Apple is making the bold and controversial move to discontinue their services on devices with older software. This will of course affect those that are no longer updatable. Phones like the iPhone 6 will finally be truly obsolete by the company.
According to Macrumors, Apple is currently notifying users through push notifications, encouraging them to update their device to a newer software version. In a support document from last month, the company states that certain older software versions will no longer support Apple services such as Siri, Maps, and the App Store.
To continue using these services, users must update their software to the latest version available. Although Apple did not clarify the reason behind the discontinuation of services with older software versions. The move is expected to impact a small percentage of users. As of mid-February, only 8% of active iPhones are running iOS 14 or older.
The internet reacts to Apple discontinuing their services on older software
Why those particular versions. Oh yeah, because they suck. iOS 11 was the worst.
— Colin Steinberg (@ColinSteinberg) April 5, 2023
The post did gain a small amount of traction, over 70,000 views regarding the situation. One user claims that the software that was before iOS 14 is not as efficient as iOS16. Furthermore, there are a number of legitimate reasons why Apple is requesting their users to upgrade their software. One of them is security.
https://twitter.com/lyeuhm/status/1643508538029883393?s=20
A Twitter user shares their concern towards this move done by Apple as they claim it can potentially harm businesses. The user speculates that in the future, this might even affect the cloud usage. However, another user insists that iCloud will still be safe on older devices.
Rumor: Apple to drop support for iPhone 10, 8 and 8 Plus
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Furthermore, there are rumours that Apple may be dropping support for the iPhone X this year. Many are hoping that this is just a false rumour but judging their track record, it can be a possibility. Moreover, it is still quite impressive that a 6 year old phone can still run modern software.
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Criticisms towards the iPhone 14 for being lacklustre is also a popular opinion among Apple users. They state that nowadays, iPhones will last longer than they ever did. This is due to the better hardware and software that are in the newer iPhones. 10 years ago, an iPhone’s lifespan was significantly shorter than what it is today.