Is it worth upgrading old devices to iOS 8? Security should not be ignored

According to the New York Times, iOS 8 has been officially released to Apple users, and all Apple devices released after 2011 can support the update. Some new features of iOS 8 are useless for older iPhones or iPads , and some smoothness will be sacrificed. So is it worthwhile for older devices to upgrade this system? The New York Times recently published an article giving some suggestions.

Do you have an older iPhone or iPad? Are you planning to upgrade to iOS 8, the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system? Are you excited about the better interface and many new features?

Keep your expectations low. Older iPhones and iPads won’t work with iOS 8 as well as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. If you upgrade your old device to iOS 8, you may find it a little slow and choppy. Like an old dog that’s no longer able to learn new tricks, it’s time to upgrade. But regardless of the choppy nature of the system, you should upgrade to iOS 8.

Upgrading an older device involves a cost-benefit question. Some of the biggest improvements in iOS 8 are great, but not necessary, such as better-designed apps, input methods with a suggestion system, and Family Sharing, which allows multiple devices to share songs and movies. This new version also brings consumers a new, more open Apple, allowing developers to bring more powerful applications to the operating system, such as support for third-party input methods and password management applications based on the Touch ID fingerprint scanning system. Of course, if you use an iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S, which does not have a fingerprint reader, that's another matter.

So what is the price to pay for the version upgrade? System performance. The oldest Apple devices supported by iOS 8 this time are the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 released in 2011. The technology website Ars Technica installed iOS 8 on the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, and found that it takes longer to start applications on these two old devices. Take the 4S as an example. After upgrading to iOS 8, it takes two seconds to open the Safari browser, which only took one second before the upgrade. On the iPad 2, it also takes one second longer to open the email application after the upgrade than before the upgrade. The difference of one second may not sound like much, but it will eventually cause users to lose a lot of precious time.

It's not just a matter of time. Ars Technica said that when iPhone 4S and iPad 2 run iOS 8, the interface instructions are not as smooth as before. Taking iPad 2 as an example, any operation involving sliding (such as sliding the screen, shrinking the application, etc.) will have a certain impact on the smoothness. Another hardware review website Anandtech conducted a test on iPad 3 (which is not the oldest device supported by iOS 8), and the results made the website sigh: "These software even give people the feeling that they are not yet finished."

These websites all give advice on upgrading older devices with caution. Ars Technica recommends that iPhone 4S users upgrade, but iPad users should skip it. Anandtech does not recommend upgrading older iPads.

But there is one important factor that cannot be ignored when considering upgrading: iOS 8 is much more secure than iOS 7. Apple said that when you enter a password on a device running iOS 8, the password will be encrypted with a key that Apple cannot access. This means that users' photos, text messages, emails, contacts, call logs and other data cannot be accessed by Apple, even if relevant departments ask Apple to provide this data. Security experts also said that Apple has also solved some important software reliability issues in iOS 8.

Of course, this does not mean that your device is completely safe and your private information will not be obtained by the government, because others can still get access to your phone or tablet through the computer you synchronize your phone or tablet data. But no matter what, this is also an important step in security and privacy protection. So my personal suggestion is to upgrade to iOS 8, even if it means sacrificing smoothness.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.