iPhone Woes; a cautionary tale

[MarionC]

A software update alert on an iPhone can change your life! I have [had] an old "4S" model and yesterday morning it said it had a software update for me.
I said yes to that, now my phone no longer works and I lost all my data - 2500 photos, address book, you name it. I also lost hours and hours trying to get a fix for it. Finally after an hour with an Apple senior tech, she said my phone didn't have the storage capacity to handle the update and something went wrong. In other words, my ignorance and Apple's ...whatever...caused a great deal of trouble.
Happy ending is, out of frustration I impulsively bought a 6+ with free overnight delivery. It will be fun to have a new toy with a great camera, but somehow I feel a bit disconcerted about the events and thought perhaps to save someone else from the same fate!

Of course I know you are all much more up-to-date than I am and would never be using an antique phone like a 4S to begin with : )

 

[Calliecake]

Jimmianne, I have the same phone you have and received the same message a few days ago. I did not say yes to the upgrade. Thank you so much for posting this. I guess I will also be getting a new phone in the next week.

 

[iLander]

So sorry to hear this, Jimmianne! That's awful to lose all that info! I hope you had it backed up on a computer.

I think the truth of it is they don't want to support the 4's any more, so they're forcing their customers to buy new. Nothing like a little software bomb to move that along.

I also have a 4 something and have been ignoring update requests for months. I heard many stories of people updating their iPhones and getting locked out of the iPhone 7's, 6's, etc., by glitches. Every time there's an update the news is full of horror stories.

I have no desire to upgrade my phone. The newer map program is awful, and using DH's phone, it led us into an airplane hanger when we were looking for a post office. The text font is too skinny, and frankly I don't see anything that I would call an "upgrade".

Apple has a lot of clever marketing, but if it was called "Joe's Phonez 2 Go" people would see if for what it is; not that great. The reception is so-so in many areas, the software is buggy, and it invades our privacy continuously by tracking us, place/time stamping our photos, and the "new" features, like pay with your phone, have been common in Japanese phones for many years. And don't get me started on how iTunes keep marking the songs I've downloaded from actual CD's as "not accessible" after a few months. Honestly, it's a mediocre manufacturer with great marketing.

The only reason I keep mine is because it's slightly cooler-looking than an Android phone.

 

[MarionC]

Callie, I'm glad my post saved you some aggravation.

iLander - I did not have my phone backed up! But I had very few contacts in it that I can't quickly add again. I will miss a few videos of my puppy, who is now 14 months, but it is what it is. I hope I don't hate the new phone!!!

 

[ame]

OH LAWD NO! I hope you at least had them all backed up!? That is insane.

 

[MarionC]

Insane, yes!
Surprising? not completely : (

 

[azstonie]

Jimmieanne, that stinks. I have a friend who works in IT who never does uodstes, swears its the beginning of screwing up your device I don't think its a coincidence that every computer and device I've owned has died after an update.

 

[Sky56]

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. I also put off updating my 4 iPhone. I was afraid of what would happen, especially after my brother experienced some glitches which were far more minor than yours. Finally I recently updated IOS after having frustrations with slowness on some websites and not being able to download some apps, so I took the plunge and was surprised that nothing bad happened and my phone works better now. I did make sure that my phone had a lot of memory available. I deleted a lot of my songs before the upgrade, I was tired of them anyway and plan to put more in later.

 

[missy]

Ugh, sorry Jimmianne. At least you have a pretty shiny new phone to show for your troubles. How are you enjoying the new phone so far?

And add me to the list of people afraid to update their computers. My macbook air has been urging me every day to run the updates for the last 12 months and I have been hitting the not today option lol. I keep waiting for it to explode though as it is very persistent about wanting to do those updates haha. My dh keeps telling me to just run them but your experience (and others) reinforces my concerns.

Hope you are loving your new phone!

 

[MarionC]

WOW it's huge.
I may have to send it back - it's more like a tablet.
HOWEVER - when I activated it all my photos & contacts came up!!!

 

[MisterMadelise]

I'm sorry this happened. The caution to take really is to regularly back-up your phone. Make it a habit while you're charging up and sleeping!

 

[MisterMadelise]

WOW it's huge.
I may have to send it back - it's more like a tablet.
HOWEVER - when I activated it all my photos & contacts came up!!!

Well I should definitely read follow up posts! That's great.

The 6+ is big. Can you exchange it for the 6?

 

[MarionC]

yes, I just called and can exchange it easily.
I'm playing with it a bit - seeing if I like using it to watch movies - then it might be worth keeping.
But as far as sticking it in a pocket to go to the barn or out hiking...hm probably not without having a special case.
My first words when I opened the box were O!M!G! It's really not a phone unless you are a giant.

I think they can probably restore my old 4S, but now I have new phone fever lol

If only the Apple store were not an hour away. I actually ordered this new phone to avoid the hassle of driving there and hanging out, justified by the fact that the old phone was, well, old.

Keep in mind I would drive TWO hours to see a great diamond. A phone, not so much.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I love everything about my iPhone 6, but the 6+ is just too big for me for a phone. It is more like a mini iPad. I am glad your things were obviously backed up on iCloud!!! I was about to say that and then I saw you discovered it on the new phone! The camera is better and with my aging eyes, I appreciate the size of the 6. But I won't go larger than this because with the case, it is as large as I can comfortably hold in my hand.

 

[marcy]

Jimmianne, that is great everything showed up on the new phone. I have the 6 and like it. The Plus was appealing but I couldn't see talking on something that big.

 

[MarionC]

Jimmieanne, that stinks. I have a friend who works in IT who never does uodstes, swears its the beginning of screwing up your device I don't think its a coincidence that every computer and device I've owned has died after an update.

now this is funny - as soon as I activated my new phone it displayed an update request.

I got dressed up to drive an hour to the mall to exchange it yesterday and then decided it was too much trouble to deal with Apple in person.
So, I am getting used to the phone - when I think of it as "a tablet I can use for calls", I don't freak out that I have a phone the size of Texas. [here in it's case].

 

[missy]

Love your case Jimmianne. I enjoy a big screen whether it is a phone or tablet and would like the size of the 6+ I think. So much easier to see what you are trying to read on it. I find myself enlarging everything on my screen these days lol. Hope you are liking your new phone!

 

[AprilBaby]

I got the iPhone 6 and thought it was huge. Two weeks later I was sorry I didn't get the 6 plus because photos of my new grand baby are awesome on it! Lucky me, son is an apple manager and I got my 6 plus!

 

[MarionC]

I got the iPhone 6 and thought it was huge. Two weeks later I was sorry I didn't get the 6 plus because photos of my new grand baby are awesome on it! Lucky me, son is an apple manager and I got my 6 plus!

Yay! I think I'll hang in there with it. Already it's become part of life and it "just" fits in a coat pocket. The video features are awesome.

 

[April20]

I have the 4S as well and don't have enough memory to update. Sounds like that's a good thing!

 

[MarionC]

The 4S is a great phone, aside from the lack of storage for apps & photos. I bought more cloud space but then discovered that photos can't be saved to the cloud.