iOS update, yes or no?

iOS update, yes or no? a reader asks…

I have an iPhone question. My iphone 5 is running on version 7.1.2 and have a message to update it. If I do update it, will I lose my settings or other items (like downloaded ringtones)? Do you generally recommend updating the operating system?

You’ve probably been seeing the upgrade message for awhile now. The iPhone has gone through a half dozen or more updates since the version you’re on came out – currently it’s 8.4.1, and version 9.0 will be released on September 19th. If you’re going to update, I’d wait till then and go right to iOS9. If your iPhone only has 16gb of storage space, I’d bet that was keeping you from upgrading to iOS8 – you probably got a message saying not enough space. But the newer iOS9 will be a much smaller file size upgrade, so you should be able to do it.

The answer to your first question (will you lose settings, ringtones etc.) is that it’s unlikely but not impossible, so I would recommend backing up your iPhone before you update the operating system. Either to your computer or to iCloud. But, read on…

For your 2nd question (recommending updating), in your case you may not want to. Believe it or not, by smartphone standards your iPhone is pretty old. Apple’s pretty good about making the latest operating system work well with older hardware, but you’re getting to the outer edge. Apple tells us that iOS 9.0 will work on iPhones version 4s and newer, so it will work on yours. But it just might slow your iPhone down. You’ll want to weigh the benefits of the newer operating system against the potential cost in terms of speed.

To your 2nd question, in general, I recommend keeping up-to-date on operating system patches and releases, because there are lots of security issues with running older versions. But rather than updating your old iPhone, you might want to consider this:

• Your iPhone 5 is probably well over 2 years old now, and the battery inside it is most likely not giving you as much all-day power as it used to. Most people upgrade their smartphones every 2 years in part due to the 2-year contract and in part due to the battery issues – why pay $100 or more to replace the battery in your older iPhone when you can get a whole new iPhone for perhaps $300? You’re paying the same cost every month for the phone and data service, so over time the biggest cost of your iPhone service is the monthly cellphone bills, not the purchase price.

The iPhone 6s is available for pre-order now, and will be available in stores on Sept. 25th. So I wouldn’t buy a replacement till the 6s is out. I also wouldn’t buy the older iPhone 6 (still available, will be cheaper as well) just because this stuff changes so fast, anytime you buy you should always get the latest or risk being too far behind as tech moves forward at light-speed.

I generally upgrade every other version, so I had the iPhone 4, skipped the 4s, bought the 5, skipped the 5s and now have the 6. I’m skipping the 6s and will get the 7 when it comes out in a year. You’ve skipped two versions now, so you might want to think about upgrading to the 6s, then skipping the 7 – or continue your current pattern and wait for the 7s…