iOS 8.4 Update: 5 Things to Expect in August

We’re now more than a month removed from the iOS 8.4 release for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Over the past few weeks, tons of people have upgraded to iOS 8.4 for its fixes and for Apple Music. Here’s what iOS 8.4 users can expect from the update in August.

Several months ago, Apple confirmed an iOS 8.4 update for release after its iOS 8.3 update. The company confirmed the iOS 8.4 update with a beta release, on stage during WWDC 2015 and in the hours before the iOS 8.4 release date on June 30th.

iOS 8.4 is an extremely important update. It brings bug fixes for iOS 8 problems, enhancements and fixes to iBooks, and Apple’s brand new Apple Music platform to iPhone and iPad users capable of running the company’s iOS 8 operating system.

Its been over a month since Apple released the iOS 8.4 update but it remains extremely relevant thanks to Apple Music, iOS 8.4 problems, and a brand new version of the software that’s currently sitting in beta. iOS 8.4 will be the last major iOS 8 update before iOS 9 but iOS 8.4.1 will probably be the last iOS 8 update.

iOS 8.4 is old but it’s still important and today, we want to take another look at Apple’s iOS 8 update and tell you about a few things we (and you) should expect from it this month. The next few weeks should be pretty busy and this will help set your expectations if you’re an iOS 8.4 user or if you’ve been planning to upgrade soon.

iOS 8.4 Perfomance

We’ve been using the iOS 8.4 update for well over a month on several different devices including iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5, iPad Air 2, iPad Air, and iPad mini 2.

We’re happy to report that iOS 8.4 performance is holding up on all of these devices in the weeks after the update’s release and we don’t expect that to change between now and the release of Apple’s next iOS update.

We’ve been looking at five key areas on these devices. Those areas include battery life, connectivity (Wi-Fi, LTE, Bluetooth), speed of the UI, bugs and issues, and app performance. The only issues we’ve had are isolated Bluetooth problems on the iPhone 6 Plus and some UI slowdown on the iPhone 5.

The Bluetooth problems on the iPhone 6 Plus have dissipated while the speed issues on the iPhone 5 have become sporadic over the past few weeks. The other devices are performing very well, especially Apple’s iPad Air 2 and iPad Air.

If you’re already getting great performance out of iOS 8.4, don’t expect anything to change. If you haven’t installed iOS 8.4 yet, expect iOS 8.4 to be a solid update for your device. There’s always a little bit of risk involved but iOS 8.4 is stable for us and a lot of other people.

iOS 8.4 Problems

We do expect to continue to hear about iOS 8.4 problems August though we expect the loudest complaints to be reserved for Apple’s struggling Apple Music platform.

Immediately after the iOS 8.4 release, we started hearing about all sorts of Apple Music issues. Complaints about Apple’s new platform continue to this day and they’ve grown louder as more and more people have downloaded iOS 8.4 and tried Apple’s three month trial.

Apple’s discussion boards are full of complaints about Apple Music. Given that the company hasn’t released any big bug fix update for the service, we expect problems to continue to emerge in August. This is a new service and Apple’s still got a few kinks it needs to work out.

You should expect complaints about iOS 8.4 problems to continue though you should expect the issues to remain isolated. Now that we’re more than a month into iOS 8.4’s life, we doubt that anyone is going to encounter a game-changing bug affecting millions of device users all over the world.

This is precisely why we think now is as good of a time as any to make the move to Apple’s iOS 8.4 update. There are problems but it’s stable for a whole lot of people.

iOS 8.4.1 Update

At this point, we’re expecting the iOS 8.4 update to get replaced by the iOS 8.4.1 update this month. Apple hasn’t outlined a release date for its next iOS 8.4 update but with minimal changes in the iOS 8.4 beta 2 and an iOS 9 release on the horizon, we think this update is coming sooner rather than later.

We don’t expect the iOS 8.4.1 update to bring a whole lot of change for iOS 8.4 users. It’s likely going to come with some bug fixes (maybe for Apple Music) and some security enhancements. Nobody, not even the developers testing it right now, believe it will have much more than that on board.

Apple’s iOS release dates are pretty unpredictable so it’s hard to say when iOS 8.4 will get its replacement but again, it would be surprising to see the iOS 8.4.1 update emerge in September or days before the expected arrival of the iOS 9 update.

iOS 8.4.1 Problems

If you’re dealing with iOS 8.4 problems, there’s a chance that an iOS 8.4.1 release this month will fix them. That said, we don’t expect iOS 8.4.1 to fix every single problem that Apple’s iOS 8.4 update delivered to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users.

iOS problems often carry over from older updates particularly issues with connectivity. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues are especially difficult to fix and we only occasionally see Apple roll out fixes for those issues. We expect iOS 8.4.1 to come with very specific fixes and not general ones.

In addition to lingering iOS 8.4 problems, we expect to hear about iOS 8.4.1 problems when and if the update arrives this month. iOS 8.4.1 is going to be a small update but like all iOS updates before it, it will almost certainly bring its own collection of issues.

This is why, ahead of the iOS 8.4.1 release, iOS 8.4 users dealing with problems should be extremely proactive. Take a look at our list of fixes for iOS 8.4 problems, prepare your device for iOS 8.4.1, and take a look at our release date tips. They should help you.

iOS 8.4 Jailbreak

At this point we, and many others, are expecting the iOS 8.4.1 update to plug up the exploits used by the iOS 8.4 jailbreak. This isn’t confirmed but with virtually nothing on board the iOS 8.4.1 update, it has the potential to be a jailbreak buster.

We expect Apple to leave the iOS 8.4 downgrade process open for at least a week after the iOS 8.4.1 release though you’ll probably want to make your move to iOS 8.4 in the near future if you want to jailbreak a recent version of iOS.

The downgrade loophole will let you drop back down from iOS 8.4.1 to iOS 8.4 if you fail to download the iOS 8.4 update before iOS 8.4.1 arrives.

We’re expecting a busy August for the iOS 8.4 update so if you’re already on the update or thinking about moving to it, you’ll certainly want to be on your toes as we progress deeper into the month.

You Can Test Out iOS 8.4.1

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You might not know this but you can test out the iOS 8.4.1 update and drop back down to iOS 8.4 thanks to a loophole that Apple typically leaves open for a week or two.  Thanks to the downgrade process, iOS 8.4 users can download the iOS 8.4.1 update, try it for a few days, and then move back to iOS 8.4 if there is a noticeable drop in performance. It's a move that we've made several times on both iPhone and iPad. Look into the downgrade process now or on the iOS 8.4.1 release date. Remember, you'll only have a limited time to drop down so you'll want to get familiar with the process before the update comes out or on the iOS 8.4.1 release date itself.

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