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Comment by jkaplowitz | Hacker News Reader

I don't like this mandatory tie between the two Apple product lines any more than you do, but as an FYI nit on terminology:

> somehow thought any up-to-date iOS device would work. [...] Got the newest iPad?

iOS 12 was the last version of iOS where that name applied to iPad as well as iPhone. Starting with version 13, the version of the operating system for iPhone had been the only one called iOS, with the iPad OS called iPadOS.

So, yes, I suspect that any up to date iOS device does work, through the magic of terminology peculiarities, unless currently supported Apple Watches don't support all currently supported iPhones (I haven't checked if that is the case).

As for the operating system for Apple Watch, that has always been called watchOS.

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This feels like an Apple problem - their iOS variants being unified is a reasonable expectation from consumers and, additionally, the fact that they EoL devices so aggressively means that unless you're a cutting edge Apple follower a lot of their tech simply doesn't work together.

If Apple wants to sit there and say "Welp, buy the latest iPhone" they're free to do that - but the fact that there is user confusion is completely on them for making their products so inter-incompatible.

This almost reads like a parody of Apple fanboy logic. Allow me to summarize your comment:

"Well, ACKCHTUALLY, on the iPad, it's called iPadOS. Checkmate, all your points are therefore invalid, Apple can do no wrong"

They said it was a nitpick and your tone is really unnecessary. Please think about what kind of conversations you want to have here.

I believe the original comment was edited; I don’t think it had that disclaimer at the time I wrote my comment.

I do often edit my comments to improve wording, but I think in this case I had the disclaimer right in the first draft. I could be misremembering. I am certainly no fan of this product tie between Apple Watch and iPhone.

Lmao how is this nuance related to the point he made at all?

There's not much nuance to "iPad doesn't run on iOS, it runs on iPadOS". You need an iOS device to setup an iWatch. The nuance only applies to how that came to be, historically and strategically.

The above doesn't constitute support for Apple's policies.

They're not making excuses for it— just clarifying why/how easy it can be to misunderstand the marketing material that led to that mistake.

I belive everyone entering an Apple store should complete a test on their insight into Apple nomenclature and product history. Those who fail should f*ck off!

I've been an Apple customer for a decade and have had a number of iPads and this is the first time I've heard this.

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