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Apple investigates reports of issues with iOS4 on iPhone 3G

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 · 5:24 pm · 67 Comments

“Apple is investigating reports that the latest iPhone operating system causes problems for users of the iPhone 3G, after a series of complaints on Apple support forums and technology blogs. Apple is aware of the reports and is looking into the matter, a spokeswoman told Digits,” Jennifer Valentino-DeVries reports for The Wall Street Journal’s “Digits” blog.

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“Since the iOS 4 software became available in late June, user concerns have surfaced on Apple forums,” Valentino-DeVries reports. “The most common criticism is that the phone is slow after an upgrade. There are also many complaints that the phone drains the battery quickly and becomes excessively hot.”

Valentino-DeVries reports, “Apple’s latest iPhone operating system is powerful, and the iPhone 3G is two years old at this point. The new operating system isn’t compatible at all with the earliest version of the iPhone — but it is supposed to be compatible with the 3G and 3GS, although some features, like multitasking, won’t work on the 3G.”

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Comment Feed

67 Comments

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disposableidentity

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:28 pm · Reply

Apple needs to fix this ASAP.

It’s almost unusable for me. If I wasn’t a Mac-fanboy and an Apple shareholder, I would have been marching in the streets already (and I still have one year left on my contract).
dd

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:33 pm · Reply

Look, I’m a big Apple fan, but since iPhone 04 was installed on my 3G, it has become super-laggy. Anti-snappy, if you will…

Fortunately, I just got my iPhone 4 today, so the 3G, if not fixed, will be a dust collector…
Dpr1961

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:37 pm · Reply

I have definitely noticed my iPhone is much slower than it use to be. I just figured I am running to many apps in background. I especially notice a vast slowdown when checking e-mail.
Voice of reason

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:38 pm · Reply

I haven’t noticed a slowdown, but then again I don’t keep any media on my 3G, it’s pretty much empty. I does feel a little like 2.0 though, sometimes with hangs and stutters, but the device doesn’t seem all that bad. Could definitely see how it could be causing issues for people though.

My son’s 2nd iPod touch, however, is having some issues with 4.0. Then again it has lots of media and games on it. I hope some optimizations creep in, could just be a memory buffer problem with the devices that have 128mb on board. Who knows though.
YoYo

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:38 pm · Reply

Mine too was very slow, but I restored with clean install and it became normal. After two weeks it’s gettting a bit slow again.
VelSatis

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:41 pm · Reply

Jup, the 3G is terrible with ios4, but it was already terrible with the software before. But iPhone 4 sure rocks!
SamLowry

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:44 pm · Reply

if you are affected, I suggest to try this:

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/07/07/how-to-speed-up-your-iphone-3g-running-ios4/
dd

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:44 pm · Reply

I meant iOS4. It’d be neat to actually install the iPhone 4 onto an iPhone 3G.
Vatdoro

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:50 pm · Reply

My iPhone 3G was DAWG slow after upgrading to iOS 4. Just navigating through text messages was so slow it was incredibly painful.

Then I bought the iPhone 4 on opening day and sold my iPhone 3G for $200. iOS is BEAUTIFUL on the iPhone 4.

I love apple products. They keep their value so well, I was able to upgrade to the iPhone 4 for free. =D
Connor MacBook

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:50 pm · Reply

@Dpr1961

Correct me if I’m wrong, but iOS 4′s “multitasking” isn’t multitasking as such, it’s just saving apps in the state they were in when they were closed. Hence you don’t necessarily have lots of apps “running” in the background.
Bongo

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:51 pm · Reply

So everyone complaining about this weren’t FUD-sters, and actually caused Apple to take notice? Amazing! Take note, breezie-boy
unfungus

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:54 pm · Reply

About friggin’ time! I think the forum at Apple support is over 30 pages by now. Without a legitimate downgrade path, there a lot of very upset users. People went from having a great phone to one that barely works.
_phil_i_am_

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:54 pm · Reply

I agree. My 3G was super laggy after I installed iOS4. the only thing I like about iOS4 is categories/folders.
The latest iOS4 update seems to have improved things a little, but I am still not happy with it, and very disappointed with Apple. If it was going to be this bad on the 3G, they should have not allowed 3G upgrading.
David F.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:57 pm · Reply

I can personally attest to this. My work has issued an iPhone 3Gs. That works perfectly after upgrading to iOS 4. My personal iPhone, a 3G, is another issue altogether. The phone has become virtually useless. It is non responsive most of the time. I often miss calls because as I touch the screen to answer, it takes some time to respond. By that time, the caller is taken to voicemail. I can hardly access email since it often takes several minutes to even get into the Mail app. So I have a virtual brick now and I’m still paying AT&T for service.
GmanMac

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 5:59 pm · Reply

Apple should have waited to recommend 3G users update to iOs4 until they had this worked out. They had to know how much slower it ran on these phones.

And if they can’t get it to work better then they need to come up with a fix to revert back.
disposableidentity

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:02 pm · Reply

@ SamLowry, tried it : (

@ Bongo, funny, isn’t it. Apple isn’t a normal company. They genuinely try to make all of us customers happy. The antenna thing was caused by critics, not customers.

Apple once shipped me a new power supply for my G4 tower (since apparently the one it shipped with was too loud). No media firestorm. A few customers told them it was too loud, Apple agreed, Apple shipped us all new power supplies to replace the perfectly good ones we already had.
Paul McGiven

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:03 pm · Reply

I have an iPhone 3G with os4 which is now extremely slow and sluggish and crashes a lot.
Worked perfectly before I upgraded to os4.
unapologetic atheist

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:03 pm · Reply

My 3G’s performance SUCKED after I installed iOS4. Slow, glitchy…just bad. Luckily, I got the iPhone4 and it runs GREAT. Sold my 3G for $200 and even felt a little guilty!
Another blunder

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:04 pm · Reply

When I picked up my iP4, I handed my iP3G to my wife. After a few days, she asked: “Why does everybody think the iPhone is so great. It’s slow, my email is not arriving, can’t get Safari to load, etc.”

“Is your new one any better?” My answer: well, yes it is as long as I don’t touch it in the wrong place.

So, Apple commits another blunder – this time in upgrading software that the hardware can’t run reliably.

These problems all have one thing in common: arrogance. Steve Jobs believes he has us, that he owns us, and that he controls us and he can deliver shit for quality and we’ll just pay big bucks for it and thank him very much. What fools we are.
dave

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:05 pm · Reply

yeah… ios4 on my 3g suuucks.. After doing a full firmware restore it’s definitely better, but not as good as when it had 3.2 on it.

If possible I’d roll it back to 3.2. In fact I’m paying my 99 bucks so I can do just that.

They clearly didn’t have any 3G phones around to test it on. It’s really amazingly bad. They really shouldn’t have released it.
David F.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:06 pm · Reply

@ Paul McGiven

Mine worked perfectly prior to the upgrade to iOS 4 too. I did the upgrade to get folder management and the like. Now I have a phone that is essentially useless.

My wife, who is new to Apple products, said to me, “This is so unlike the Apple you speak of…” My faith in Apple products hasn’t wavered though. I expect a fix soon. I hope…
Weird

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:09 pm · Reply

My iPhone 3G runs very noticeably faster since ios4??
BeckleMic

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:10 pm · Reply

I must admit that my daughter’s iPhone 3G because noticeably slower to the point of complaints from her with the installation of iOS 4.0. In the case of my 3GS, the main problem that I noted was the device becoming quite hot during use. Hot to the point I could not let it touch my ear. Problem was reported.
Slow 3GS Mail- Yes

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:24 pm · Reply

Other probs- not so much.
Deus Ex Technica

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 - 6:31 pm · Reply

I had the same problem. I solved it with these steps:

1. Attach to iTunes via USB.

2. Sync everything. Apps, Notes, Contacts, Music, etc. Sync it to your Mac/PC, or to MobileMe. Make sure it’s right before proceeding.

3. Click “Restore” button to restore phone to factory settings.
4. When prompted, choose “Setup New Phone” (or something to that effect).

iTunes should download the latest version of iOS, and install a fresh copy on your phone. Chillax – it’ll take a while.

5. When done, sync your phone to get your apps and data back. Suggest you use iTunes to arrange your apps into folders, etc. Too tedious on phone if you have lots.

*** I’ve done this on three separate phones that were exhibiting stultifying slowness, UI latency, crashing, etc. after being updated to iOS 4.x. This process resolved it every single time.

******* You’re going to lose any “unsyncable” data stored within your apps themselves (like settings, app-specific data, etc.). But believe me, it’s worth it.

When you’re done, pure, snappy joy with 3G/3GS on iOS4.x !!!