Heads up: iOS device recovery mode guide (legacy devices) now obsolete
I am posting this here, so it is known in advance. As of 2/14/2022 I am considering the legacy device recovery mode guide obsolete.
I am doing this for multiple reasons:
- I have not had to update the guide in 3 years and 10 months, but I did make a few minor edits to the guide before I considered it a done deal —this final major revision is being done so I do not have to come back and address these issues later. However, this isn’t the sole reason for retirement.
Now, for the main reasons:
- With the impending 3G shutdowns and Sprint LTE network sunset, this method is no longer used on these devices, and the iPhone 7 used a TOTALLY DIFFERENT PROCEDURE which is completely different from the other phones. The modern iPhones (8-present) use a standard method that is TOTALLY different from the 6s and below, as well as the 7. As it stands, this "old method" only applies to the devices being affected by the 3G/Sprint LTE/CDMA shutdown.
- In addition to the 3G GSM shutdown, the Sprint devices T-Mobile is abandoning use this method since they only work on Sprint LTE. The replacement devices which will be required use the newer method.
- NOTE: In regard to the iPod Touch, these are aging as well but are not impacted by the cellular shutdowns. The last Touch to use it was capped at iOS9, just to give you an idea of the age of them.
- Comments were always low but there has been no comment activity for the past 2 years and 6 months. This is not uncommon (and is not a sole indicator to "obsolete" a guide), but in the case of this guide it was pointing to non-use, for years. It has been accepted as unofficially obsolete, so I'm making it official.
- Guide views have gone down drastically as the devices age, and newer devices take their place. As of when I write this, these are the current stats:
- Past 24 Hours: 4
- Past 7 Days: 15
- Past 30 Days: 113
- All Time: 47,192
This was not an easy decision (to a point, but that’s due to the 5/5s being largely dropped with activation blocks, and for Sprint a lot of the older iPhones -- including the 6 being dropped by T-Mobile. I wanted to do this for a few years for the above reasons, but the shutdown was not imminent and there was no Sprint/T-Mo merger, so I was not in a rush to make it official (though I always unofficially considered it "onofficially obsolete" neglecting it for 3+ years).
With the Sprint shutdown and 3G GSM shutdown and dwindling views, I’m ready to say it's official, and stop updating it. Outside of extreme situation where I need to address the issue, what I did as a last edit stands. I will leave the guide up for the foreseeable future for the legacy devices, especially seeing as the 6s is still widely supported on GSM/CDMA, and the 6 on GSM networks (Sprint ones are "EOL", and the Verison one still works). I hope everyone understands my decision to abandon the guide but leave it up. I will not be monitoring the guide unless I see a major issue come up.
Normally I mark these as “private” as I have done with the old version once I finalized the replacement if they’re close, but I’ve been moving away from that as preservation becomes more of an issue. Unless the replacement is substantially similar (and better written), then it’s not a good way to handle the retirement process of the old guide. Officially this guide was 9 years old when I made it official, 7 unofficially.
As far as replacement goes, I do plan on getting an iPhone to use for the current (iPhone 8 and newer) method, but I have no ETA at this time.
Is this a worthwhile discussion?