{"id":206962,"date":"2026-01-27T08:31:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/apples-old-iphone-update-is-a-quiet-jab-at-androids-weak-spot\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T08:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:40:07","slug":"apples-old-iphone-update-is-a-quiet-jab-at-androids-weak-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/apples-old-iphone-update-is-a-quiet-jab-at-androids-weak-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s old iPhone update is a quiet jab at Android\u2019s weak spot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/ios-update-old-apple-iphones-3635496\/\">Apple\u2019s old iPhone update is a quiet jab at Android\u2019s weak spot<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/ios-update-old-apple-iphones-3635496\/\">https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/ios-update-old-apple-iphones-3635496\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-01-27 08:31:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.androidauthority.com\">www.androidauthority.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Robert Triggs \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n<p>TL;DR<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Apple just updated 10+ year-old devices to extend a digital certificate that keeps iMessage, FaceTime, and device setup working past 2027.<\/li>\n<li>Without this fix, these devices would slowly break. Once the certificate expired, they\u2019d lose access to Apple\u2019s servers and core features.<\/li>\n<li>The update is about functional life support, not new features; devices remain on old iOS 12 and many modern apps won\u2019t work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Supporting a smartphone for more than a decade sounds almost impossible with how quickly new models come out these days, as in the case of Android models. But this week, Apple did just that by releasing a software update for iPhones that were first released more than 10 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Apple has quietly released iOS 12.5.8, a surprise update for legacy hardware that can\u2019t run modern versions of iOS, as spotted by a Reddit user. This includes the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, the original iPad Air, the iPad mini 2 and 3, and even the sixth-generation iPod touch.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"e_Ug\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw\" title=\"iOS update for old iPhones\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iOS-update-for-old-iPhones-scaled.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iOS-update-for-old-iPhones-48w-64h.jpg 48w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iOS-update-for-old-iPhones-1000w-1333h.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iOS-update-for-old-iPhones-1080w-1440h.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iOS-update-for-old-iPhones-810w-1080h.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iOS-update-for-old-iPhones-648w-864h.jpg 648w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iOS-update-for-old-iPhones-285w-380h.jpg 285w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iOS-update-for-old-iPhones-675w-900h.jpg 675w\" alt=\"iOS 12.5.8 update for old iPhones\" src=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/iOS-update-for-old-iPhones-scaled.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>This update isn\u2019t just about fixing bugs or improving performance. It makes one important change: extending a digital certificate. Without this patch, these devices would lose most of their smart features in January 2027.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"e_Ug\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"9.375rem\" title=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png 676w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x-64w-20h.png 64w\" alt=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png\"\/><img class=\"e_Ug\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"9.375rem\" title=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png 676w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x-64w-20h.png 64w\" alt=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Services like iMessage, FaceTime, and even device setup depend on digital certificates that expire for security reasons. If the certificate runs out, the phone can\u2019t connect to Apple\u2019s servers.<\/p>\n<p>If you use Android, this news feels a bit different. Recently, Google and Samsung have promised seven years of updates for their newest top phones, which is great for users. Still, Apple is doing something unique by supporting a phone from 2013.<\/p>\n<p>If you tried to turn on a top Android phone from the iPhone 5s era, like a Samsung Galaxy S4 or a Nexus 5, you\u2019d probably find a device that hasn\u2019t had any official updates from its maker in nearly a decade. While Android fans often rely on custom&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/ios-update-old-apple-iphones-3635496\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple\u2019s old iPhone update is a quiet jab at Android\u2019s weak spot https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/ios-update-old-apple-iphones-3635496\/ Publish Date:&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Apple-logo-purple.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[69,57],"class_list":["post-206962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone","tag-ios","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206964,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206962\/revisions\/206964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}