alt Hacker NewsIt's unfortunate that Apple has taught me (and I assume others as well) over the last 15 years that the best practice is to never install a major OS update.
It seems clear to me that they use OS updates as a way to eventually slow your device down so the lag becomes so annoying that you want to purchase a new device.
(Edit: And the really obnoxious part is that they force you to receive upgrade prompts every single day and you can't disable it.)
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Like my brother printer's software. It kept pestering me to apply updates, and when I did, my non-genuine cartridges stopped working. So, never update the printer's software.
> I assume others as well
Running iOS 17.6.1 on my iPhone 13 mini right now. I've got a backup iPhone 13 mini new in the box with the factory OS still installed (just in case).
I'm hoping my devices can hold out longer than Apple can remain irrational.
> It's unfortunate that Apple has taught me (and I assume others as well) over the last 15 years that the best practice is to never install a major OS update.
The sole reason I migrated from Android to Apple was to receive security upgrades for years not months. I am genuinely baffled by the take here on HN. People will (rightly) get up in arms about minor security issues across numerous domains then talk about never updating their phone. That has literally their entire life on it.
> And the really obnoxious part is that they force you to receive upgrade prompts every single day and you can't disable it
Enable iOS 18 Developer Beta and the nag screens go away.
Apple users not updating major OSes goes back to the 90s with System 7. It's a seemingly weird habit that some formed even as exposure to vulnerabilities increased.
That's a totally reasonable practice, I would say x.2 releases are mostly fine and have the rough edges polishes.
> It seems clear to me that they use OS updates as a way to eventually slow your device down
This sounds like an exaggeration of what happens after an upgrade: iOS has to re-index your entire phone for Spotlight, etc. Same thing for Photos if there have been changes.
Depending on which phone and the amount of storage, your phone can feel kind of sluggish for a while until the background indexing is done.
If you update before you go to sleep, your device will be fine in the morning.
I literally went out and bought the latest iPhone after my 4.5 years old, perfectly working iPhone 12 was forced to update to iOS 26.2 overnight, and next day was not usable anymore. It turned so slow that I went to an apple store and bought the latest.
Software that doesn't allow you to downgrade should be just as much a no-no as software that doesn't have Undo functionality.
Your theory is real but its not the main purpose, it’s a happy accident for Apple. Otherwise there’d be a class action.
Unfortunately they have other ways to deprecate your device: App Stores won't work, apps won't talk to their backend with older versions or just straight up won't launch. Even Homebrew stopped supporting my 2015 Macbook I have for personal use.