iPad Pro When do iPads die?

[shadow puppet]

For the most part, I find iPads become obsolete in terms of performance/app support before hardware issues crop up.

I agree. My iPad Air 1st gen is still running.

I use it for my EOD in bed surf of the web, email, book reading and Instagram. But many apps (ie: streaming apps), no longer work due to the ancient iOS. Part of me dreams of buying a new one. while the other part hates contributing to landfills so I keep using it.

 

[cola79]

I still use my 12.9” iPad Pro (2015) every day but I think it’s on its last legs. The battery is down to just 5 hours of screen time between charges, the screen has a few splotches, things are generally a bit wobbly… Does anyone have experience with iPads that are long in the tooth?

Mostly it depends on the battery. My mother used her iPad Air 2 until beginning of this year and only had to buy a new one because her battery was swollen and broke up the case. This is dangerous and can cause a fire. But besides this, it only was slower than some years ago, but anything still worked, she could browse, do banking and so on..

I would change an iPad if it doesn't get os a d security updates anymore, if those are needed. If that isn't that much important i would use an ipad as long as it works, because you don't get truly necessary feature updates anymore. The basic things are the same since almost a decade now. That's why most apple users use their devices for years, there isn't any one more thing you could expect to come in the future.

 

[FeliApple]

I agree. My iPad Air 1st gen is still running.

I use it for my EOD in bed surf of the web, email, book reading and Instagram. But many apps (ie: streaming apps), no longer work due to the ancient iOS. Part of me dreams of buying a new one. while the other part hates contributing to landfills so I keep using it.

Which streaming apps don’t work? I have a 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 and many work.

 

[FeliApple]

For the most part, I find iPads become obsolete in terms of performance/app support before hardware issues crop up.

I think this is the key. Because regardless of what you do, one of these issues will eventually crop up. Stay behind on your iOS versions and you won’t have performance or battery life issues, but compatibility may eventually become an issue (Safari, apps that require the latest version, some streaming apps, new apps are outright incompatible because they’re newer, etc). Unless you are an extremely light user with static requirements, there’s always something that won’t work.

In my case, it’s mostly Safari issues on iOS 12. Not too bad.

But the worst part is that after enough time has elapsed, update as far as it can go and you have both: performance and battery life issues due to the sheer number of iOS updates, AND lack of compatibility because you’re far behind. Yes, this takes a while, especially as the support lifespan increases, but it happens. The best example now, as others have mentioned, is probably the Air 1.

 

[shadow puppet]

Which streaming apps don’t work? I have a 9.7-inch iPad Pro on iOS 12 and many work.

So far, Max (requires iOS 14 or later), Peacock & Hulu (requires 13.4 iOS or later).

 

[darngooddesign]

So far, Max (requires iOS 14 or later), Peacock & Hulu (requires 13.4 iOS or later).

Just use the browser then.

 

[shadow puppet]

Just use the browser then.

Tried but no joy.

The Hulu deal is odd since Disney+ works. Go figure.

 

[FeliApple]

So far, Max (requires iOS 14 or later), Peacock & Hulu (requires 13.4 iOS or later).

And older versions of these apps don’t work?

 

[ignatius345]

We keep an iPad Mini 4 around for recipes and for the kid to watch videos on in the car. It's incredibly slow, but it does still work and keeps a few hours' charge. I forget when I bought it, but it was quite a while ago -- so long, in fact, that I had to replace the smart cover because it was starting to delaminate. And yet the iPad still chugs on somehow.

 

[ignatius345]

My nearly 7-year-old 9.7-inch iPad Pro works flawlessly for content consumption, and it runs iOS 12, flawlessly

This was my mistake with my Mini 4: blindly updating it every time it prompted me. I forget which one murdered it, but it used to be quite responsive and zippy at one time.

 

[shadow puppet]

And older versions of these apps don’t work?

Sadly, no.

 

[FeliApple]

This was my mistake with my Mini 4: blindly updating it every time it prompted me. I forget which one murdered it, but it used to be quite responsive and zippy at one time.

That’s a lesson I learned years ago. It would be on iOS 9, but Apple forced it into iOS 12.

I upgraded to the iPad Air 5, and it runs iPadOS 15: you can be sure that it’ll stay there. My iPhone is the iPhone Xʀ, and it runs iOS 12, of course.

 

[FeliApple]

Sadly, no.

Yeah, sometimes it isn’t even Apple who makes devices obsolete: in fact, I’d argue Apple is quite good, as iMessage still works on iOS 5. App developers on the other hand are sometimes abhorrent, unsupporting perhaps almost every iOS version but the last two.

 

[darngooddesign]

That’s a lesson I learned years ago. It would be on iOS 9, but Apple forced it into iOS 12.

I upgraded to the iPad Air 5, and it runs iPadOS 15: you can be sure that it’ll stay there. My iPhone is the iPhone Xʀ, and it runs iOS 12, of course.

Yeah they fixed the last SplitScreen annoyance with iPadOS15, adding apps not in the dock, so thats a good one to stay on.

 

[alien3dx]

My iPad mini 6 die of screen, my iPad mini 5 also get some weird line issue but seem after long time not used seem okay back.

So as conclusion , the more thinner iPad the more dangerous and easy to hold . So my new iPad 10th gen using hard case Logitech with the keyboard(no trackpad) .

 

[Pezimak]

Moved my and my Mums iPad Pro 9.7” 32GB models on to my nephew and sister, still working fine, I just upgraded my mothers and my own iPads. It’ll take a lot to kill them really. Especially the new ones, one is an M1 and my mums an M2, on mine I have 2 games, You Tube, Safari, security camera, Reddit and Pages apps currently running and no reloads switching between them. Plus two weather widgets and email widget on the Home Screen.

 

[Digitalguy]

This was my mistake with my Mini 4: blindly updating it every time it prompted me. I forget which one murdered it, but it used to be quite responsive and zippy at one time.

It was iPadOS 14. Until 13 mine was doing fine and was very usable. 14 made virtually as bad as my mini 2 on IOS 10... I don't know if it's RAM or CPU, as I left my 9.7 pro with the same RAM on 13.4 while my 2015 pro on iPadOS 14 was doing fine before I sold it (but it had 4GB RAM and a faster CPU than the mini...)

 

[Andeddu]

My iPad Mini 4 (Silver) has been in daily use since I purchased it when it was released by Apple back in September 2015. I have never had any issues with it and it is probably the most reliable piece of tech I have ever owned. It is currently on the latest version of iOS 15 and is compatible with all of my apps. I tend to use it for light web browsing, Apple Music, podcasts and video streaming on YouTube and other steaming apps.

 

[shadow puppet]

Both Best Buy and Amazon are currently offering iPad Air/5th Gen/WiFi/64GB for $499 ($100 off). Best Buy is only until tomorrow. Not sure about Amazon. I shouldn't even be considering this but I am getting seriously tempted. Especially with the finance offers. #SendHelpLOL 🥴

 

[shadow puppet]

Both Best Buy and Amazon are currently offering iPad Air/5th Gen/WiFi/64GB for $499 ($100 off). Best Buy is only until tomorrow. Not sure about Amazon. I shouldn't even be considering this but I am getting seriously tempted. Especially with the finance offers. #SendHelpLOL 🥴

NM. Just pulled the trigger & picking up at BB today. Purple iPad Air 5th gen, here I come.
Came with free ATV+, Apple Music and News too. 😎

 

[Mark Holmes]

When the battery dies.
Apple really needs to rethink the design to make it at least possible to have Apple replace the battery. I had to fight Apple for days last year to honor their stated "battery replacement" policy, when they finally got tired of me and gave me one of the last original 9.7 iPad Pros to replace my original 9.7 iPad Pro. The battery on it got to where it would die within about 45 minutes. You could sit and watch the numbers drop, second by second.
Despite that, they fought me on it saying the "battery health" still indicated it to be useable. The replacement unit eventually ended up with my mother-in-law who loves that thing (it's got a fast enough processor that it still runs great with the latest iPad OS). I did eventually end up with an M1 iPad Pro, which I also love and use daily.
But given the speed of the most recent devices, I can see them outlasting their batteries. A device as capable (and expensive) as these should not be disposable. Not ethical, from a business or environmental standpoint, imho.

 

[rui no onna]

When the battery dies.
Apple really needs to rethink the design to make it at least possible to have Apple replace the battery. I had to fight Apple for days last year to honor their stated "battery replacement" policy, when they finally got tired of me and gave me one of the last original 9.7 iPad Pros to replace my original 9.7 iPad Pro. The battery on it got to where it would die within about 45 minutes. You could sit and watch the numbers drop, second by second.
Despite that, they fought me on it saying the "battery health" still indicated it to be useable. The replacement unit eventually ended up with my mother-in-law who loves that thing (it's got a fast enough processor that it still runs great with the latest iPad OS). I did eventually end up with an M1 iPad Pro, which I also love and use daily.
But given the speed of the most recent devices, I can see them outlasting their batteries. A device as capable (and expensive) as these should not be disposable. Not ethical, from a business or environmental standpoint, imho.

Lol, my grandma’s iPad mini was even worse. She couldn’t use it unless plugged in to power. It would die instantly if unplugged.

 

[subjonas]

If the battery life is short because of poor battery health, a battery replacement is usually the most efficient solution. But if the poor battery life is not because of poor battery health, or you can’t replace the battery for some reason, or if those other non-fixable issues are the main issues for you, then you may just want to retire the device (sell, give away, repurpose, etc—or recycle if it’s really unusable).

For me, my general rule is I retire a device when it is no longer able to do what I need it to do—basically either when the hardware breaks and is unrepairable, or a critical app or service loses support and is unviable—or when a newer device is released that has an exclusive feature that I believe will help me significantly enough to warrant an upgrade.

 

[FeliApple]

When the battery dies.
Apple really needs to rethink the design to make it at least possible to have Apple replace the battery. I had to fight Apple for days last year to honor their stated "battery replacement" policy, when they finally got tired of me and gave me one of the last original 9.7 iPad Pros to replace my original 9.7 iPad Pro. The battery on it got to where it would die within about 45 minutes. You could sit and watch the numbers drop, second by second.
Despite that, they fought me on it saying the "battery health" still indicated it to be useable. The replacement unit eventually ended up with my mother-in-law who loves that thing (it's got a fast enough processor that it still runs great with the latest iPad OS). I did eventually end up with an M1 iPad Pro, which I also love and use daily.
But given the speed of the most recent devices, I can see them outlasting their batteries. A device as capable (and expensive) as these should not be disposable. Not ethical, from a business or environmental standpoint, imho.

I do apologize for being repetitive, but I can’t help but think about this possibility.

I’ve never something like that myself, and my experience with iPads and battery life is that it’s extremely stable even years after purchase. Like I’ve often said, I have a nearly 7-year-old 9.7-inch iPad Pro running iOS 12 (so, the same model). Battery life only dropped from 14 hours of screen-on time to about 10-11 after Apple forced it from iOS 9, almost 4 years ago. It never dropped again, and I can consistently get 10-11 hours of light use today.

Saying that iPadOS 16 is to blame would be nothing new (and the right answer here), but what I’m curious about is whether software alone could fix the issue. My experience with severely degraded batteries and original (or early enough) iOS versions is great. I have an iPhone 6s (similar processor to this iPad) on iOS 10 with the original battery and it works almost like-new.

I’m curious about this: would a downgrade to iOS 10 (if it were at all possible) fix the issue? For this iPad to get 45 minutes it must be severely degraded, even on iPadOS 16, no doubt about that, but would a downgrade “magically” resolve the issue? Honestly, I’d love to try.

Do you know what was its battery health (on Coconut battery) and cycle count before the replacement?

 

[Mark Holmes]

If the battery life is short because of poor battery health, a battery replacement is usually the most efficient solution. But if the poor battery life is not because of poor battery health, or you can’t replace the battery for some reason, or if those other non-fixable issues are the main issues for you, then you may just want to retire the device (sell, give away, repurpose, etc—or recycle if it’s really unusable).

For me, my general rule is I retire a device when it is no longer able to do what I need it to do—basically either when the hardware breaks and is unrepairable, or a critical app or service loses support and is unviable—or when a newer device is released that has an exclusive feature that I believe will help me significantly enough to warrant an upgrade.

Ah, yes, but battery replacements aren't actually possible, due to the device being glued together in manufacturing.