I responded to Apple’s urging of everyone to update their Apple devices to the latest version of the operating system. I want to update my wife’s iPhone 6s but am concerned that iOS15.6.1 will slow it down to much, rendering it unusable. Am I being overly pessimistic? I have had issues previously with updating old hardware with new operating systems.
Or is the risk of the old phone being exploited by evildoers small enough to not bother with the update?
I’m just updating my 7 and SE. The SE is essentially a 6s in a 5 body, will see how it goes.
My understanding is that when updating older phones with newer versions of IOS, Apple leaves out features that will be too slow or that will reduce performance to unacceptable levels.
In any case, just wait a few days and a google search should unearth the answer for this update on your 6S from others in the same situation.
Thanks, Snarl, I leave it for a week and see what turns up on Google.
Apple have released a slew of security updates. I updated two computers running Monterey with no problems. Haven’t updated my phone yet but in my searches I haven’t heard of any problems with these updates…
Updated iPhone and iPad but have to get around to the MacBook, I’m actually a bit behind of macOS updates as I haven’t been using the MacBook lately.
No prblems with my older phones thus far
I updated my XR last night with no problems…
I updated my iPhone 11, 2 iPads (Air 2 and 7th generation) as well as a Mac mini. So far everything’s working as it should 
What version of iOS is your wife currently on?
Thanks, Oldmacs; this is the critical question. I should have mentioned this at the start. It is on the original OS that came with the iPhone 6s; I think 12.xxx. I didn’t upgrade the OS because I wasn’t attuned to what was happening in the iOS world, but probably because I was just slack.
My attention was drawn to the need for the upgrade because of the serious flaw that had been discovered. So my main concern is how the phone will cope with such a big leap in the OS. I have previously had trouble with upgrades beyond the hardware’s ability, even though Apple recommends the move.
I also wonder if I need to upgrade the phone. It is not used much, only when we go out, which is not that often these days.
Thanks for everyone’s comments. This forum is a valuable help to those who are getting on a bit.
My work phone is an iPhone 6S and it’s on 15.6.1 and it’s fine. My sister has her iPhone SE on iOS 15.6.1 - she’s not complained.
I think the biggest downgrade is in battery life - take’s a bit of a hit.
The 6S on iOS 15 is nothing like the 4S on iOS 9 or the 3G on iOS 4 for example. iOS 15 on a 6S actually pretty impressive!
These videos might be helpful - but even then they’re for iOS 9 vs iOS 15 - your wife is on iOS 12 so the difference will be even less.
Only disclaimer I would add - you might run into issues with the fact that the installation on your wife’s phone isn’t a clean install, which can slow things down. I’d recommend backing the device up, doing a fresh install of iOS 15.6.1 and then restoring from the backup.
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Great! That is just the information I was after. I will look into a clean install, as per your suggestion.
Thank you very much.
My iPhone XS battery is noticably worse lately, it’s really bad.
Updating my MBP right now, I was stil on 12.4.
Maybe I’m just a bad sys admin… but my youngest lad just came to me with his iPad (5th Gen, 2017) because the Disney app wasn’t loading. At first glance I thought it wanted to update the app, but then realised no - it wants the iPad’s iOS updated to at least 15. It is currently running 14.8.1.
Of course, because Apple is Apple - I can’t do that. I MUST upgrade to 16.5, if anything.
I’ve just done a bit of reading, and see that iPhones featuring the same processor as the iPad 5gen were not supported for iOS 16… but the iPad was. Not sure why… apparently not all features are included… and apparently it’s not any slower than iOS 15…
I guess I’ll be upgrading the iOS for this iPad. And probably time to check the other kids’ iPads too…
It just really still irks me that Apple locks this down so heavily.
So - grrr Apple.
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Yep! They cut off the iPhone SE, 6S an from iOS 16, but supported the identically specced iPad 5th gen, which has to push MORE pixels. It’s not about what can run things, it’s about what Apple wants to support and what will make them the most money - not about environmental sustainability and getting the longest time out of a product. What’s worse is that the iPhone 7 and iPod Touch 7 which were also unsupported for iOS 16 have BETTER A10 processors than the A9 processor in the supported iPad 5th Gen.
Probably though their worst (in my eyes) was announcing that WatchOS 9 would be dropping support for the Apple Watch Series 3 at WWDC in June 2022, but then proceeding to keep selling the Series 3 through till September that year, and unlike devices stuck on iOS 15 (and even iOS 12) which get security updates (though very sparingly in terms of the iOS 12 devices) , Apple hasn’t bothered to patch any security flaws. So anyone who bought an Apple Watch Series 3 in 2022 now has an unsupported device without security updates that they paid a premium price for.
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I guess we should have expected this kind of thing when Tim Cook took over the reins after Steve passed. An accountant is always going to look at things differently.
I’m afraid my Apple loyalty is fading fast, and the only reason I’m hanging in, really, is because I have become dependent on the Watch and therefore also iPhone. I wonder when they will dump support for Watch 5…
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