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All iPads Ready to throw my iPad out the window... iOS 15 woes... ANY SOLUTIONS?!

S

Saturn007

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 18, 2010
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So, I inadvertently updated my iPad Air to iOS 15. Dumb me. I had wanted to go the 14.8.1 route but was connected to iTunes and hit update. Woe is me!

Looks like there's no way of rolling back to 14.8 or 14.8.1.

I'm rocking an iPad Air 2 and it has been working wonderfully--nimble, fast, responsive, and battery life still fine. Perfect for my needs, usage, and fun. (So, please, no cracks about "It's an old device" or "It's time to upgrade". I like what I have -- or, rather HAD! ?)

Here's my first and major complaint with iOS 15 -- the home screen and dock are a mess.

The dock now looks like a clown mobile with HUGE icons! ? The home screen looks like it was featured on "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!" I mean, what's with the large amount of blank space all around the edges? And, the icons all cramped together,? With all that space and scrunching, it looks lousy. Plus, the rows and columns now differ, so icons are no longer in the same place, and that's destroyed my quick muscle memory for launching apps -- the same arrangement that I've used for years across a host of i-devices is now gone.

Any fix for this icon sizing jazz? It didn't help, either, that Apple initially splayed WIDGETS all over the home screen -- and shuffled my icons from page to page. That's fixable...

I think that Apple has lost it way... This and the notch... and ... well, I'll stop there.

Fortunately, I updated my spouse's iPad Air 2 over-the-air to 14.8.1. A piece of cake.

Does that offer any solution? I mean, would there be a way of somehow restoring her iPad Air to my device to roll mine back to iOS 14.8.1? I realize that will produce other issues, including reinstalling various apps and data that aren't on the other iPad, but iMazing should come in handy.

Oh, alternatively, is there any way of restoring/reformatting my iPad Air to its original iOS and then upgrading from there, step-by-step?

Sorry to vent, but what a nuisance!

In light of all the discussion about choice and side loading, on which I've been on Apple's side, this has reminded that I've long been a proponent of choice when it comes to iOSs. If someone mistakenly updates, or has a deeply visceral negative reaction to the latest version, they should always have the right to roll back to a previous version. Or, to their original one that came with the device.

<vent off>
 
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Bobcat32

Bobcat32

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Sep 23, 2020
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cupcakes2000 said:
?can’t you people think of other things to say? If you don’t like the changes, well- I agree with some of the issues. But Apple has lost its way becuase of icon padding? Or due to widgets? Change the record.
Click to expand...
Literally why are you commenting? I mean seriously? Out of the entire post you are only commenting on 8 words of his post. He is upset he accidentally upgraded to iOS 15 on an old device and is hoping a solution is out there. Either provide a suggestion or leave.
 
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Richard8655

Richard8655

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sparksd

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cupcakes2000

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Bobcat32 said:
Literally why are you commenting? I mean seriously? Out of the entire post you are only commenting on 8 words of his post. He is upset he accidentally upgraded to iOS 15 on an old device and is hoping a solution is out there. Either provide a suggestion or leave.
Click to expand...
The same reason you’re commenting on my post without offering the op a solution, I guess. ?‍♂️
 
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M

Mr.Blacky

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Jul 31, 2016
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Just put apps on your home screen and no widgets. Also look in "Settings" - "Display & Brightness".
 
A

AtomicMac-User

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Nov 14, 2021
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Saturn007 said:
So, I inadvertently updated my iPad Air to iOS 15. Dumb me. I had wanted to go the 14.8.1 route but was connected to iTunes and hit update. Woe is me!

Looks like there's no way of rolling back to 14.8 or 14.8.1.

I'm rocking an iPad Air 2 and it has been working wonderfully--nimble, fast, responsive, and battery life still fine. Perfect for my needs, usage, and fun. (So, please, no cracks about "It's an old device" or "It's time to upgrade". I like what I have -- or, rather HAD! ?)

Here's my first and major complaint with iOS 15 -- the home screen and dock are a mess.

The dock now looks like a clown mobile with HUGE icons! ? The home screen looks like it was featured on "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!" I mean, what's with the large amount of blank space all around the edges? And, the icons all cramped together,? With all that space and scrunching, it looks lousy. Plus, the rows and columns now differ, so icons are no longer in the same place, and that's destroyed my quick muscle memory for launching apps -- the same arrangement that I've used for years across a host of i-devices is now gone.

Any fix for this icon sizing jazz? It didn't help, either, that Apple initially splayed WIDGETS all over the home screen -- and shuffled my icons from page to page. That's fixable...

I think that Apple has lost it way... This and the notch... and ... well, I'll stop there.

Fortunately, I updated my spouse's iPad Air 2 over-the-air to 14.8.1. A piece of cake.

Does that offer any solution? I mean, would there be a way of somehow restoring her iPad Air to my device to roll mine back to iOS 14.8.1? I realize that will produce other issues, including reinstalling various apps and data that aren't on the other iPad, but iMazing should come in handy.

Oh, alternatively, is there any way of restoring/reformatting my iPad Air to its original iOS and then upgrading from there, step-by-step?

Sorry to vent, but what a nuisance!

In light of all the discussion about choice and side loading, on which I've been on Apple's side, this has reminded that I've long been a proponent of choice when it comes to iOSs. If someone mistakenly updates, or has a deeply visceral negative reaction to the latest version, they should always have the right to roll back to a previous version. Or, to their original one that came with the device.

<vent off>
Click to expand...
Why is nobody alking about the really important things, not the aesthetics. iOS 15 is killing my battery. I have an Ipad Pro (2020) that i use to study. After ignoring a bad feeling, (is an if it works fine why fix it thing) I upgraded to iOS 15.1 yesterday. yesterday night ~12:30 pm the battery was at 50% I wake up today at 7:50 the battery is at 25%. I noticed but think not much of it. I start browsing the web looking at upcoming motorcycles and the Ipad goes into 10% reserve power. WTActualFFFF! I stay on to see how long it lasts 20 mins later I pad dies. Last week (iOS 14.something) my Ipad lasted for days without a charge, averaging 2-3 days. and this is studying online for 2-4 hours a day. Apple royally FükedÜp with that update. After some browsing I learn that iOS on the iphone also was eating the battery before a hotfix, guess they forgot to fix the iPad version. Man this sucks my iPad is useless for what i use it for
 
S

Saturn007

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 18, 2010
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Appreciate the input... Yes, "Apple has lost its way" was an over-the-top gratuitous remark, arising from my frustrations with what happened (and with a string of GUI issues that have been getting worse over the years). And, yes, in the scheme of things, both iPad and the world writ large, this is small potatoes, for sure.

I chuckled aloud over "eternally doomed"!

Thanks to the commenters who came to my defense and posted that I, as the OP, was looking for a solution, not a smack down.

Oh, as to another comment, not sure what "Settings" - "Display & Brightness" has to do with this. Could you clarify? Perhaps, you meant "Home Screen & Dock".

I did explore several ways of trouble-shooting this with interesting results. I post them here for anyone else who encounters these problems.

1. Getting out of the Clown Car. That HUGE display of icons on the dock came about because the iOS 15 upgrade doesn't preserve the last three recent apps opened. Without them, the parked icons look big! I got rid of the App Library folder, and opened 3 apps -- and now the dock looks normal again. Whew!

2. Wasted Space. My guess is that the extra, wasted margin space around the icons on the left and right was some software engineer's solution to the problem of moving icons around and from screen to screen. There was always a problem of getting close to the edge and the icons rearranging themselves, merging with another and creating a folder, or it jumping to the next screen when you didn't want it to. So the extra space makes that work better. However, once icons are set, the wasted space is a distraction, not a solution.

3. The Sardine Can. They really are packing in the icons on each screen. The former 4 x 5 grid which has been standard across all my i-devices for years -- and the same for each -- has been wonderful. I realize that many wants to park more icons on a screen -- hence, the change. But having options for the arrangement -- spacing and number -- would be helpful. Another size choice besides Large or not would be good, too.

4. Restoring the Gridiron. In any case, I discovered a way of getting back to a 4 x 5 grid. I parked the Weather widget on the bottom row. Oddly, all the icons rearranged themselves from a 5 x 4 grid to a 4 x 5 one. That's strange, as the 5 x 4 grid could easily have stayed the same. But, at least, it lets me get back my 4 x 5 (columns by rows) on my home screen.

5. Widgets use more battery life, however, right? I wonder if there's a blank space icon that could be put on the different pages, so I could end up with 4 x 5 grids on my other screens.

6. Choice. As to my original problem, it seems that Apple should give plugged-in users an option of upgrading to 14.8.1 or 15.1. Instead, the 14.8.1 upgrade is only available over-the-air! In iTunes, it should have declared in BOLD, "You have a choice of upgrading to 14.8.1 or 15.1. Choose carefully because there is no way of going back." (Or, better, permit rolling it back to previous iOS.)

There, too, I may have gone overboard in arguing for complete choice of iOS, but restoring to original factory settings or the previous one in case of a mistake in upgrading should always be an option.

7. Possible solutions.

a. I rummaged in my Library/iTunes/iPad Software Updates folder to see if the 14.8 Restore IPSW was there. It was not. Weird as our two iPads were on 14.8. Maybe we upgraded over-the-air?! I didn't think so, as that's not my m.o.​

b. I went into Time Machine -- which I had used for backing up my Mac a couple of hours before upgrading the iPad. No luck. Absolutely no IPSW files at all. I also tried mounting the Time Capsule in the Finder and searching back in time, too, with no luck. That makes me think that Time Machine does NOT back up any IPSW Restore files. Which is weird.​

c. Carbon Copy Cloner. "Ah, no problem!", thought I, naively. "I'll just go into my Carbon Copy Cloner backup which I had also done earlier in the day before the fiasco." Bizarrely, there are no iPad IPSWs there, either! Path was /Volumes/Backup/Users/My Name/iTunes. Then look inside iPad Software Updates. Nothing. I double-checked the path and I was in the right place. There were some iPhone ones in the iPhone Software Updates folder, including a 14.8 one!​

Now, in its CCC Safety Net folders, I did find an iPad 13.6.1 Restore IPSW, but no others; again, strange. But that won't help me, will it? I mean, I'd only have the choice to upgrade to iOS 15.1, not iOS 14.8.​

8. I backed up the 2nd Air with its 14.8.1 iOS, but no restore file showed up afterwards.

9. iMazing. They even have a blog dedicated to directions on rolling back from iOS 15 beta to iOS 14. That would work like a charm, if I had a 14.8 Restore IPSW file. You either have to reinstall the 15.1 iOS or reinstall a previous IPSW Restore file.

10. Rolling back should be an option. (A repeat of #6.). In any case, my biggest complaint at this point is that Apple should've given users a choice when plugged into iTunes of upgrading to 14.8.1 or jumping to iOS 15 -- and should still let us return to 14.8.1. I mean, after all, they are letting users upgrade to it and not be forced to go to iOS 15, so why not let the fools among us who inadvertently upgrade to 15 go back to 14.8.1?!

11. "Live with it!" At this point, I'll heed the wise counsel and just get used to iOS 15.1. Messing with an unsigned 14.8 sounds risky. Unless, 15.1 hits the battery hard -- as the most recent poster expressed concern about!

Of course, we don't have to weigh aesthetics vs. battery life; both can be problems. The big issue is giving users the ability to roll back to 14.8.1, especially as they're giving users the option of upgrading to it rather than iOS 15.1.
 
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sparksd

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Jun 7, 2015
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AtomicMac-User said:
Why is nobody alking about the really important things, not the aesthetics. iOS 15 is killing my battery. I have an Ipad Pro (2020) that i use to study. After ignoring a bad feeling, (is an if it works fine why fix it thing) I upgraded to iOS 15.1 yesterday. yesterday night ~12:30 pm the battery was at 50% I wake up today at 7:50 the battery is at 25%. I noticed but think not much of it. I start browsing the web looking at upcoming motorcycles and the Ipad goes into 10% reserve power. WTActualFFFF! I stay on to see how long it lasts 20 mins later I pad dies. Last week (iOS 14.something) my Ipad lasted for days without a charge, averaging 2-3 days. and this is studying online for 2-4 hours a day. Apple royally FükedÜp with that update. After some browsing I learn that iOS on the iphone also was eating the battery before a hotfix, guess they forgot to fix the iPad version. Man this sucks my iPad is useless for what i use it for
Click to expand...

If you look around the forum, you'll see others with similar battery issues with 15 - it's just not relevant to this thread. And not everyone has the problem - I have 3 devices on 15 and don't.
 
MBAir2010

MBAir2010

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May 30, 2018
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there
those 3 top buttons are bothering me while trying to close a tab in Edge
and annoyingly impeding other iPad tasks!
I sure do wish we could move them, TIM!
but seems to me this week is not the week to complain, or else!
 
I

IJBrekke

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2009
678
814
Long Beach, CA
Apple essentially tricked the general population into the “no downgrading” thing for iOS because almost everyone wanted an iPhone those first few years and all phone operating systems were relatively primitive. They raised the walls on the garden significantly over MacOS. For this reason alone, I consider MacOS the only option for a true work machine from Apple. This isn’t even considering the huge limitations of iPadOS.

All said, they are never going to allow downgrading. People keep buying their products regardless, so they have no incentive to complicate their software further.

For the OP, consider waiting it out with a compromised app layout. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple re-introduces the “classic” layout for iPad in the next year.
 
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Bobcat32

Bobcat32

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Sep 23, 2020
172
197
Ohio
OP I hate the new layout too. And I used to have the iPad Air 2 and I understand its 9.7 inch screen all too well. Yes iPad Air 2 looks and is best at iOS 14 imo. My iPad Pro 11 is using this screen layout as a layover until they change things. AGAIN ?. I just hate the new layout enough I just hid all my apps away than to deal with it. Yes I may have the magic keyboard so for me its like a desktop. Which fyi I cant drag and drop files onto like a traditional computer ughhhh but this may if you get a keyboard case like me make things feel better. Hope this helps for in the mean time
F9A7058F-7CA1-4864-BDBC-27421102820C.jpeg
 
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Richard8655

Richard8655

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Saturn007 said:
6. Choice. As to my original problem, it seems that Apple should give plugged-in users an option of upgrading to 14.8.1 or 15.1. Instead, the 14.8.1 upgrade is only available over-the-air! In iTunes, it should have declared in BOLD, "You have a choice of upgrading to 14.8.1 or 15.1. Choose carefully because there is no way of going back." (Or, better, permit rolling it back to previous iOS.)
Click to expand...
This is an interesting point, and thanks for pointing it out. I had no idea. I normally plug-in when updating/upgrading iPad OS, but once in a blue moon happened to do it over the air last week. So chose 14.8.1. I agree, it makes no sense to restrict the choice to one method.

I have an iPad 5 that was still on the originally shipped IOS 10. Trying to avoid iPadOS 15, I checked the over the air upgrade options, and it only allowed going to 15 (same as plugged-in). Oh well. I'm guessing you have to already be somewhere on 14 to get the 14.8.1 option.
 
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Saturn007

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Jul 18, 2010
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Much appreciated all the comments! MacRumors is great for feedback, insights, and advice.

By the way, iOS 15.1 definitely has hurt my iPad Air's battery life. I, too, find the Split View 3 dots annoying and find myself inadvertently hitting it.

Come on, Apple! If I don't have Split View on, there shouldn't be any dots! They should only appear when I turn it on!
 
S

Saturn007

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Jul 18, 2010
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Cupcake, absolutely, it's convenient — if you want to use Split View!

However, in iOS 14, there was a setting for turning on and off Split View capabilities. That's what's needed. Let the users decide if they even want it and, if not, to hide the distracting three dots.

Also, I'm used to tapping the middle of a URL in Safari to copy it and, now, I’m often hitting the Split View dots instead! My aim may have been off in the past, but I didn't have to send away the Split View options with an extra tap.
 
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sparksd

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Jun 7, 2015
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Saturn007 said:
Cupcake, absolutely, it's convenient — if you want to use Split View!

However, in iOS 14, there was a setting for turning on and off Split View capabilities. That's what's needed. Let the users decide if they even want it and, if not, to hide the distracting three dots.

Also, I'm used to tapping the middle of a URL in Safari to copy it and, now, I’m often hitting the Split View dots instead! My aim may have been off in the past, but I didn't have to send away the Split View options with an extra tap.
Click to expand...

I often do the same - an option in Settings would be nice.
 
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cupcakes2000

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Apr 13, 2010
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Isn’t there still an option to turn off multitasking in settings? I don’t have my iPad with me to check
 
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