Should I upgrade my iPhone 5 from iOS 7 to 8?

By Jeff, 20 May, 2015

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Based on comments I read when iOS 8 was first released, I chose not to upgrade from iOS 7 on my iPhone 5. Now that iOS 8.3 is released, is it time for me to upgrade or should I continue to use iOS 7 for now?

I do not use any Braille features and seldom use a BT keyboard, although I do use one from time to time. I haven't felt that I needed any of the new functionality to date, but with the new Voice OCR app which requires iOS 8, I wonder if it's time to upgrade. If I do, what drawbacks and issues should I be aware of? Thanks.

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Comments

By Siobhan on Monday, May 25, 2015 - 02:34

Hi Jeff. Personally if my phone handles it, I get the upgrade, but that's besides the point. With IOS8 you also have the neat ability to send audio messages. In fact, this is so useful I forgot about a friend who doesn't have it, sent her one. Not realizing she hadn't I get a "How did you do that?" response? Also you need to think how big your device is. If it's a small one, and you have it packed full IOS8 is a little larger. Plus if you were hoping for the Alex voice, we don't get that, but I don't care. I didn't know if you did either just telling you what you will encounter. I have a few issues with the bluetooth keyboard, but other then that, IOs8.3 is awesome. One word of warning, if you turned off hints, you will still hear, swipe up with three fingers to enable, whatever, swipe down to enable that. I forgot what the upward and downward gestures do but you should undrstand what I mean. I'd upgrade if it were me, obviously this is your choice. :) good luck keep us posted. I meant btw, when you touch the status bar itmight say that. Hope you upgrade, it's up to you of course. :)

By Scottsdale on Monday, May 25, 2015 - 02:34

Another iPhone 5 user here. Having spent a bit of time with 8.3 on a friend's iPhone 5, I'm still holding off on the upgrade. It's bearable if there are enough new features that you'll use regularly, but for me, the performance hit isn't worth it. I guess I'll bite the bullet whenever there's a decent third party keyboard or I pick up a newer device, whichever happens first.

By Roxann Pollard on Monday, May 25, 2015 - 02:34

I, too, am an iPhone 5 user and I upgraded when iOS 8.0 was released. I do not use a BT keyboard or braille input. I am glad that I upgraded and I have had no real difficult issues. I always like to stay current with the updates. I recommend updating, at least in my own opinion, anyway.

By Toonhead on Monday, May 25, 2015 - 02:34

A lot of bugs were squashed in iOS 8.3, and it's a lot better than when it was first released. Apple has really worked a lot on squashing bugs. So i do believe it's safe to upgrade now. Go for it!

By bee on Monday, May 25, 2015 - 02:34

Hi guys!
I'm also the one that useing IPhone 5 as well.
I always keep my device upgrade all the time too.
Since the the IOS 8.3 was released.
I did not face any big bug so far.
It's goes fine with my device as well.
By the way it was your choince though.

By Betsy on Monday, May 25, 2015 - 02:34

I would appreciate hearing from those who have updated and are glad they did which accessibility options they use. In particular, do any of you use Voiceover? What about Zoom? Thank you.

I dare say *most* of us are using VoiceOver. I also was reluctant to update and did not do so until 8.3 came out. I was happy with iOS 7.1.2 except that more and more of the apps I used would no longer run unless I upgraded to iOS 8. So I took the plunge with this latest update and although there are still a few bugs, for the most part they are not in features I regularly use. So in a word, this update has been superb for me.
I'm using an iPhone 5 with 64 gigs of memory.