iPad Upgrade Jump by 3 Versions?

[Kallen]

Hello all. I have an iPad Air2 that is currently sitting at iOS 9.3.2. I wasn’t terribly interested in 10, and 11 was too buggy. Plus I had 2 apps that were important to me that would no longer work had I upgraded. Those apps have been replaced and now I am debating on whether I should upgrade or stay. I’m not sure how the performance will suffer, but I am also at a point where more and more apps want a newer version before I can install. I would appreciate your thoughts!

 

[aakshey]

It should be decently quick but nowhere near what you’re used to.

 

[ZEEN0j]

iPad Air 2 is a great device and should probably run iOS 12 without issues. They are optimizing for speed with this release so even older devices get a boost. I would say though that even if air 2 has a few years it's still a quick device.

Off topic: I think it's pretty amazing how some people don't update their devices. Unless you are jailbreaking then I understand. I'm the complete opposite and update the second it's released. I've never had any issues doing this (anecdotal I know).

 

[campyguy]

Air 2 owner chiming in, several in my company with either 9.3.5 or 11.4.1. I still have an iPad 3 on 9.3.5. They're all LTE via VZW. The Air 2 units on iOS 9 are used only for internal company usage with side-loaded apps, I'm going to update all of the server software they're connecting to later this year as a course of action I'd planned last year.

What I can offer is that I agree that iOS 10 and 11 pretty much crippled the Air 2 to a degree. And, I can offer that I'm pretty impressed with iOS 12 on my personal unit - all of my needed apps work, networking works and seems stable so far, and the new OS works as smoothly/speedy as 9.3.5 and it's a huge improvement over iOS 11. At this point the only bit I don't like are the new navigation swiping maneuvers - I'm not getting the hang of them yet. I will be updating the iOS 9 units when 12.1 comes out and after I get to test it - unless Apple introduces some new buggy behaviors as they've done in the past...

I'd offer last that you hold off on installing one of the Beta options, especially if you have a cellular Air 2 - there's still a bit of wonkiness in the baseband and some of Apple's promised features haven't been introduced yet. But, all of my networking apps work, my navigation apps work, my office apps work since Beta 1 - I can't say that from my past experience with any of Apple's previous Betas.

 

[Radon87000]

I can pretty much guarantee that if you upgrade from iOS 9/10 to iOS 11 or above it’s going to be crippled badly as that’s my experience on my Air 2. iOS 12 may get to iOS 10 performance level but it’s not there yet. I would hold off updating. Why ruin a perfectly good tablet?

 

[Kallen]

Thanks for the reply! Usually I do update within a day or two of a release time allowing, but there were two apps that when I updated my phone no longer worked. So I held off updating my iPad so I wouldn’t lose those apps. And I used them primarily on the iPad soooo...now tho that’s not an issue.

Off topic: I think it's pretty amazing how some people don't update their devices. Unless you are jailbreaking then I understand. I'm the complete opposite and update the second it's released. I've never had any issues doing this (anecdotal I know).

[doublepost=1531692582][/doublepost]Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate your thoughts and experience. I am glad to hear your experience is that 12 is as speedy as 9.
As mentioned, I held off originally because of apps. Once that was no longer an issue I didn’t upgrade because of the buggy/slow and crippled state of the newer OS. Thanks!

Air 2 owner chiming in, several in my company with either 9.3.5 or 11.4.1. I still have an iPad 3 on 9.3.5. They're all LTE via VZW. The Air 2 units on iOS 9 are used only for internal company usage with side-loaded apps, I'm going to update all of the server software they're connecting to later this year as a course of action I'd planned last year.

What I can offer is that I agree that iOS 10 and 11 pretty much crippled the Air 2 to a degree. And, I can offer that I'm pretty impressed with iOS 12 on my personal unit - all of my needed apps work, networking works and seems stable so far, and the new OS works as smoothly/speedy as 9.3.5 and it's a huge improvement over iOS 11. At this point the only bit I don't like are the new navigation swiping maneuvers - I'm not getting the hang of them yet. I will be updating the iOS 9 units when 12.1 comes out and after I get to test it - unless Apple introduces some new buggy behaviors as they've done in the past...

I'd offer last that you hold off on installing one of the Beta options, especially if you have a cellular Air 2 - there's still a bit of wonkiness in the baseband and some of Apple's promised features haven't been introduced yet. But, all of my networking apps work, my navigation apps work, my office apps work since Beta 1 - I can't say that from my past experience with any of Apple's previous Betas.

[doublepost=1531692886][/doublepost]When 10 came out a lot of people complained about it crippling their Air 2. By the time 11 came out I could have updated then but agreed with you on why ruin it! Lol I’ve been hearing good things about 12 tho, and now more and more apps won’t run on a 3 year old OS. That in and of itself is crippling. Getting to a point where I need to balance performance vs app availability.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you upgrade from iOS 9/10 to iOS 11 or above it’s going to be crippled badly as that’s my experience on my Air 2. iOS 12 may get to iOS 10 performance level but it’s not there yet. I would hold off updating. Why ruin a perfectly good tablet?

 

[CBR900RR]

Hello all. I have an iPad Air2 that is currently sitting at iOS 9.3.2. I wasn’t terribly interested in 10, and 11 was too buggy. Plus I had 2 apps that were important to me that would no longer work had I upgraded. Those apps have been replaced and now I am debating on whether I should upgrade or stay. I’m not sure how the performance will suffer, but I am also at a point where more and more apps want a newer version before I can install. I would appreciate your thoughts!

I am in the same boat as you on ios 9.02 jailbreak iPhone 6s plus, apps stop working properly, cannot update, outdated ios feel sluggish, and finally I give up the jailbreak and install ios 12 beta.

 

[FeliApple]

Running iOS 9 on a 9.7 iPad Pro and an iPhone 6s (my main devices). No issues at all. I wouldn't do it. App compatibility issues are awful - although I must say I am still fine on iOS 9, everything I want is still supported - but I prefer that rather than the potential alternative of decreased battery life and performance.

 

[Kallen]

I am in the same boat as you on ios 9.02 jailbreak iPhone 6s plus, apps stop working properly, cannot update, outdated ios feel sluggish, and finally I give up the jailbreak and install ios 12 beta.

You did install 12 beta? Thoughts so far?