iPhone 8/Plus Older iPhone safety

[Andy_2341]

Hello everybody,
I have acquired an old iPhone 5s and iPhone 8 from my grandmother. The 5s surprisingly has decent battery life and I have put a new battery in the 8. My question is about the safety of them. The 5s is stuck on 12.5.7. The 8 is stuck on 16.7.10. Would it be okay to watch YouTube and do general browsing with them or do they pose serious safety risks? I don’t need to use them, it is just fun to go back in time and keep using old technology for what it can do. Thanks for any advice.

 

[eyoungren]

Some advocate always being fully updated and on the latest device. But, just because you're browsing the web or using YT it does not automatically mean you will be attacked and your bank accounts wiped out or some malware tracking your every move.

If you're not using these devices for banking or other sensitive matters (and I highly doubt any banking app would work now on the 5s) then you're fine. Just don't go exploring the dark web, answering spam email and frequenting sketchy websites. Anything you wouldn't do on your primary phone applies here.

I have a a 6s Plus which I take when I go on walks. It's primarily so I maintain connections to work and home without putting my 11 Pro Max in any spot to be damaged. I have a range of other phones as well and they are primarily used as iPods or specific other uses. I'm not using them for banking or personal matters. They are all good for this.

And the two iPhone 5's I have I use as speakers for my Mac Pro.

It's all about what you do with the devices.

 

[Andy_2341]

Okay, that makes sense. Thank you.

 

[Andy_2341]

I just got to thinking about how you said you use some as speakers for your Mac. How did you do that?

 

[eyoungren]

I just got to thinking about how you said you use some as speakers for your Mac. How did you do that?

I use the Airfoil app on my Mac…

Airfoil - Any Audio, Everywhere

Stream from your Mac to Airplay, Bluetooth, and Chromecast outputs!

rogueamoeba.com

…and on the iPhones I use Airfoil Sattelite…

‎Airfoil Satellite

‎Airfoil Satellite turns your device into an audio receiver. Send any audio from your Mac with Airfoil and Airfoil Satellite! Send audio from any app, like Music or Spotify, as well as web-based sources like Pandora and more. Hear your audio anywhere around the house! Just connect your...

apps.apple.com

Airfoil itself takes care of the synchronization. Your iDevice needs to be on the same WiFi as your computer. Airfoil Satellite is also available for Android too.

If you never downloaded the app on your iPhone though, the way to get the prompt to allow downloading an older version is to use a phone that can support it first. So, my iPhone 5's are running iOS 10. But Airfoil Satellite needs iOS 11 minimum. The prompt to allow an older version was not coming up on my iPhone 5's. So, I downloaded it on my 11 Pro Max first. Then I was able to download it on my iPhone 5's.

 

[Andy_2341]

That’s awesome. I’ll have to give it a try. Thank you!