To the surprise of almost everyone who knows a thing or two about Apple and iOS, the Cupertino-based tech giant released another update last week, iOS 9.3.4, which quashed the idea that the previous iOS 9.3.3 update would be the final one. This new update is said to be a security update for both the iPhone and iPad, but does it improve performance?
What you need to know
What was most surprising about the iOS 9.3.4 update was that rather than providing it as multiple betas to developers and some registered users as it usually would, Apple decided to launch it with no notice to anyone at all. Many in the jailbreaking community believed this was done to counter or patch the iOS 9.3.3 PanGu jailbreak.
Over the last few days, one quick-minded YouTube user decided to test the performance of iOS 9.3.4 against that of iOS 9.3.3 on various compatible iPhone models. He did this to look for undocumented improvements and test the speed of each piece of firmware.
He used a 32GB iPhone 4s, 64GB iPhone 5 and 5s, and 16GB iPhone 6 and 6s.
Cold boot test
On the iPhone 4s, both iOS 9.3.4 and iOS 9.3.3 are identical in terms of the amount of time it takes them to cold boot. However, when it comes to the iPhone 5, iOS 9.3.4 has what seems like a small advantage, as it boots up just a bit quicker than it did on iOS 9.3.3. The iPhone 5s running on iOS 9.3.4 also booted faster than it did with iOS 9.3.3.
The iPhone 6 also boots faster with iOS 9.3.4 but strangely, the iPhone 6s booted faster with iOS 9.3.3. Of course that doesn’t make any sense at all, but that was he found.
Launching apps
With the iPhone 4s, we saw similar boot time results across both versions of the firmware; however, when it comes to launching some apps, iOS 9.3.4 is marginally (milliseconds) faster. Additionally, it seems that when it comes to memory, iOS 9.3.3 catches up quickly, and those millisecond differences disappear.
iOS 9.3.4 versus iOS 9.3.4 on iPhone 6S
Thanks to iAppleBytes, we have a selection of videos which show the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5/5s, and iPhone 6/6s being tested with both versions of the firmware installed. So watch them all or take a look at the one that relates to the iPhone variant you have.
iOS 9.3.4 versus iOS 9.3.4 on iPhone 6
iOS 9.3.4 versus iOS 9.3.4 on iPhone 5s
iOS 9.3.4 versus iOS 9.3.4 on iPhone 5
iOS 9.3.4 versus iOS 9.3.4 on iPhone 4s
Final thoughts
So overall, you can say that there is a marginal performance difference to be gained from updating to iOS 9.3.4. However, if you’re a jailbreak user, you’re advised not to upgrade. Not only will it remove your iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak, but Apple could stop signing iOS 9.3.3 sometime soon, and if it does, you wouldn’t be able to roll back and re-jailbreak your device.
If you have tested your device on iOS 9.3.4 and want to roll back to iOS 9.3.3, here’s how you can do that.
