Resolved Is iOS 16 still supported?

[okkibs]

Keeping automatic updates on is a sure-fire way of obliterating every iOS device they have with 100% certainty of the result.

Yet the only alternative means that Apple won't fix all (already known and either already or soon to be exploited in the wild) vulnerabilities that your device has with the older OS, even high severity ones. Which might be fine for a media consumption iPad but is more problematic with iPhones when many people use that as their main or even their only device and have their entire lives on it, so to speak. I have OPs SE 2020 as well but with iOS 17 and I can tell you from my experience that it was already slowed down with iOS 16 and hasn't changed with 17. iOS 17 merely put another nail in the coffin of the dwindling battery life but in that regard that iPhone was doomed from the start.

The Pro iPhones do not have this issue to the same extent. They came with bigger batteries and more memory and all Pro iPhones currently on iOS 17 run as well as you can expect them to run iOS 17... which is not all that well, but that goes for the latest iPhones too. As we all know Apple likes to use their customers as beta testers for the first few months.

The problem here isn't inherently the upgrades, it's that the SE line of iPhones is cost-optimized to hell and back. Apple re-uses old hardware lacking the latest power optimizations, combines that with a smaller battery and throws it in an old design with power hungry older display panels and probably doesn't care to optimize later iOS releases for older SE iPhones too much.

My SE gets the job done today just as well as it did on day 1. Which is not very well but I got what I paid for, a cheap iPhone that is still usable going into its fourth year and receives all firmware and OS updates. That's what I bought it for, to get more than the usual 2-3 years of upgrades that Android devices offered at that time.

Between 30 November 2023 and 11 December 2023, Apple left iOS users that can not upgrade to iOS 17 with actively exploited vulnerabilities in their devices.

Apple only guarantees updates in a timely fashion for the latest major version of any of their OS'. So yes that is one downside of using a device that cannot be upgraded anymore.

 

[FeliApple]

Yet the only alternative means that Apple won't fix all (already known and either already or soon to be exploited in the wild) vulnerabilities that your device has with the older OS, even high severity ones. Which might be fine for a media consumption iPad but is more problematic with iPhones when many people use that as their main or even their only device and have their entire lives on it, so to speak.

It’s a choice between theoretical security and practical performance, battery life, and compatibility. User’s choice, nothing else.

I have OPs SE 2020 as well but with iOS 17 and I can tell you from my experience that it was already slowed down with iOS 16 and hasn't changed with 17. iOS 17 merely put another nail in the coffin of the dwindling battery life but in that regard that iPhone was doomed from the start.

The 2nd and 3rd-gen SE already had the 4.7-inch standard on their original iOS versions, which means 7-8 hours of SOT with light usage, and 6 at most with light to moderate cellular usage. Anything a little inefficient and it plummets, so it has no resilience for moderately heavy use on original iOS versions, let alone on updated versions. It’s not pleasant, and it has no longevity.

If I already recommend keeping the original iOS version on all iPhones, I especially recommend it on the SE. It’s not resilient to battery degradation via updates because the original battery life is already mediocre, unlike the 20+ hour potential of, say, the 13 Pro Max.

The Pro iPhones do not have this issue to the same extent. They came with bigger batteries and more memory and all Pro iPhones currently on iOS 17 run as well as you can expect them to run iOS 17... which is not all that well, but that goes for the latest iPhones too. As we all know Apple likes to use their customers as beta testers for the first few months.

Yeah, iOS 17 may not be perfect, but it’s far more usable on, say, the 11 Pro Max in terms of battery life. It can tolerate the same degradation in terms of percentage because battery life is better.

The problem here isn't inherently the upgrades, it's that the SE line of iPhones is cost-optimized to hell and back. Apple re-uses old hardware lacking the latest power optimizations, combines that with a smaller battery and throws it in an old design with power hungry older display panels and probably doesn't care to optimize later iOS releases for older SE iPhones too much.

You do have a point: the SE is barely enough for a moderate user on its original iOS version, so updated iPhones are doomed to suffer a lot, very early on.

But the problem is updates, because if they didn’t reduce battery life, then we would be talking about something else. That said, like you said, iPhone with larger batteries (the first being the Xʀ), are far more resilient, yes.

Apple has never cared about perfect optimisation or downgrading. This is a fact, and we henceforth must adapt; updating the SE for whatever reason (including security), is playing with fire.

My SE gets the job done today just as well as it did on day 1. Which is not very well but I got what I paid for, a cheap iPhone that is still usable going into its fourth year and receives all firmware and OS updates. That's what I bought it for, to get more than the usual 2-3 years of upgrades that Android devices offered at that time.

I’ve frequently stated that I expect long-term perfection from my iOS devices (which is why my iPhone Xʀ runs iOS 12 since day 1, and will continue to run iOS 12). If updating the SE into oblivion matches your expectations, and as long as you are aware of the inevitable degradation, then it’s fine.

Apple only guarantees updates in a timely fashion for the latest major version of any of their OS'. So yes that is one downside of using a device that cannot be upgraded anymore.

Yeah, absolutely!

 

[JimmyG]

Just updated my iPhone 8+ to 16.7.5 (20H307) this morning and I can report, "all is well". After reading the previous post (regarding battery life) I checked my phone's battery, it's the original from when the phone was bought brand-new. Maximum capacity is at 84% and the "Peak Performance Capability" states "Your battery's health is significantly degraded and peak performance may be impacted."

Now for the reality...I can use the phone for a day-and-then-some without charging and I can't say where I've encountered any, er, "impacted" performance issues or "degradation", ever. I consider Apple's in-phone diagnositic's merely as advisory and such forum commentary merely as FUD.

More reality, the phone will finally be replaced when it stops receiving security updates, and it will go to the recycling plant in the sky with its original battery still inside.

 

[FeliApple]

Just updated my iPhone 8+ to 16.7.5 (20H307) this morning and I can report, "all is well". After reading the previous post (regarding battery life) I checked my phone's battery, it's the original from when the phone was bought brand-new. Maximum capacity is at 84% and the "Peak Performance Capability" states "Your battery's health is significantly degraded and peak performance may be impacted."

Now for the reality...I can use the phone for a day-and-then-some without charging and I can't say where I've encountered any, er, "impacted" performance issues or "degradation", ever. I consider Apple's in-phone diagnositic's merely as advisory and such forum commentary merely as FUD.

More reality, the phone will finally be replaced when it stops receiving security updates, and it will go to the recycling plant in the sky with its original battery still inside.

Can you share a screenshot of its screen-on time?