As we mentioned on Monday, Apple has released a new support document indicating that iCloud backup functionality will cease for iPhones and iPads operating on iOS 8 or earlier versions of the OS. We have also discovered that there will be limitations on syncing Safari bookmarks as well.
Safari sync will be disabled on certain iOS versions
According to another support article on Apple’s site, devices running versions older than iOS 11 will no longer sync Safari bookmarks through iCloud. Users with these devices will retain their existing bookmarks, but any new bookmarks will fail to sync between devices. This change will also impact Macs that are operating on versions prior to macOS Sierra 10.12.5.
Apple advises users to update their devices to at least iOS 11 or macOS Sierra 10.12.6 to continue syncing their Safari bookmarks via iCloud. For those unable to update to a compatible device, Safari bookmarks will still be accessible on iCloud.com.
In the future, iCloud Bookmarks will ensure your Safari bookmarks are synchronized across all your devices; just make sure all devices are updated to iOS 11 or later and your Mac is on macOS Sierra 10.12.6 or later. You can also sync bookmarks to a Windows PC by using iCloud for Windows and the iCloud Bookmarks browser extension.
iOS 11 marked the first version of Apple’s operating system to be compatible solely with 64-bit devices, rendering it incompatible with older devices such as the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, and iPad 4, which remain stuck on iOS 10. For macOS, any Mac released in 2012 or later can be upgraded to macOS Sierra to keep Safari bookmark syncing operational.
This announcement follows Apple’s earlier notification that iCloud backup will no longer function for devices running versions from iOS 5 to iOS 8. Apple states that existing backups on unsupported devices will also be removed from the cloud. Both of these changes will take effect on December 18, 2024.
Apple offers a webpage detailing the minimum system requirements for all its online services, which you can view here.
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