What can I use my old iPhone 4s for?

[billybronco1]

I bought a new iPhone 6 and kept my old iPhone 4s as it still works on wifi for listening to Pandora or what ever. So I went in and deleted lots of Apps to clean up the old phone and all is good except..... I see some Apps need updates. It seems there is no way to update the Apps on the old phone it just keeps spinning even when on a good wifi signal. So over time Apps like Pandora will need an update and I will not be able to do it. Is this phone basically going to be useless over time? Any way to download or update Apps on and old phone with no cellular connection?

 

[xrayeyes]

I have a second generation iPod that I still use for music and connecting to my tv. You should get a few more years at least with your 4s. You can try updating using iTunes, but the apps will only update to the level that the 4s will support. I have not really noticed any issues with older versions of the apps I'm using. Generally, updates are to support newer iOS versions, so with your 4s you probably don't really need the updates.

 

[scifan57]

If you have a good WiFi connection, you should be able to update your apps without problems.

 

[rasmith1959]

If you have a good WiFi connection, you should be able to update your apps without problems.

Unless the update requires a newer version of iOS that what is running on the phone....


Sent from my iPad Air using Tapatalk

 

[scifan57]

Unless the update requires a newer version of iOS that what is running on the phone....


Sent from my iPad Air using Tapatalk

In that case you'll not see the update notification. The 4S, though, can be updated to iOS 8.2.

 

[ardchoille]

I still have my 4S.. it serves me well as an iPod Touch now that I am on a newer iPhone. I'm not getting rid of my old Apple gear, it may be worth a bunch in 30 years

 

[Ledsteplin]

Games, email, forums, notes...just about everything but talkin' and textin' and any other carrier function.


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5. ☮

 

[billybronco1]

Well, for some reason I can not update nor download new apps to this old phone, it just spins and spins. I'm signed in to iTunes and have a good WIFI connection. If I hook it to my computer can I update it that way? Will it be completely separate from my new phone? At one point I would download an APP to my new phone and it ended up on my old phone so I signed out of iTunes on the old phone I think that fixed the problem.

 

[scifan57]

If you don't want apps you download to your new iPhone to automatically appear on your 4S, go to Settings>iTunes & App Store and turn off automatic downloads.

It's possible you don't have a strong enough WiFi connection to successfully update your 4S OTA. Using iTunes to do the update could help.

iTunes will not confuse your 4S with your new iPhone when doing the update. You can keep the contents of each phone completely separate if you want.

 

[billybronco1]

Okay, I hear what your saying. Does this hold true for downloading new app? Should I still be able to download to this old phone? I'm trying now, I have a strong WIFI signal and it just spins & spins. I'm afraid to update anything like Netflix because I know it will not update and will gray out the app making it unusable. I basically use the phone for Netflix & Pandora only.

 

[scifan57]

Okay, I hear what your saying. Does this hold true for downloading new app? Should I still be able to download to this old phone? I'm trying now, I have a strong WIFI signal and it just spins & spins. I'm afraid to update anything like Netflix because I know it will not update and will gray out the app making it unusable. I basically use the phone for Netflix & Pandora only.

You can download anything from iTunes or the App Store while on WiFi. Apps are quite a bit smaller than the download file for an iOS version so they should download fine with a decent WiFi signal.

 

[billybronco1]

Okay sounds good, now why can't I do it? I tried to download a new app and it spins for 10 minutes then fails. All updates just sit and spin. Do I need to turn something on or off, sign in some place? I'm signed in to iTunes on the phone. Can my second phone have anything to do with the problem, maybe shut it off or something - I'm lost

 

[scifan57]

Maybe you have a weak WiFi signal with low bandwidth? It there anywhere else with WiFi where you could try downloading an app?

 

[billybronco1]

I have no idea what happened but now its updating and I can download new apps. So strange, I shut off my new phone and set use cellular data on the old one and it started working. I turn on the new phone and shut off use cellular data on the old phone and it still works. I don't know what happened but its doing what u said it should - thanks

 

[billybronco1]

But now this boggles my mind even more. Now that I can download an app on my old phone it end up on my new phone - why? I have one iTunes account but these phone have different ID's I would think.