apps are starting not to work and I’m looking at my options. I’m hesitant upgrading my iPhone 11 past ios14 where I am now.
Has anyone had success upgrading old iPhone past ios14?
- Edited
I have an old iPad Pro 11" from 2017. It's running 14.6. The device is very comfortable on this version. I'm also afraid to install updates, and I'm curious if anyone has had a positive experience updating devices with IPS screens.
My iphone SE (2nd gen) is good all the way through iOS 17. (good == not perfect but very tolerable)
iOS 18 however felt really off, so I've reverted to 17.7.
I’ve experienced the exact same issue with iOS 18. Everything was fine up until 17.7, but iOS 18 gives me severe eye strain. It seems like something in the graphics subsystem changed - possibly dithering was enabled in this update, not sure. I'm using an iPhone 12 Pro and a 13 mini, but I had to downgrade both back to 17.7 to avoid the discomfort.
6 days later
I posted a summary of what works for me a few months ago:
Reposting the chart here below. Something seems to have changed in one of the updates between iOS 16.1.1 and 16.3 (haven't been able to find devices to test on the versions in between those). There also seems to be an issue for very old devices that can't support higher iOS versions but still can get updates for sub-versions. (for example I have an iPhone 7 that was perfect for years. It can't go past iOS 15 but I let it install an update this February (to iOS 15.8.1) and it became unusable. I really wish we could fine somebody at Apple who understands what changed or how the rendering is different. It gives me some hope that a software update did this rather than hardware. Visually I can't see any differences between the screens. But good ones I can use indefinitely and bad ones give me symptoms pretty quickly (though not "quite" as fast as OLED Apple devices which give me symptoms immediately)
Bad Devices - (Cause Immediate Symptoms)
| iOS Version | |
|---|---|
| iPad 6th Gen | 16.3.1 |
| iPad Pro 1st Gen (9.7 inch) | 16.6.1 |
| iPad 9th Gen | 17.0.1 |
| iPhone 7 | 15.8.1 |
| iPhone SE 2020 Generation | 16.3 |
Good Devices - (No Symptoms and can use indefinitely)
| iOS Version | |
|---|---|
| iPhone SE 2022 | 16.1.1 |
| iPhone SE 2020 | 15.4 |
| iPhone SE 2020 | 13.7 |
| iPad Pro 1st Gen (9.7 inch) | 15.4 |
| iPhone 7 | 13.5.1 |
| iPhone 6 | 11.0.3 |
I have a 6S 32GB space gray that is at 15.8.3 and it’s ok for me. It’s pretty slow and limited by 2GB of RAM and some apps are no longer supporting iOS 15. But no eye strain.
I did notice some of the minor updates to iOS 15 (maybe in the 15.6.x range) caused issues for me, but then subsequent updates reverted to graphics that were OK again. It’s pretty weird.
I guess I’m stuck on 14 forever then. My iPad and iPhone are both on this version. I miss having a working banking app heh. I’m super disappointed in Apple for making these changes with no notice, update log, or anything to that effect.
I wish the iPhone SE came in a larger size. I tried it in store and it was surprisingly frustrating to use.
AgentX20 My SE 2 is entirely unusable on iOS 17.2.1, even worse than OLED iPhones
4 months later
DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs I noticed this too and was hoping it wasn't just in my head. I have devices on very old IOS operating systems that I can use daily. I even have the exact same device on a newer operating system and the feeling is night and day. I don't know what Apple did with the drivers for the display, but it makes me feel terrible. One thing I always come back to is how they handle colors. I wish I could prove that during the 14.x IOS period, the color gamut wasn't as wide as it is now. My thought is that the amount of temporal dithering happening now is much higher as compared to earlier IOS versions.
I found this on Apple own developer site:
When working with the Display P3 color profile you have the opportunity to also use a larger color depth. 16 bit per channel instead of the usual 8.
if they are dithering to obtain 16 bit color, This would almost certainly explain why I feel like im on a rollercoaster going 300 mph.
- Edited
Clokwork the color gamut wasn't as wide as it is now. My thought is that the amount of temporal dithering happening now is much higher as compared to earlier IOS versions
FYI, dithering is for increasing the "color depth" (the amount and "precision" of in-between shades of grey between black and white, for artificially decreasing banding and the "stepped" look of gradients)
dithering isn't supposed to increase the "color gamut" (how vibrant a color is). this is a common misconception on this forum
e.g. 10-bit compared to 8-bit leads to more precise shades of gray and gradients. but not more vibrant or brighter colors
this makes me think that the change is not necessarily dithering, rather another change in what post-processing is used in the display pipeline which makes colors and lines seem way more intense
(such as possibly really aggressive sharpness or adaptive contrast enhancement.
or, maybe some sort of strange color processing that is more complicated, for example reminiscent of the tactics described in Samsung's "depth perception enhancement based on chromosteroposis" research paper, or the "Chromablur: rendering chromatic eye aberration improves accommodation and realism" research paper)
DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs e.g. 10-bit compared to 8-bit leads to more precise shades of gray and gradients. but not more vibrant or brighter colors
the bit difference isn't only in the grays though. it adds the perception of more colors by flickering between at least two other colors that can give the appearance of another color.