[daseiner1]

Would you elaborate? Because my understanding is that Apple has offered outstanding support for older devices in terms of iOS support for quite old devices.

[awesome_dude]

Whilst the support might be "outstanding" - the discussion is what happens once devices are no longer supported.

[astrange]

You can't release all the documentation just because the entire phone isn't supported. Many of the components come from other suppliers and aren't obsolete, and you can't just reveal all your suppliers' IP.

[rswail]

No functrionality is lost when a phone no longer receives iOS updates. All of the existing functionality continues.

Access to new features is not available, and app developers may no longer support updates to their applications.

But AFAIK, Apple apps (maps, music, phone, iMessage etc) on iPhones no longer receiving iOS updates continue to work.

[justinclift]

Apple don't give people the tools/keys/etc to load new OS (etc) onto a device once it's no longer supported.

So, at best the device can just be used with the latest version of the software Apple allows until it's a security nightmare and better off no longer used.

Instead, if Apple gave people the ability to load something (prob a Linux) onto those old devices, then those old devices could be used usefully for quite a few more years.

[prmoustache]

> Apple has offered outstanding support for older devices in terms of iOS support for quite old devices

Did they gave instructions on how to unblock bootloaders. released the source code and drivers under an open source license?