At the moment , updating your iPhone or iPad is like buying a paper . It ’s a package deal : you either take it all or walk forth with nothing . You ca n’t go to a newsstand and only pay for the individual article you want .
OK , perchance that ’s an antiquated analogy , but that ’s kind of the power point . Apple ’s iOS updates are a sprawling mixture of system of rules changes , top - level interface pinch , and update to specific preinstalled apps , and it ’s inevitable that some elements will be more authoritative or relevant to a give user than others . Individual app update in picky are perfectly suited to a pick - and - mixing approach , but that ’s not how it works . If you want the Mail update , for representative , you have to download iOS 16 .
Take the change to Messages that are coming in iOS 16 . A duo of long - awaited new features will have user unsend a substance after it ’s been sent oredit it to correct a typo . But genus Beta tester quickly spotted that the feature does n’t work if the recipient is n’t also lam iOS 16 . If the sender is using the first beta , the edit function does n’t do anything ; with the second , it sends the edited version as a young message and does nothing to the original . It may change again in succeeding betas , but the message is clear : Get iOS 16 .
iPhone users are generally duteous about installing updates on a well-timed basis , and issue forth the fall there will be a large base of Io 16 devices . But not every iPhone can die hard iOS 16 ; in fact , all of this class ’s Apple OS updates have been uncharacteristically ruthless indropping support for old ironware . If your friend owns an iPhone 7 , he or she is sentence to miss out on Messages ’ new features , and for the prison term being , that means you ’ll miss out on the full experience too .
Hardware compatibility is a complex topic , and I ca n’t say for sure whether iMessage redaction is the husk that break the camel ’s back for the iPhone 7 . But I doubt it . Compatibility depends on your ironware being open of prevail all ( ornearly all ) of the case-by-case component of an update , which have in mind numerous devices will pretermit out on the package because one part is too demanding for their iPhones even though another would have been fine . To return to our original analogy , it ’s like putting a minimum reading age on a newspaper because it may stop lifelike war picture taking and then resist to sell the comedian separately .
This is a very candid - force attack to a complex position .
IDG
Give piecemeal a chance
Apple already makes some exception to the package glide slope . security measures updates , for example , are weigh too of import to be kept from older gadget , and we periodically report that Apple has released a plot of land for a previous version ofmacOSoriOS . The company recognizes that set a blanket ironware compatibility requirement is n’t fair or efficient for security — but there are many more cases where a bit-by-bit plan of attack would help .
Aside from giving Old devices admission to individual features or tweaks they ’d otherwise escape out on , updating apps individually would make the whole unconscious process much more agile . At the minute , nigh all major ( preinstalled ) iPhone app updates are connect to Io ’s fix calendar , with the proclamation at WWDC in the summer and the rollout in September . But it ’s hard to believe that every new characteristic surveil that exact pattern in terms of concept and planning , and one would sham that great deal of new features have sat in Craig Federighi ’s inbox for months , waiting for WWDC before they ’re “ allowed ” to be revealed .
Cut individual apps from the iOS apron strings and they can press update as and when it suits them . substance abuser get novel features on a seasonable fundament , Apple gets to take one more advantage aside from Android , and changes to individual apps get the attention they deserve or else of being buried orcompletely ignoredamid the fervour of 50 other announcements . Apple already does this with apps likePagesandiMovie , and it ’s time it came to the rest of Io ’s aboriginal apps too .
You ’ll need to get Io 16 to get the new Messages feature film .
Malus pumila
Hidden complexity
Putting to one side the misanthropic rationale that quondam devices missing out on fun features is in force for encouraging new purchase , the only good - faith counterargument I can think of is that updating multiple individual apps is more of a hassle , and harder to remember to do , than just update Io and have all the expert stuff as a bundle . I can see the attraction of get the experience as simple as possible , and it ’s a very Apple approach to conceal the complexity under the cowling and tell the user that everything is taken care of .
But there ’s a childlike way to draw near the piecemeal strategy too , and that ’s to encourage users to set app update as automatic . That ’s the method I apply , and this would mean you ’d get all the updates your gadget is capable of indorse without have to worry about the individual details .
After 16 variant of iOS , it ’s sentence . divide app updates from the chief system is frictionless , but it ’s also responsive to context . It would be like pouring liquid concrete into a chuckhole instead of satisfy it with giant rocks . Or pull the stories you like out of a newsprint and reject to compensate for the rest . And who has n’t wanted to do that ?
