iOS 14.8 was released on 13 September 2021
iOS 15.0 was released on 20 September 2021
iOS 15.7 was released on 12 September 2022
iOS 16.0 was released on 12 September 2022
iOS 16.6.1 was released on 7 September 2023
iOS 16.7 was released on 21 September 2023
iOS 17.0 was released on 18 September 2023
I was able to download an IPSW of iOS 16.7 for iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max even though it is only made available for A11 Bionic devices not eligible/compatible with iOS 17 upgrade... As much as I want to switch to smaller devices, I am hesitant to do that since the next device might be already on iOS 17
Good to know, but unfortunately I was unavailable to find an IPSW for my iPhone SE3 and my M2 iPad Pro, so I got stuck on iOS 16.6.1 on all my devices.
Which, by the way, works wonderfully: pretty stable, fast, snappy, and outstanding battery life (I usually get between 7 and 8 hours of SOT on my SE3 despite its smaller battery).
So, yeah, I’ll probably wait until 17.6 or 17.7 if I’m able to find the IPSW of the latest. Unless 17.5 turns out to be a great release in those regards (bugs and battery life).
Also, now I’m appreciating even more my iPhone SE3, as it will likely be the last iPhone made with an LCD display, comfortable with my eyes, and at a compact, robust size that allows me to handle it easily with just one hand, and withstands falls without even a scratch. So ruining it by installing a flawed version of iOS isn’t among my plans, honestly.
Now, what I’m really thinking about, is if I should update my M2 iPad Pro even if I don’t update my iPhone. I usually update all my devices at once, iPhone, iPad and Mac, to the same generational software to maximize interoperability. On the Mac, given that I’m stuck with Monterey, I only update Safari to the equivalent to the iOS/iPadOS I’m running on other devices. That way, I’m currently at 16.6.1 on my iOS/iPadOS devices, and running Safari 16 on Monterey. I’m afraid that if I update to Safari 17 on Monterey and I’m still on iOS 16.6.1 on my other devices, the new
profiles feature could cause troubles.
On the other hand, I really want to update my M2 iPad Pro to iPadOS 17 because of the much improved stage manager, and hoping some bugs on the external display experience to be finally fixed and have a more polished experience.
But I’m not sure if having an iPad on 17.4, an iPhone on 16.6.1 and a Mac with Monterey with Safari 16 is a good idea.
If anyone is using this combination of devices and software please let me know!