iOS 6 on iPhone 4

shoota

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 26, 2011
Messages
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I'm curious how those of you with iOS 6 on your iPhone 4 are liking it?
 
I have an ipad 2 from my mothers job with ios 6 and to be honest not much changed other than maps and the new maps suck.
 
I didn't use iOS 6 on my iPhone 4 very long and I didn't notice a different with battery life or anything else except the new Maps app and the need to download the standalone Youtube app.

I did notice a bigger difference with my wife's 4s since it got all the same software features as the 5, i.e. voice turn by turn, Siri could do more, etc. Luckily her 4s was bought at the beginning of the month after a terrible accident with her 4 so we both got the 5 on Friday.
 
I found it to be quite a lot faster, especially in regards to Safari. My battery life seems to have decreased a bit, but I've only been running it for a day, so we'll see.
 
I decided to upgrade over the weekend and, all in all, I'm happy with it. There's no real big must have feature, but lots of little improvements and refinements that make it a better OS. The battery life went down a little bit, but some of the updates make it a better user experience. I love the redesigned appstore and improved speed in safari not to mention full screen in landscape view. The ability to use cellular for downloading large apps is nice too (but that might be because I'm unlocked)

Youtube is also better as a stand alone app IMHO. I like that you can finally play videos without going full screen.

I used maps a little bit and honestly, I like some of it a lot better than google maps (and some things I dont). The color schemes are a lot nicer. There is more contrast and it's easy to see what you're looking at, at a glance and think the Yelp integration is pretty slick since I already use the service all the time. More of a minimalist setup. I don't have 3D maps or flyover though... Yet. You can enable it via jailbreak.

I don't like that you can't use street view though. I used that quite often over the years. I'll likely use both until Apple improves the service a bit. Rumor has it that they're poaching engineers from google maps :p
 
I put it on my wife's iPhone 4 over the weekend and she seems to be enjoying everything except the maps. She noticed a small speed improvement and her only complaint thus far is the new maps app. In our area it doesn't have all of the streets yet, so it is a bit useless to us. Once we have a google map app all will be right with the world again.
 
I upgraded to 6 on my Verizon iP4 last week, and it's working quite well I gotta say. It's definitely snappier feeling when moving from app to app/screen to screen, and it seems the battery life went up too, which is a big plus since 5.x was AWFUL for battery life for me. I'm liking the maps (though I haven't used it much), since I live in a fairly large city, it seems it's recognizing all the streets and the satellite image seems to be very recent since it's showing our pool as closed :eek:

I really like the do not disturb feature and the VIP mail, overall, excellent. That said, I still think I will upgrade to the iP5 this friday (or as soon as I can get my hands on one after that) to get something more modern for the next 2 years. That, and not losing the money I poured into apps, would definitely like to stay with Apple for that reason alone.

Anyone know if Verizon is sold out all over, or if it's a store-by-store basis? I'd like to be able to walk into one this Friday and grab one, though I haven't been following the news all that much regarding their availability. If they're definitely sold out for now, that'd be an appreciated update. :cool:
 
I'm gonna go against the grain here and say that for me, iOS 6 is a no-go on the iPhone 4. My biggest beef with the OS is that every little thing that I was used to got changed. I'll just list out some of my problems with this OS, in order of annoyance.

1. No more native Youtube integration. This is by far the biggest annoyance. Why? Well, I like to listen to documentaries via the Youtube app. I really liked that you could lock the phone and then double-tap the home button and hit the play symbol, and play the video with the screen off. Having Apple's buds with the integrated mic was a bonus, because you could lock the phone and simply resume the video (again, with the screen off - saving battery) by clicking in the middle of the volume control. With the new Youtube app, you can't control it through outside media controls. Also, the app is terrible. Sometimes the video cycles through the different quality modes (WiFi, 3GS, EDGE) in a single video - forcing you to reload the stupid thing. Other times, I just get a "General Error" screen and can't resume play. This is infuriating. It's been working for years now, and then Apple decides to do away with it. Possible bad dealings with Google? Who knows. But it sucks.

2. Podcasts is now its own native app. Seriously? Was it too much trouble to go into iTunes, search a podcast, and just hit play? It streamed the whole thing just fine. Why must we have a standalone app just to play a simple podcast? I know it seems like I'm nit-picking, but I just don't see the need for it. Whoever decided it was necessary to make a standalone app for just podcasts need to be shot. Sure - there are some neat little functionality quips - like being able to advance 15 seconds, in addition to reverse; and auto-sync is cool. But this could have just been integrated into the standard player.

3. Maps. Face it, even the feature-limited Google Maps was better than the new one. Yeah, there are turn by turn directions, but it only works for the 4S and 5. No 3-D flyby, either. Not that it really matters. I'm sure it's a fun app, but it's just entertainment. Yes, Apple's Maps app will improve over time, but since they've cut the cord on iPhone 4 users, there's no need for iOS 6. Perhaps one day they'll get off their ass and give us some turn-by-turn, but for now; we've been given the finger.

4. General changes that feel like side-steps, rather than improvements. Like the "Settings" app. They changed the name of "Network" settings to "Cellular." Were people mistaking "Network" for Wi-Fi networks? Was it necessary to make this change? The "Do Not Disturb" seems cool, but I don't use it. And there's also the setting "Brightness and Wallpaper." Again - was grouping these things really necessary? I honestly don't like the new look of the media player skin either. VIP Mail? Well, I could see how it could be useful, if I had 500,000 email accounts. As I only have three, it's yet another feature that goes unused.

5. There are still things that didn't get updated (and seemingly never will). Like the "Notes" app. Man, would it be awesome to get a better version of that. Yeah, you could buy Pages, but even Microsoft has a step up from Notepad - Wordpad - for those who don't want to spend for Microsoft Word.

After I post this, I'm downgrading back to 5.1.1. Don't get me wrong, iOS 6 is probably a fun and cool OS for people that have the proper equipment. But it seems that we missed out on most of the major cool stuff. And yeah, even though it might sound crazy - the lack of Youtube integration broke the deal for me. I mean - I wouldn't care so much that they broke integration if I actually felt as if I was actually GETTING SOMETHING with this update. But a few changes here and there, with some minor updates here and there; while missing all of the awesome features that iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 users are experiencing - no thanks.


*Edit - I don't know what people are saying with snappier Safari surfing. To me, it feels no different. Anyone want to elaborate? There might be some benchies floating around somewhere, but I don't care. A few milliseconds isn't going to convince me to stay on this OS.
 
Main advantage is speed improvements in Safari. Very noticeable. Besides that little things that really dont matter IMO.
 
I've been using iOS6 on my iPhone 4S since it was released. I'm REALLY disappointed.
My battery life has gone downhill. I used to charge only at night, and my phone would make it from ~6:30am to midnight no problem. Now, I tend to have 50% battery life remaining by lunchtime, and by 5pm I am out of juice altogether, which means I have to charge while at work.

I'm in agreement with much of what jbltecnicspro had to say. I miss the YouTube integrated app. It allowed me to save favorites without having to have a YouTube account. I know everyone has complained about Maps, and I tend to agree with what I've heard. Maps just isn't nearly as polished and clean as Google Maps.

There are some additional complaints. I have several screens worth of apps. There are times when clicking on the home button doesn't take me back to the home screen. Instead, there is a lengthy pause (roughly 4 seconds). And I cannot stand the new way to browse the App store or iTunes (from the phone).
 
I had an iPhone 4 with iOS 6 for 2 weeks before I got my iPhone 5. Best advice I can give is "DON'T DO IT."

You'll lose YouTube and Google Maps. In return you get Apple Maps, which is a pile of shit on the iPhone 4 since it doesn't support ANY of the new features in Apple Maps, and so basically just results in you losing a bunch of maps content that was previously available on Google.

It's also slower. Apple has added some graphical niceties to make it appear like stuff is faster (e.g.: graphical transitions in the unlock screen and task switching, a smoother loading bar in Safari), but if you objectively stand back and time things, it's slower.
 
For people having issues with the battery life, here are some things you can try to get you a little more life.

This worked great for my iPhone 5 and will probably help the older devices as well. I know that my iPhone 4 was literally dead within 8 hours using iOS6 with minimal use.

Turn down brightness (obvious) and turn off auto-brightness
Turn off any settings you're not using (bluetooth, location services, wifi, push mail, etc)
Set autolock for 1 min.
turn off vibrate if you don't normally use it.
Disable any widgets you're not using (stocks, weather, share)

Limit Ad Tracking
(Settings>General>About>Advertising (at bottom of the page) and turn on "Limit Ad Tracking"

Turn off sending diagnostics to Apple
(Settings>General>About>Diagnostic and Usage> and turn on 'Dont Send"

Disable Location Based Ad Tracking
(Settings>Privacy>Location Services>System Services (at bottom of page) and turn off "Diagnostics and usage", "Genius for Apps" and "Location based iAds"

change email Fetch times to manual (or longer increments... 1 hr, etc)

Like I said, changing these settings made a pretty decent improvment in battery life on my 5. I haven't tried it on my 4 as I just downgraded back to 4.2.1, but I wouldn't doubt that it'd improve older devices as well.
 
For people having issues with the battery life, here are some things you can try to get you a little more life.

This worked great for my iPhone 5 and will probably help the older devices as well. I know that my iPhone 4 was literally dead within 8 hours using iOS6 with minimal use.

Turn down brightness (obvious) and turn off auto-brightness
Turn off any settings you're not using (bluetooth, location services, wifi, push mail, etc)
Set autolock for 1 min.
turn off vibrate if you don't normally use it.
Disable any widgets you're not using (stocks, weather, share)

Limit Ad Tracking
(Settings>General>About>Advertising (at bottom of the page) and turn on "Limit Ad Tracking"

Turn off sending diagnostics to Apple
(Settings>General>About>Diagnostic and Usage> and turn on 'Dont Send"

Disable Location Based Ad Tracking
(Settings>Privacy>Location Services>System Services (at bottom of page) and turn off "Diagnostics and usage", "Genius for Apps" and "Location based iAds"

change email Fetch times to manual (or longer increments... 1 hr, etc)

Like I said, changing these settings made a pretty decent improvment in battery life on my 5. I haven't tried it on my 4 as I just downgraded back to 4.2.1, but I wouldn't doubt that it'd improve older devices as well.


What kind of improvements did you see? If I had to do all of this on a brand new phone, I'd be pissed. Maybe apple should have not made the new device so thin so as to keep BL up. The above is a gutted phone, IMO. I think I'd get a battery case for that puppy.

I don't notice any change on my 4S.
 
Battery life is my biggest complaint. I could make it through an entire day and still be around 60-75%, now I'm looking more lik 35-40%.
 
I remember this from my iPhone 3G.. I now have the 4 and am not updating yet. When the iPhone 4 came out the next OS update left my 3G virtually unusable. The guy who sits next to me at work was laughing at me when I didn't update to 6 when it first came out... He did and the swearing began about 5 minutes after he completed the update. Apple can make the new OS work on older hardware, but I firmly believe this is a method to strong-arm an upgrade. OK, they win.. I will upgrade, but to an Android.
 
I run iOS 6 on my 4. Runs smoother IMO and battery life seems the same.

I also jailbroke it and added Siri, 3D maps, and turn by turn.

So it's basically a slower 4s with a worse camera that I don't use anyways. 3D maps is the only thing that lags a bit. Siri and turn by turn run perfectly.
 
It's working fine on my 3GS. Just waiting for a a second batch before I finally upgrade to a 5.
 
I find it interesting that most of the you have had worse battery life. It turns out that I didn't have the stupid SHSH files (I think that's what it is) from 5.1.1 saved, so I can't go back unless I hack it. Oh well. I'm currently in Washington DC, and I walked around town all day yesterday (started at 9:00am with a 90% charge) and ended the day at 38 % charge at 12:00am midnight. I had it on EDGE until about 5:00pm when I needed to use Maps (oh joy! :rolleyes:) to find something. Battery life seems no different to me. I like to keep it on EDGE until I actually need the higher-speed connection. The only times I need to do that are for web surfing. Pandora works fine on EDGE (even with higher quality enabled), Youtube automatically adjusts for the bandwidth (I listen to stuff mostly), and I don't purchase anything on iTunes over the cell network. Only Maps and Safari benefit from the 3G option - for me at least; so I just keep it off. If I use EDGE all day, my phone sips power. Usually, on a full charge, I can get home from work and the darn thing will be around 70% battery remaining.
 
My wife has been using her 4 with iOS 6 for a couple weeks now and battery life seems the same. Her biggest complaint is youtube. I'm not sure exactly what she doesn't like though..
 
I actually like the new youtube app better than the old one. My only complaint is that you can't double tap the screen to zoom/crop the video anymore.
 
Running it on an old 4. I took a battery life hit for sure but it definitely feels snappier. Still waiting for a proper google maps though.

The 5 didn't excite me much and frankly the old 4 does everything I need of it. Tempted daily by the GS3 though.
 
FWIW my iphone 4 ran very slowly after the upgrade to 6, I would liken it to a 5 second delay with music and apps. I had to erase all content and settings (hard reset the phone) to resolve the issues but battery life has taken a hit.
 
Since I had the 3G phone a couple of years back and upgraded to 4.0 software when it had come out.... I experienced horrible lag and battery life.

Since that time, I have upgraded to the 4 (about 1.5 years ago) and only upgraded to the last 5.* version of iOS. I have no intention of upgrading to iOS6 for one simple reason. The hardware is probably not meant to handle the new features and the iPhone4 is not equipped with enough internal features to risk the "reward" of upgrading.

I think of it like upgrading computers over the years. If the Dell computer says it's made for Windows XP.... then it's made for Windows XP... not Vista, not Windows7/8. Even though people think upgrading is always best.... to the hardware and the set configuration of the computer/device, it's not always the case. There are limitations to what is in the computer/device case.... and if you are willing to risk the current performance and speed of your machine for the most updated/overhyped OS at the time... knock yourself out.

I'm just speaking from personal experiences and the horrible memory of waiting 5 months for my contract to be renewed so I could get a 4G phone and resell that old 3G for parts. It was so painstakingly slow... I only used it for phone calls in the end...
 
Since I had the 3G phone a couple of years back and upgraded to 4.0 software when it had come out.... I experienced horrible lag and battery life.

Since that time, I have upgraded to the 4 (about 1.5 years ago) and only upgraded to the last 5.* version of iOS. I have no intention of upgrading to iOS6 for one simple reason. The hardware is probably not meant to handle the new features and the iPhone4 is not equipped with enough internal features to risk the "reward" of upgrading.

I think of it like upgrading computers over the years. If the Dell computer says it's made for Windows XP.... then it's made for Windows XP... not Vista, not Windows7/8. Even though people think upgrading is always best.... to the hardware and the set configuration of the computer/device, it's not always the case. There are limitations to what is in the computer/device case.... and if you are willing to risk the current performance and speed of your machine for the most updated/overhyped OS at the time... knock yourself out.

I'm just speaking from personal experiences and the horrible memory of waiting 5 months for my contract to be renewed so I could get a 4G phone and resell that old 3G for parts. It was so painstakingly slow... I only used it for phone calls in the end...

While I agree with you for the most part, for some weird reason I believe the companies shouldn't release OSes for phones that can't handle them. However, my wife still hasn't complained too much about the new iOS 6 on her 4 except for the occasional "Where's youtube?"
 
Well, it seems after an initial ok period of time with iOS6 on my wife's iPhone 4 she is now experieincing the battery and overheating issues. She is asking me everyday to put iOS 5 back on.
Which of these might any of you have experience with?
https://www.google.com/search?q=how...sugexp=chrome,mod=19&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Unless it was jailbroken and you saved the SHSH blob, I don't believe it's possible.

Back everything up, do a factory reset, and restore the backup. It might clear up the issues.
 
Well, it seems after an initial ok period of time with iOS6 on my wife's iPhone 4 she is now experieincing the battery and overheating issues. She is asking me everyday to put iOS 5 back on.
Which of these might any of you have experience with?
https://www.google.com/search?q=how...sugexp=chrome,mod=19&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8


that sucks man, sorry to hear it.

I do believe you can do a backup and try a factory restore and see what that can do, but I don't know how well that will work for you. Plus that seems like it will take quite to do this whole process....
 
Also, if she's a big podcast or music listener, she could be getting hit with the streaming audio bug in iOS 6.0.0. Upgrade the device to 6.0.1 to clear that up.
 
Thanks guys. I kinda figured I was SOL for reverting back to iOS 5. I didn't even know 6.0.1 was even out. I'll update it but she never streams music from her phone so I don't know what that'll fix. Anyway, it can't hurt (I hope).
I don't have the phone with me right now can someone explain which location services to turn off and where they are? Or at least what some of you iPhone owners personally do with respect to location services.
 
I don't have the phone with me right now can someone explain which location services to turn off and where they are? Or at least what some of you iPhone owners personally do with respect to location services.

Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services.

You can toggle individual apps, or go all the way down to the System Services submenu. I've deactivated everything except Diagnostics & Usage and Traffic.

Note that this is just deactivation of the location-detecting aspects of these features. That might be destructive for some (like compass calibration) but no big deal for others (location-based iAds).
 
So far I have no trouble with iOS 6 on my 4S (or on my wifes or sons 4s'). My only complaint is the Maps app. I used it quite a bit, and now it sucks since Apple took away google maps. I did find a workaround over at Lifehacker.com, but it's slower then the native Maps app (when it was Google Maps).

The look of the Music app is better, although I don't think it improved shuffle at all. Battery life seems OK to me. My son complains about it, but then again, he's constantly on the thing all day long watching videos or listening to music. If I listen to internet radio (SKY.fm of DI.fm) it drains the battery in about 3.5 hours.

My other complaint... since installing iOS6 (and upgrading to 6.0.1) I have average about 2 to 3 app updates every day.
 
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