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by ktta 3583 days ago
> fact that it's possible to revert to iOS 6 with iPhone 4S

wait, can I get some more info about this? I assumed to cannot go back to old releases. Or are you talking about jailbreaking?

> iOS works fantastically bad on old devices

that's understating it. I actually think my nokia (symbianOS) from almost decade ago is faster. And I mean it is faster even today!

2 comments

> wait, can I get some more info about this? I assumed to cannot go back to old releases. Or are you talking about jailbreaking?

You have to jailbreak current OS, then you can downgrade to iOS 6. It'll be jailbroken, but it's just enabled ssh, you can use it without installing Cydia and everything should work as normal. It could be done only with iPhone 4S or iPad 2 and only if current iOS is jailbroken (at least that was the case year ago, I was able to downgrade from iOS 8 to iOS 6 on iPhone 4S). Keyword to Google: OdysseusOTA. Officially there's indeed no way to downgrade, only using vulnerabilities.

Yeah, seriously. I've got an old iPad 2 and while I don't expect it to run like a (whatever the current iPad is called) the thing has been relegated to e-reader duty as even opening more than one tab in Safari causes it to lag and freeze up.

I've always spoken well of Apple's software update record but it comes with a nasty flipside in my experience: unlike an old x86 PC or Android device, once you update the OS, you're generally stuck. No downgrading and certainly no "slimmed down" builds or alternate OSes to breathe new life into physically intact but not-current hardware.