While most of us have no doubt updated our iOS devices and Macs, there are no doubt users who prefer not to update for many reasons. While updating is an individual decision, I wanted to focus on what may happen if a person doesn’t update.
Like every other person who owns a computer or internet-ready mobile phone, I use the net frequently and prefer not to count how many hours I spend online a week. One thing I have noticed throughout my regular browsing is the slight shift in accessibility and usability depending on what device a person uses, as well as what operating system is in use. I am lucky as my current job enables me to try different operating systems and multiple versions, to see what is accessible, and what isn’t, and sometimes not updating can cause significant problems for some users depending on the device and OS being used.
HTML (or hypertext mark-up language) is the basic building blocks for any website, and version 5 has introduced more options which enable developers to introduce functionality. In short this should make the online experience easier for screen reader users. However as we all know this doesn’t always work out. The web has many different programming languages other than HTML, and one developer may have a completely different idea to how a website should be structured than another. One thing is for certain, not updating even from a minor version can result in problems. I was using an iPad running iOS 9.3 and an iPhone running iOS 9.4 1 day, and there were parts of the same website which were not usable. To clarify this means that the phone was better at completing something, where the iPad user could not. While there could be many answers to this, the model of the iPad verses the model of the iPhone being 1 line of research, I suspect the minor update issue would be an interesting factor. So I am not saying that people should update, however it’s something which users may need to take in to account if parts of a website or app are unusable.
Of course there are many other reasons why a person should update, security being one of them, however unless there is a significant reason why users are unable to update such as impacting on device performance, then I would always perform an update to get the best possible experience.
I want to acknowledge at this point that I fully understand and support the view that Voiceover users need to approach updating with portion, particularly if the update makes apps which we rely on unresponsive and cause more harm than good. So what do you think?
All comments welcome.
Comments
I update simply because
There are apps that only works with iOS 9 or later. Pretty soon, there will be apps that only works with iOS 10 or later. It is quite obvious that if you don't update, you will simply fall behind.
I update, but with a short wait...
With iOS on my iPhone, I try to wait at leawst a couple of days, just in case. I watch AppleVis carefully to see if anyone else discovers surprises, and then I jump in with both feet. Well, almost. I have a couple of old phones and I wait to update their operating systems a bit longer.
With apps, I tend to update without worry. Occasionally, I get surprised, but most of the time, things work out. With a few critical apps, I check AppleVis a couple of times over a day or two and then go for the update.
I Update All the Time
Somehow I overlooked this post. But anyway, I only have a Mac at least for now and I update it whenever I am prompted to do so. As far as when I update, I generally check AppleVis to see what people are saying about the updates to various things on here. The exception to that was the release of OS Sierra. I updated my system the day Sierra became available to the general public, because I had only been reading good things about it on here from those in the beta program. I'm happy to report that I've had no major issues thus far with OS Sierra, and this first update that came out last week has been pretty cooperative on my system. I don't have many third-party apps on here. I use Twitter for Mac and have let my system install all the updates released so far, and the same goes for Night Owl which I also had on here. I might try switching back to Night Owl for work though. I have a sister who is a VoiceOver user, but I'm afraid she's not been keeping up with the updates and this seems to be causing her a bit of difficulty. I don't fault her in the least bit though, since she's not as advanced with computers as are her brothers. We're trying to figure out a way around that though. She has a tutor who is excellent, but this tutor is fully sighted and therefore not a VO user. Judging from what this sister has told me, the training which she received at our local Apple store might not have been the greatest either.