I love my iPod touch so much I bought a second one new when they were discontinued to have as a backup. But I think I made a mistake not setting it up sooner. I think iPod touches are basically completely dead. It seems like every app requires iOS16, so I dont think I can download apps to it.
I have an old iPad mini and my current iPod touch both are on 15.x, the last version supported. I had to remove them from my Apple ID to setup the Advanced Security because apple requires all devices be on 16 or higher. So I created a new dummy AppleID for each of those devices.
It seems like I just won’t be able to set up the new iPod, right? Is it junk except to use Apple’s built in apps? I’m guessing I might be able to clone my current iPod that has apps, into the new iPod but there might be authentication issues.
On my old iPod, all of the apps were “purchased” (Even free ones) on my main AppleID. So I can’t update any of the apps, it says they are owned by a different AppleID than the one on the iPod.
Maybe the solution is to disable the Advanced Protections mode, so I can put my main Apple ID on the new iPod, and maybe the App Store will let me download the most recent version of the apps I already own, that are supported by 15.x? But I assume the App Store just tell me “sorry you can’t download the apps you already bought that used to be supported on your iPod but are not supported anymore”?
I dont know because none of my iOS15 devices are on my AppleID anymore. In order to enabled the advanced security iCloud protection, I was forced to remove them from my account.
In order to test it, I would need to disable the advanced protection and re-add those devices to my main AppleID.
I confirmed on several apps that their current listing says iOS16 required, and Overcast is even saying “now requires iOS17” as of the latest update. So I’m not sure if Apple keeps older app versions around on their App Store to be re-downloaded as needed to older devices that dont support the latest OS.
Developers like Marco Arment (Overcast) want to adopt the latest features sometimes and often that means requiring the latest Operating Systems as the API doesn’t exist in earlier OS’
There’s the catch. Apple’s hardware may last you years but the software will force you to remove old devices making them essentially useless. It makes you realise that all your devices need the Apple eco system. And are increasingly having limited life spans, as more and more apps only support newer software operating systems.
I’ve wanted to write a long rant about this for awhile now. I ran into a similar issue when I gave my father my old iMac. I tried to install Pages from the App Store, but it wouldn’t let me since the iMac was stuck on an older version of MacOS (and no option to install an older version of Pages).
Every time I hear MacSparky say on a podcast that newer Apple hardware will last a really long time, I want to yell back “Yeah, but what good is it if the software won’t!”
Unless you repurpose them into using other operating systems. Not sure if it’s possible with iOS devices but old Macs can have a long and useful lifespan as Linux boxes. We have at least 6 maybe more old macs and mac laptops that are now running some sort of Linux distribution. They are my husband’s machines. We take on the old dead Mac HW from friends, sometimes really dead then hubby repairs it, sometimes just replaced and the original owners don’t want to try to recycle it as there is no place locally that takes old computer gear without charging an arm and a leg.
I know there is an active group working on the Apple silicon devices to try to enable them to run Linux as well.
UPDATE: You can run Android on old iOS devices YMMV I just googled it.
I’ve been saying for a while that the rapidly falling resale values of late Intel Macs is a great opportunity for those who want to run Linux on really nice hardware.
Thanks for adding the Android on iPhones links. There don’t seem to be any installation instructions, and I’m guessing that it isn’t practical (yet?) in the way installing Linux on an Intel Mac or a Windows box is. Maybe this will develop further, but Apple hardware is a moving target. The device they seem to be the farthest along on is the iPhone 7.
Even flashing an alternative ROM on an Android device can be a challenge if the bootloader is locked, and I assume that iPhones and iPads are extremely locked down in all sorts of ways.
This is a very small sample size, but: I use an old iPad mini for reading. I’m not sure what gen it is, but it’s stuck on iOS 12.5.7. Books, News, and Hoopla (library app for comic books) all work like a charm, still. So I’ve been very happy with that backward compatibility support.
UntlI just recently, I’ve been using an old first gen iPad Air (running iOS 12.5.7) for ebook reading and a little web surfing. But it is SLOW. And the last few times I’ve tried to bring up the Mac Power Users forum, it says my Safari browser is too old. So, I’ve retired it to the shelf.
This is the real issue. An old system can continue to run for many years so long as the old software continues to meet your needs. However, once you connect to the outside world, you run into problems as security protocols change. Older software cannot make secure connections to modern services as that old software doesn’t know about the newer protocols. And secure services quickly abandon older protocols as new ones become available. They need to to stay secure. Vulnerabilities are found in the old protocols, or perhaps in the implementations of those protocols. Therefore, the services are regularly upgraded to maintain their security, which cuts off older software. Eventually, you can either only connect to completely unsecured remote services from your old device or the device needs to become a disconnected island unto itself.
This is why I happily buy closer to the entry level end of the device spectrum. I’ll happily replace a MacBook Air when it loses software support but I’d be more annoyed if I’d spent twice the price on a pro and it became just as much of a paperweight.