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navjot

macrumors member
Apr 19, 2009
31
7
I have installed 9.0 on a 5s and first gen iPad mini. I have not noticed any changes to speed/ app switching etc. After a bad experience with 8.0 and 8.1, I wasn't planning on updating for a few months but I really wanted the content blocker functionality (which turns out doesn't work on the first gen mini).

However I am not a power user; I just use web, email, FaceTime, simple games. I think it is useful if people mention how they use their devices in these threads as everyone seems to have differing experiences.
 

stooovie

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2010
836
314
This! My iPad 2 is running iOS 9 better than the day I got it. Apple did a great job with tuning iOS 9, especially safari; especially with the new ad-blocker functionality.

I'm sorry but you're incorrect. iPad 2 doesn't support ad-blocking at all as it's a 32bit device. Ad-blocking is only supported on 64bit devices (air and up, 5s and up).
 

oldmacs

macrumors 601
Sep 14, 2010
4,941
7,182
Australia
Not on an iPhone 5/5C. I much prefer iOS 7's buttery smooth operation, to iOS 8's unresponsiveness.

I guess we all have different requirements, because I find iOS 8 nearly perfect on the iPhone 5 (bar some jitteriness), and there are quite a few iOS 8 features that I find essential, plus the security fixes.
 

_Refurbished_

macrumors 68020
Mar 23, 2007
2,344
3,066
I guess we all have different requirements, because I find iOS 8 nearly perfect on the iPhone 5 (bar some jitteriness), and there are quite a few iOS 8 features that I find essential, plus the security fixes.

Tonight I used the two 5C's and the 5C running iOS 7 was significantly more responsive. Like you say everyone has their own needs. For me, I refuse to add features if it sacrifices speed and I'm not worried the least about security issues on an iPhone.
 
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Jayson A

macrumors 68030
Sep 16, 2014
2,671
1,935
Guys, do you think it could be linked to something like iCloud? I wonder if the people with smooth devices (no lag) are not using iCloud and maybe using Google or some other service?

Whenever I restore (even a clean restore) I enter my iCloud information. That's the only difference for me. It could explain why some devices see improvements and others degrade.
 

Retired Cat

macrumors 65816
Jun 12, 2013
1,210
380
I feel like the memory management and/or footprint is better on 9 than 8. I'm experiencing far fewer reloads of apps.
 

Yun0

macrumors 68000
Jun 12, 2013
1,561
828
Winnipeg, Canada
its not that 32bit doesnt support it, its that apple chose to block access to content blockers for 32bit devices cause they feel there will be a large performance hit, which overall is probably a good idea. we already have the yearly squaking about "current crap slow stuttery ios", if apple thinks something will bog down a device, it probably will

theres supposed to be a way around it using xcode urself or something i saw on here, dont shoot the messenger
 

oldmacs

macrumors 601
Sep 14, 2010
4,941
7,182
Australia
Tonight I used the two 5C's and the 5C running iOS 7 was significantly more responsive. Like you say everyone has their own needs. For me, I refuse to add features if it sacrifices speed and I'm not worried the least about security issues on an iPhone.


I have also done the same, and there is a slight difference in fluidity between the two, but yeah I'm the opposite, I am happy to make slight sacrifices in speed if it means security and features (Call and text forwarding are amongst my favourite feature ever added).
 

east85

macrumors 65816
Jun 24, 2010
1,343
495
iPhone 4S

Similar performance as iOS 8.4.1. Low power mode makes my battery last forever. Worth it in my book.

Same with my iPad Mini 1st gen, just without the low power mode. The grid layout for folders has improved.
 

haikitteh

macrumors newbie
May 8, 2015
18
13
Working great on my 5. Smoother, faster response on all apps. It had been getting stuttery on previous version, that's all gone now.
 

markiv810

macrumors 6502
Sep 27, 2002
379
114
India
I am running iOS 9 on iPhone 5 and have noticed signal drop for my Vodafone, it just goes to "No Service" I have to switch on and off Airplane mode and then the signal is back on full strength. Anyone else have issue with call signal drop.
 

stooovie

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2010
836
314
its not that 32bit doesnt support it, its that apple chose to block access to content blockers for 32bit devices cause they feel there will be a large performance hit, which overall is probably a good idea. we already have the yearly squaking about "current crap slow stuttery ios", if apple thinks something will bog down a device, it probably will

theres supposed to be a way around it using xcode urself or something i saw on here, dont shoot the messenger

Yep, 64bit CPU can compare strings (which is what ad blockers do - compare crap on pages with blocker's database of crap) twice as fast as 32bit.
 

RiderX

macrumors regular
Nov 9, 2012
173
74
Guys, do you think it could be linked to something like iCloud? I wonder if the people with smooth devices (no lag) are not using iCloud and maybe using Google or some other service?

Whenever I restore (even a clean restore) I enter my iCloud information. That's the only difference for me. It could explain why some devices see improvements and others degrade.

This is one possibility. I use iCloud only for contacts and calendars. No background backups, uploading photos and such.

Other possibilities: Caching. The new installation of 9 has the caches emptied. Takes a few days until they are full again. If you compare with a ios8 device, the latter will have a slight advantage.

But finally it is not important if an app starts a few milliseconds faster or if the device boots 2 seconds quicker. I also don't care about animations or transparencies.

Important is the usage quality of your main apps. In my case it is Safari and Feedly and a few others.

These run very well with our old ipad mini 1 and ipad 2. Of course the older devices are not as fast as new ones. But they are still quite capable and usable.

If you need speed for games, you will need to upgrade hardware of course.

So to conclude: iOS 9 is one of the best upgrades ever. It runs very well on new devices and sufficiently well on older ones. Perhaps the 9.1, 9.2 will be even a few percent faster, but iOS 9 is probably the maximum in speed you can get from your devices.
 
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newellj

macrumors G3
Oct 15, 2014
8,154
3,047
East of Eden
I have an iPhone 6 for daily use and some older iPhones like 5s and 5.

How is performance of iOS 9 on the older iPhone or iPads?
Is it slow?
I read one person report that it sucks on the 4S.

I may have missed this if it's been mentioned, but Ars has two articles specifically addressing the 4S and the iPad 2 with iOS 9, and a third article comparing 8 to 9 on various devices, including what I guess we'd call "legacy" hardware at this point (like A5 devices).
 
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