The last thing they cannot take away and cannot control is offline physical goods, like books for example.
Not really. E.g. can download mp3 music and mp4 movies on my own HD and so far Microsoft Defender hasn't deleted them.
But to your point, even on a 1st gen iPad - at least the last time I tried a couple of years ago - you can still play music you bought from Apple using the Music app. As far as I know, iTunes still supports every iPod and iOS device ever made.
You can always download the app version that works for your phone using the Purchased section... the only real phone I have yet to be able to do this for is the iPhone 4 which did not have 64-bit apps.
My iPhone 5S and beyond all have access to every app that is available for 64-bit OS. It's often an older version of the app but that's kinda the Apple burden.
Older iOS versions have other problems as well. Safari is not an app that you can update, it's part of the OS. A lot of websites will simply stop working for you if your version is too old.
Sounds like a lot of hoop jumping and a lot of caveats. Even I, a pretty tech-savvy individual, wouldn't want to bother with that on my primary phone. Let alone ask a non-technical friend or family member to do so.
However, it's not realistic to say "it's impossible"
As I said, I'm still sporting a 11 year old iPad and using it for what it can do. It works for me. But I'm not expecting to use it like a modern iPad with modern software.
I agree with the device reset, that sucks. I never had to do that so I hadn't thought about this.
This is not true and hasn’t been true since around the time that iOS 7 came out.
About two years ago, I dusted off an old first gen iPad (circa 2010). I reset it and I was able to download “the last compatible version”. It’s option given to you by the App Store. I was able to use Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Spotify, Google Drive to read PDFs.
Not only can you use old versions of software, you can download them again if you reset your device.
Visit the purchased tab in the App Store and select the app you wish to download again, and you will receive the last compatible version for that particular device.
For example I just got an update to an app I've been using for a while. The update will sunset the app despite there being no online component to it. I'd kinda like to downgrade now, but the latest version compatible with my phone would be his sunsetted one.
The latest version tacks on so many ads and “free to play” IAPs that it’s an entirely different game (and tbh one that’s no longer usable). It’s good enough and holds enough nostalgia for me that I would pay $2-5/yr to keep it clean but that’s not an option any more.
Thankfully I have been keeping backups over the years (iMazing) and so I was able to spend some time going through old versions to find a good one, but that is only a solution if you’re planning ahead or if you have a time machine.
In that case, you borrow a newer device, sign in with your Apple ID, and download the app onto that device. Now that app will be in your purchase history and you can download the last compatible version for your older device.
At least I can still load PDFs onto it.
The old apps still install just fine and we’ve never had to make any effort to maintain it, or fiddle with operating systems or software or anything.
It’s hard to imagine a better value from a device like this, especially when you take into account the amount of time you would have to spend managing something that had more software freedom to it.
1) Anything that requires MFA via Apple.
2) Full backup/restore will not restore old versions of the apps. New versions are either unavailable or don't work.
3) Any popular streaming service such as Netflix/Amazon Prime/AppleTV.
2. You can manually go in and download “the last compatible version”
3. Netflix is usually good about supporting old devices. Amazon disabled an older auth protocol. Apple TV+ videos can be accessed via the web (tv.apple.com). While Safari seems to always redirect you to the app, Chrome for iOS doesn’t.
2.) This doesn't work when the app has been removed from the app store.
As an aside, I threw away my 1st gen Apple TV over a year ago because Apple bricked it. It needed MFA to sign in (because it timed out?) and only accepted four digits.
If I use LTE at least I have some coverage.
Not enough of a problem for me to start using 5G yet. But eventually it'll force my hand.
Apple does not give you the freedom to use old versions of software. You can't downgrade your iOS version. You can only upgrade apps, and iOS only lets you download the latest available version of an app for your version of iOS.
Need to do a device reset? If you have managed to keep any apps on old versions, you'll get upgraded now. And you can't even save APKs and sideload because of Apple's developer signatured and certs.
Old versions of iOS get some, but certainly not all security updates.
And most importantly... so, so, so many apps, from banking to navigation to music, insist on checking your app version and blocking usage with a massive dialog box if you're a couple of weeks out of date. It's incredibly obnoxious, especially when some of these apps update 2-3 times a week and each update is >100MB. I try to use those services from a web browser these days, but Safari is so limiting you can't even reliably block ironic "download the app" banners.
And that's to say nothing of actual cellular advancements, like new LTE bands and 5G and voLTE, which older phones understandably can't get... but which certain phone providers use to kick old phones off the network. For instance, AT&T no longer allows any activations for phones not on their (very limited) voLTE whitelist, since they shut down 3G.
Like OP, really wish I could just use the 2016 SE for the next 10 years. But even though the hardware is capable the software industry has pushed it into the "legacy" bin.