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Comment by CharlesW | Hacker News Reader

An interesting bit (to me) on iPhone updates vs. iPad updates. I wonder why?

"…iOS 15 was installed on 72% of all iOS devices introduced in the last four years when Apple revealed the data for the first time last year. This means that iOS 16 adoption is outpacing iOS 15 adoption."

"On the iPad side of things, however, iPadOS 16 lags behind iPadOS 15 by around 7% for usage on devices introduced in the last four years. One thing to note: iPadOS 16 was released a month later than iPadOS 15."

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My personal anecdote is that I just don't even touch my iPad very often. I've been a couple months behind updates just because I hadn't used the device.

I upgraded my iPad to be the guinea pig: I didn't want to update my phone unless I liked it. Sadly, iOS on iPad still lacks some basic things like a flashlight control and doesn't actually let you customize the home screen with all the new clock fonts and such on older devices so it's been subpar. Consequently I didn't update my phone yet.

From a security perspective that is a horrible idea.

iOS 15 (which I use) received its most recent update on Jan 23, 2023. They also just updated macOS 11 and surprisingly iOS 12 on that day. Apple tends to keep security updates to the old OS going for a while after the new OS comes out. I will upgrade at some point, but I tend to take it slow on OS updates so issues have time to shake out.

But do you get offered these security updates? I’m pretty sure you only get offered the latest firmware which would be in the 16 series.

It seems to be a more recent change in the last couple of years but yes now you do. It will show both options on the upgrade screen.

iOS12 got patched because they dropped a whole bunch of devices such as the original iPad mini then. They only patch had issues but gets one every few months or so.

I think iOS 16 introduced more interesting things to the average person than iPadOS 16.

For example, unsending/editing iMessages on any iOS 16 device is a much bigger selling point than Stage Manager, which was restricted to M1 iPads only.

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