or when I swipe down on home screen for search. It's instant with no lag. I did have slight studder on 9.0 but it's gone now.

Obviously I can't tell battery difference after less than a day of use with new iOS update. Ppl reporting on battery this soon after update have OCD issues to work out.
 
Last edited:

dk001

macrumors demi-god
Oct 3, 2014
11,136
15,489
Sage, Lightning, and Mountains
Odd that people are having lag with the new phones. iOS 9.1 on 6s there is zero lag or stutter in app switcher, spotlight search, or when I swipe down on home screen for search. It's instant with no lag. I did have slight studded on 9.0 but it's gone now.

Obviously I can't tell battery difference after less than a day of use with new iOS update. Ppl reporting on battery this soon after update have OCD issues to work out.

If you think about it, not that odd.
Put in a new function or fix for the new iPhones that ends up causing an issue either in legacy devices, new devices, or both.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: scjr

Ashin

macrumors 6502a
Jun 19, 2010
959
201
Not sure why people are still debating/defending Apple over this.

It is objective fact using Apple's very own Xcode Instruments that you can see FPS in iOS9 is lower than iOS8.

You can also see with your eyes, albeit more subjectively, that FPS is lower - this is system wide, mostly scrolling through settings, the app switcher, and most notably pulling up the control centre.

Again, this is objective, 100% numeral fact pulled right out of the Apple's Xcode Instruments - don't believe me? Go download it yourself and see instead of telling me "huh, well it doesn't happen to me!" - this doesn't mean it doesn't exist on an objective, technical level, but your eyes are just not as sensitive/good/ OR all of your previous versions of iOS were buggy installs/upgrades that had lag anyway so you never noticed how smooth iOS can be.

Bonus point - iOS9 also has greater idle CPU usage too (again, measured objectively in Xcode Instruments), which just means more phantom usage and worse real time battery life.

One more point - no idea why people have to make this an "us vs them" situation. If you think iOS9 is smooth and awesome - GREAT, but there are also an equal number of us that think the opposite. If iOS9 is improved (which it can be, judging from how smooth iOS8 was), then it benefits ALL OF US... the lag is a result of bad optimisation/coding/bottlenecking, which if fixed, just means everyone has a better experience, and better battery life too since iOS9 is obviously badly coded. I envy you guys who actually believe iOS9 is smooth and great, but personally I can see the sutter/microlag/FPS issues far too prominently to use it in its current form.
 
Last edited:

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
Not sure why people are still debating/defending Apple over this.

It is objective fact using Apple's very own Xcode Instruments that you can see FPS in iOS9 is lower than iOS8.

You can also see with your eyes, albeit more subjectively, that FPS is lower - this is system wide, mostly scrolling through settings, the app switcher, and most notably pulling up the control centre.

Again, this is objective, 100% numeral fact pulled right out of the Apple's Xcode Instruments - don't believe me? Go download it yourself and see instead of telling me "huh, well it doesn't happen to me!" - this doesn't mean it doesn't exist on an objective, technical level, but your eyes are just not as sensitive/good/ OR all of your previous versions of iOS were buggy installs/upgrades that had lag anyway so you never noticed how smooth iOS can be.

Bonus point - iOS9 also has greater idle CPU usage too (again, measured objectively in Xcode Instruments), which just means more phantom usage and worse real time battery life.
Does that mean all levels of issues and all issues even beyond the basic stutter in some places apply the same everyone?

Does that also somehow account for plenty of people seeing battery life that's quite good (based on actual numbers and percentages of battery)?
 

Ashin

macrumors 6502a
Jun 19, 2010
959
201
Does that mean all levels of issues and all issues even beyond the basic stutter in some places apply the same everyone?

Does that also somehow account for plenty of people seeing battery life that's quite good (based on actual numbers and percentages of battery)?
Read my edit.

Seriously - you are lucky your eyes are not as sensitive as ours. You should just agree there are people like me, and many others, that can see the issues with iOS9 plain and clear. Please also realise that Apple improving iOS9 to satisfy us people who can notice these things will make YOUR experience better too.

You make it sound as if it's fine as it is, and that improving it further will someone be a bad thing...

I am telling you that at an objective level iOS9 is worse, pure facts and figures pulled right out of Xcode.

iOS9 never even caps out at 60fps scrolling, I'd typically see 50-55fps once it ramps up, but it would often start off as low as 15fps. I've no idea if this is Apple's smart move to reduce CPU usage (similar to Android's CPU governors), but it leaves much to be desired with regards to stutter - Android has similar issues with aggresive governors that use CPU stepping depending on how intense the usage it predicts will occur based on your actions.

I've also been to Apple Stores just to see whether or not it was just my phone (never been a believer than certain phones are magically laggier than others) - nope. Every single iPhone in the Apple Stores exhibits the same lags in the same areas.
 

Radon87000

macrumors 604
Nov 29, 2013
7,777
6,255
Does that mean all levels of issues and all issues even beyond the basic stutter in some places apply the same everyone?

Does that also somehow account for plenty of people seeing battery life that's quite good (based on actual numbers and percentages of battery)?
Yes.My air 2 stutters each and every time in the App Switcher now without exception.i have like 4 games and 3 productivity softwares installed.It is impossible for any other Air 2 to run better than mine
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.