10 Things to Know About the iPhone 5 iOS 8.4 Update

Its been one full week since Apple released the iPhone 5 iOS 8.4 update, an update that brings Apple Music and a collection of enhancements and fixes to the aging former flagship. With a week under our belts, we want to take a final look at the most important things you need to know about the iPhone 5 iOS 8.4 update.

Back in April, Apple promised an iOS 8.4 update to owners of the iPhone 5 and owners of other iPhones and iPads capable of running iOS 8. At the time, the update was shrouded in mystery without a public release date. It took several weeks but Apple finally cleared those mysteries up with several announcements in June.

In early June, Apple confirmed an Apple Music release date for June 30th. The company also confirmed that iOS 8.4 would deliver the update to iPhone 5 owners around the world meaning the iOS 8.4 update would have to land sometime before or on June 30th itself.

The iOS 8.4 update for iPhone 5 was released on June 30th alongside Apple’s new streaming music platform and it’s now available to all iOS 8 users. The update brings the big changes to Apple Music but it also delivers key bug fixes for lingering iOS 8 problems and some changes to Apple’s iBooks feature. iOS 8.4 is an important update and it will likely serve as the bridge to the iPhone 5 iOS 9 release in the fall.

In the week since its release, we’ve seen new iOS 8.4 details emerge for iPhone 5 users. Those details include information about iOS 8.4’s performance, iOS 8.4 problems, and more. With that in mind, we want to take a dive into the iPhone 5 iOS 8.4 update. This will cover the information that you need to know right now and it will fill you in on a few things that you need to know for the future.

iPhone 5 iOS 8.4 Review: One Week Later

> 1 / 10

We've been using the iPhone 5 regularly since its release in the fall of 2012. Since then, the update's received more than a few iOS updates including Apple's latest iOS 8 upgrade, iOS 8.4.  Last Tuesday, we downloaded and installed the iPhone 5 iOS 8.4 update, a risky move given the iPhone 5's age and given the problems we and many others have had with iOS 8. Fortunately, the iOS 8.4 update is holding up, at least on our model.  Over the weekend we offered our full review of the iPhone 5 iOS 8.4 update. The review doesn't focus on iOS 8.4's features but instead hones in on the update's performance, a key component of any iOS update, especially for those with older devices they don't want to get rid of.  After using the iPhone 5 iOS 8.4 update for a week it remains stable on the iPhone 5. The UI lag is still visible at times but it's not overpowering like it was in earlier versions of iOS 8. Apps, battery life and connectivity are all holding up nicely as well.  It's an update that we think iPhone 5 users must consider as we push deeper into the summer particularly those dealing with problems. We don't know when an iOS 8.4.1 update might arrive and Apple's next confirmed update, iOS 9, is slated for the fall.  We do recommend seeking out the opinions of other iPhone 5 users and you can do that by poking around on social media (Twitter is great for this), Apple's discussion boards or Apple-centric forums like MacRumors.

> 1 / 10