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Can you still use the iPhone 4s


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    189

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,921
13,274
is that true? I thought support for non-VoLTE phones was being phased out across different carriers.


If I recall correctly, the iPhone 5 was the first with LTE, but the 5s was the first with VoLTE. So depending on the network, the 4s already no longer works as a phone or soon will not.

Nope. iPhone 6 is the first with VoLTE. For those unwilling to go bigger than 5s though, the iPhone SE1 does have VoLTE support.

The Verizon shut off was scheduled for December 2020. I don't know if they went through with that.
 

MBAir2010

macrumors 604
May 30, 2018
6,975
6,354
there
I use my iphone 5 for everything but phone
the itouch 4 internet and iCloud stopped wanting to work
 

kevink2

macrumors 68000
Nov 2, 2008
1,856
303
Nope. iPhone 6 is the first with VoLTE. For those unwilling to go bigger than 5s though, the iPhone SE1 does have VoLTE support.

The Verizon shut off was scheduled for December 2020. I don't know if they went through with that.

Verizon indefinitely delayed it. But you can't enable a non VoLTE phone anymore.
 

bushman4

macrumors 601
Mar 22, 2011
4,146
3,942
It’s still good for basics like phone calls A few basic apps will work but other than that it really can’t handle speed or Anything else
And keep in mind that the software in it cannot be updated
 

mac23456

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 18, 2021
29
11
And a few months later, I have bought an iPhone 6s. I like the design. It has support for iOS 15 (I'll try it when the public betas come out). We might even get lucky and get iOS 16 out of it too but unlikely. If we do get very lucky then we might get 17 and 18. And Apple will probably stop there (me being very hopeful).
 
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Homme

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2014
951
869
Sydney
And a few months later, I have bought an iPhone 6s. I like the design. It has support for iOS 15 (I'll try it when the public betas come out). We might even get lucky and get iOS 16 out of it too but unlikely. If we do get very lucky then we might get 17 and 18. And Apple will probably stop there (me being very hopeful).

At this stage it’s too early to speculate about iOS 16. Then again it depends on a variety of things mainly when Apple Discontinues the Apple TV HD (since it has the same A8/2GB of RAM as the iPad Mini 4 (and that gets iPadOS 15 as well)and is still sold in stores)) and possibly the 7th Gen iPod Touch since they are the last remaining A series chips sold that do not have an ANE.
 

DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
13,051
6,985
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
is that true? I thought support for non-VoLTE phones was being phased out across different carriers.


If I recall correctly, the iPhone 5 was the first with LTE, but the 5s was the first with VoLTE. So depending on the network, the 4s already no longer works as a phone or soon will not.

I think this is a really dumb move by carriers. I see no real technical reason why a carrier with GMS/GPRS/3G/LTE back bone cannot keep legacy devices connected. I highly doubt keeping them in service will add congestion issues.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,921
13,274
I think this is a really dumb move by carriers. I see no real technical reason why a carrier with GMS/GPRS/3G/LTE back bone cannot keep legacy devices connected. I highly doubt keeping them in service will add congestion issues.

Iirc, they're refarming the spectrum for 5G. GSM hasn't been supported for a while on AT&T. They reused the spectrum for LTE.
 
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mac23456

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 18, 2021
29
11
At this stage it’s too early to speculate about iOS 16. Then again it depends on a variety of things mainly when Apple Discontinues the Apple TV HD (since it has the same A8/2GB of RAM as the iPad Mini 4 (and that gets iPadOS 15 as well)and is still sold in stores)) and possibly the 7th Gen iPod Touch since they are the last remaining A series chips sold that do not have an ANE.
iPhone 6s has A9..................
 

Homme

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2014
951
869
Sydney
iPhone 6s has A9..................

yes I’m aware of that but at the same time the A9 is showing it’s age and is the oldest supporting chip for iPhone and just like how 7 iDevices didn’t get iOS 12 there will be 6 maybe 7 iDevices which will get dropped and will get the same sporadic security updates as the devices which are stuck on iOS 12
 

FrozenInferno

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2013
272
268
The 4S was my first iPhone about ten years ago. Ahh the memories. Beautiful piece of hardware still but couldn’t imagine using a screen that small again.
 

sewerx

macrumors member
Jun 8, 2020
38
73
I think this is a really dumb move by carriers. I see no real technical reason why a carrier with GMS/GPRS/3G/LTE back bone cannot keep legacy devices connected. I highly doubt keeping them in service will add congestion issues.
Im still using iPhone 4 as my main device. T-Mobile's calls and internet works fine so far. I've just tried to disable 3G and calls/internet still working. We will see what the future brings but so far there is no problem with using even 2G phone.
 
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kevink2

macrumors 68000
Nov 2, 2008
1,856
303
Im still using iPhone 4 as my main device. T-Mobile's calls and internet works fine so far. I've just tried to disable 3G and calls/internet still working. We will see what the future brings but so far there is no problem with using even 2G phone.
I see that T-Mobile hasn't announced a date yet to end GSM, though they have for 3G. Probably keeping it up for certain customers.
 

Thebrochure

macrumors 6502
Aug 9, 2021
443
521
My iP 4 runs iOS 6 - maybe that's source of longevity :p
Super late reply, but I am so jealous. I held out when ios7 came out because I thought it looked horrible, but I eventually caved for some stupid reason. To this day, it was the worst tech mistake of my life. I still have the phone, but it's a horribly slow mess. What was Apple thinking?
 
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pianostar9

macrumors regular
Super late reply, but I am so jealous. I held out when ios7 came out because I thought it looked horrible, but I eventually caved for some stupid reason. To this day, it was the worst tech mistake of my life. I still have the phone, but it's a horribly slow mess. What was Apple thinking?
You can downgrade. Check out https://dora2ios.web.app/konayuki/index.html
 

tedley

macrumors 6502
Nov 3, 2009
294
339
Sacramento
Super late reply, but I am so jealous. I held out when ios7 came out because I thought it looked horrible, but I eventually caved for some stupid reason. To this day, it was the worst tech mistake of my life. I still have the phone, but it's a horribly slow mess. What was Apple thinking?
You must be making some pretty wise life decisions if the worst decision of your life is an OS upgrade to a cellphone. :)
 

Thebrochure

macrumors 6502
Aug 9, 2021
443
521
You must be making some pretty wise life decisions if the worst decision of your life is an OS upgrade to a cellphone. :)
I said tech decision lol. Believe me, if the worst thing that ever happened to me was downloading the wrong iOS, I would be tap dancing as I typed this very sentence.
 
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