Upgrading is dangerous because of the chance of heart attack considering all the bugs and heartache you’re likely to encounter.
IMHO people shouldn’t be coerced into updating any more than Apple should be coerced into making their software run reliably when they release it. If they don’t care to make sure it’s ready for prime time (note: users are not beta testers, they are paying customers), then obviously the threat can’t be that serious, right? ;)
What I’m getting at is that this essentially is a self-fullfilling prophecy and it works in Apple’s favor as long as people play their game by their rules. If a more considerable portion of iOS users were on older iOS versions, Apple could not afford to patch security issues only on the very latest. Sure they’d try, but then there would be some major hack, and publicity would be so bad they’d either lose market share or smarten up.
Actually I do use original versions of iOS because the hardware was designed specifically for that iOS. Like the iPod Touch 4th generation, works wonderfully using iOS 6. It is a lot more fun than my iPhone SE and has some of The Old Jobs Magic that keeps you in its spell.
Another thing is I avoid using Safari and use a combo of Chrome and Firefox to keep my iOS devices more secure.
It would take me a very long time to go over all the iOS security documentation to check on this, but I don’t recall iOS Safari to have been a major source of vulnerabilities over the years since iOS 6. iOS sandboxing prevents most all app, including browsers, threat vectors from being effective.
Do the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox still support iOS 6? I can’t tell from checks at the iOS AppStore.
Good point. I will have to check. I use the 4th generation iPod Touch for field recording, time-lapse video, and as a cell phone using Skype and WiFi occasionally. Oh yeah, I also use the alarm and timer features and the DB meter. Most of the online stuff I do with my mid-2012 MacBook Pro and sometimes the iPhone 6 SE. I avoid using Safari because it is inferior to Firefox, Chrome and Opera.
I am a musician, producer, audio engineer, photographer and sometimes blogger. I use legacy versions of Apple Apps for recording musicians playing real instruments and have little use for beats and loops. I am pretty sure that all this new stuff is a moneymaker for Apple. I can’t blame the greedy people in charge, but I prefer the legacy Apple devices and applications.
That was a bit long winded response and I suppose I am an outlier of sorts, but I buy things that are finished products. When one of my computers has what I like on it, I have learned to back it up, clone the HD, and if the latest greatest update is a bunch of features that mean more keystrokes, taps and time away from creating, I just put the old HD back in and avoid that update on my other devices.
A lot of people would argue that you don’t buy finished products, that the first release is the last beta test (maybe not even that). For anything software-based, especially that uses the Internet, it’s never really “finished.”
Folks, if you don’t want to upgrade, don’t. No one is forcing you to do so. You can still use your original Mac 128K with MacPaint and MacWrite all you want.
But please stop suggesting here that it’s a real solution for anyone else because it’s not. TidBITS covers the technology industry, and everything moves forward at all times. Chips get faster, software takes advantage of the speed, new devices rely on having the latest software, security vulnerabilities are found and fixed, networking technologies come and go, and Web sites cease to be viewable by old browsers.
And you know what? That’s the point! The change is fun, and the new possibilities are exciting. I’m looking forward to seeing what Apple announces today, and I’m enjoying using the new features in iOS 12 and Mojave and watchOS 5. If that’s not true for you, fine, but then you should ignore all the new stuff and stop being a downer here.
TidBITS exists to cover the technology industry, so we’re always going to be looking at what’s new. We’ll always say what we think is good and bad, and we’ll do our best to help those who are joining us on the exploration.
Upgrading is dangerous because of the chance of heart attack considering all the bugs and heartache you’re likely to encounter.
I think it’s more likely that people who do not upgrade will immediately die from a fatal heart attack when they learn that their savings and investment accounts get hacked, records are compromised, identities stolen, etc.
IMHO people shouldn’t be coerced into updating any more than Apple should be coerced into making their software run reliably when they release it. If they don’t care to make sure it’s ready for prime time (note: users are not beta testers, they are paying customers), then obviously the threat can’t be that serious, right? ;)
I’m happy Apple has a good record of trying to stay ahead of vulnerabilities. I can’t help but remember the days when MS Office PC users from individual accounts through many of the world’s largest companies were severely affected, with entire networks shut down for days and even weeks, due to viruses. I’ve also heard that one of the many reasons Windows has traditionally been more affected than Macs is that few users upgrade their software.
There were two big reasons why Windows stopped charging for upgrades. The first is that Apple had been updating frequently for security reasons and began giving the upgrades for free. The second is that windows users weren’t upgrading. Windows users do upgrade a
You are very fortunate to be able to afford upgrading to every new revision of a device as soon as it comes out. However, many others are not. It’s easy to say “forget them!”, but I don’t think that’s what this community should do.
You are very fortunate to be able to afford upgrading to every new revision of a device as soon as it comes out. However, many others are not. It’s easy to say “forget them!”, but I don’t think that’s what this community should do.
I don’t think this community ever has "forgotten those with older Apple stuff as well as second and third party products. Many members, including me, who are still using ancient devices (a 13 year old MB Pro, 5 year old iPad; I traded in my iPhone 4s for an 8+ last year) gets answers from the very helpful TidBITS Talkers and authors regularly. I’ve been a Talker since this was started, and members have always jumped in when and if they can. I don’t think I’d be still chugging along with my ancient stuff if it wasn’t for the help I’ve gotten here.
IMHO, Adam’s post was excellent. TidBITS is a news publication, and people subscribe to it to find out about the latest developments in the Apple universe. Adam very generously makes subscriptions, this list, and archives available for free for people who cannot afford, or who don’t want, to pay for membership.
My thanks to the TidBITS staff, readers, and list members.
Skip iOS 12 if you want, but I think that’s foolish. The performance increase is tremendous and will give new life to older devices. It’d be like skipping Snow Leopard and sticking with Leopard.
shastaphil:
I buy things that are finished products
A lot of people would argue that you don’t buy finished products, that the first release is the last beta test (maybe not even that). For anything software-based, especially that uses the Internet, it’s never really “finished.”
I find it very reassuring that Apple is very focused on security, improving user experiences and making devices run faster and better and continue to play nicely with one another.
On the other hand, Android software is usually customized by the device manufacturers. The manufacturers have the responsibility for customizing OS updates. Because they make lower profit margin hardware, they are often reluctant to do so. I could be wrong about this, but I remember reading that many Android phones don’t get OS updates for more than two years or so, and one of the reasons is that there are so many different chips out there in so many thousands and thousands of Android models.
I am still running iTunes 12.6.3.6 on one of my Macs so I can still manage apps (including discontinued ones but not 32-bit) and ringtones on my iOS devices. I hope that this still works with iOS 12. Apple released iTunes 12.6.3 to appease the corporations who wish to manage apps on multiple devices so I guess it will still work.
Update: I just discovered that Shazam no longer updates via iTunes (it reports a URL error). If this is intentional it may happen with other apps.
Thanks Al. That support page encourages corporations to switch to Volume Purchase Programs or Apple Configurator on Mac to manage iOS apps so I guess 12.6 is on life-support!
Also the installation notes say “This update adds support for syncing devices with iOS 11” - no mention of iOS12.
This has so far been my understanding as well. I look forward to hearing reports from people using iOS 12 on older devices like my iPhone 6. I don’t doubt the performance increase, but I am curious how significant it is and of course how stable the release is overall. I’m sure TidBITS will be reporting on those aspects.
I was seeing this (an error about a bad URL when updating in iTunes) with 3 apps, Shazam, Microsoft Word, and Ethos (a cryptocurrency wallet). I went searching and found the 12.6.5 update Al posted a link to and installed it, and that fixed Shazam and Microsoft Word, but I still get the same error with Ethos, so they fixed some things, but not everything. I only use Ethos on my iPad, so it’s probably better to update it directly there anyways, except now I have to respond to an error message every time I do an update in iTunes, and remember to update two places.
It’s true. Even with Google’s own phones, the Nexus and Pixel, they only guarantee version updates for 2 years (3 years for certain models) from the date of first release! So if Apple was handling OS updates like Google, instead of making iOS 12 run even better on the 5s from 2013 (as Josh said), they might not even make it work, period, on the iPhone 7 or SE.
There is point to be made that a product still does what you wanted when you bought it so free feature updates aren’t an entitlement. However, even security updates for Google’s own phones are cut off after 3 years from release date or 18 months after they’re discontinued, whichever is longer.
If you want arguably better than that, look at the phones on the Android Enterprise Recommended “Rugged” list. It still might take them 3 months to make a security available but they’ll keep delivering security updates for 5 years after the product’s launch; 5 years seems like good length of time for a phone though one would probably start counting from the date of purchase, not product release and as phones get more expensive, it’s natural to expect a longer period of use. I think Apple has had some products that stopped being updatable after 5 years.
OMG, I’ll bet ad agencies around the world are talking about Nexus vs. Xcess. They might be thinking about hiring the Mac vs. PC guys and talking to lawyers about how to get around any non competes in their contracts.
shastaphil: