iOS 8 Officially Rolls Out Sept 17: 6 Critical Reasons to Skip Apple’s OS Upgrade

As promised, Apple will let loose its new iOS 8 beginning on September 17 and gradually bump off last year's iOS 7 from millions of iPhones, iPads and iPods.

While Apple fans are understandably excited about the prospect of tasting the fresh iOS experience, experts are in agreement that the rush to step up could bring more harm than benefits to existing iDevice users.

And there are, in fact, six reasons to skip or at least delay the software's entry to your Apple devices:

Bugs galore

Software updates is not a walk in the park even coming from Apple. History dictates that glitches will always emerge and the new iOS 8 is no different.

To be spared the trouble of having to deal with bugs - sluggishness, unstable Wi-Fi connection and quick battery drain among them - as the immediate aftermath of installation, it is best to wait out for Apple's next critical or corrective patch deployment before taking the plunge.

App compatibility

While iOS 8 beta builds have been previously provided to developers for them to adjust their application codes to the new platform, the likelihood of app incompatibly right after the software roll out cannot be totally discounted.

One key reason not to join the bandwagon, for now, is to be free from trouble of having to deal with misbehaving apps that overwhelmed by the new OS.

Device optimisation

Apple has assured that its old devices such as the iPad 2, the iPhone 4S and the fifth-gen iPod will work well with iOS 8 following its installation.

But according to ZDNet, ageing gadgets normally encounter hiccups after chewing in OS updates. So if the mentioned devices above are currently beset by iOS 7 issues, it is best to stick with the software on hand.

Most likely, jumping to iOS 8 will not solve the problems inherited from the predecessor, ZDNet added.

Using a work iPhone/iPad

Company IT departments don't usually upgrade to the latest software, opting to observe first and identify the possible issues to emerge and resolve them before opening their private system. It is best stay in synch with this practice for users who were issued work iPhones and iPads.

Preserve your jailbreak

As for private users who prefer the liberated iOS on their devices, updating to iOS 8 will surely kill their jailbreak. With the prospect of having to wait a long time before the next Evasi0n or Pangu unlocking tool will arrive, shunning the latest Apple OS for the moment is the wise thing to do for jailbreak fans.

No or little chance of turning back

Failure to resist the iOS 8 allure would likely lock out jailbreakers from the next jailbreak edition as only a downgrade would allow them a re-entry. However, rolling back to iOS 7 or its parallel jailbreak build from iOS 8 seems a remote possibility as the likes of Team Evad3rs are more focused on finding the exploits for an iOS 8 workaround.

The likelihood is, these devs are not too inclined to dispatch an iOS 8 downgrade tool after its release date this week as the group would be more focused in unlocking Apple's mobile operating system.