iPad*

Although the iPad was only introduced in 2011, it was built on the same foundations as the iPhone using the same philosophy of interacting through a touch screen. As such, this section will focus not just on iPad devices but on all devices (iPhone, iPod and iPad) that share the same operating system, iOS. Many of these devices share the same features since they use the same infrastructure that is built within iOS. However, some functionality will differ based on several factors.

1) The first is the device type. iPhones for example are designed first and foremost as a communication device and therefore will have the ability to make phone calls and send text through a phone carrier. This is an ability that is not available to other devices even if an iPad is equipped with a cellular SIM card (the SIM card provides data only cell service). The device type affects built-in services, built-in Apple apps, as well as third party apps which may appear in the App store only on specific device types.

2) The age of the device. As Apple has gone through many iPhone models (18 to be exact; 13 if you don't count variations of the same model), these devices have improved significantly and become increasingly more powerful over the years. Not only has the processing chips become more powerful, but advances in battery life, file storage, audio and video technology have allowed these devices to become smaller and more efficient. Clearly, an original iPhone/iPad can not be expected to perform the same as the newest model.

3) The version of the operating system (iOS which was renamed iPadOS in 2019) also dictates what is and what isn't possible to do with the device. Each year, Apple has made a practice of introducing a new iOS version. With each version comes new features which affect how users interact with their device. For example, the control center in iOS 10 is different from that in iOS 11.

For the longest time, most devices were able to update to the newest operating system. More recently however, Apple has made the decision to close support on a number of their legacy devices meaning that those devices are no longer able to access the newest version of iOS. See chart below to reference iOS compatibility.

Finally, not all apps work with all iOS versions. Some apps require the device to be updated to the latest version. Other apps will not work on the latest version. Some apps will work on all iOS versions but they may require loading an older version of the app. As there are so many different app manufacturers, how an app functions is dependent on the manufacturer to update their app to maintain iOS compatibility.