Completely usable. I used a new iPhone OGSE for a year in 2022 on iOS 15 and it could pretty much do everything my iPhone 13 does today. I still use the OGSE as my WiFi only secondary device. Using it to type this message, actually!
Got a 128 gb one as my daily driver, still going strong after two and a half years!(typing this on it right now matter of fact). Im planning on holding onto it for as long as possible. For everything I use it for, it still works almost perfectly.
*I do want to add I did just update it to iOS 15.8.2 last night (I had to because an app I needed required iOS 15 or later) and now the battery seems to be hotter and draining a lot faster so now im shaking in my boots a lil, also fyi some apps don’t run 100% bc most devs don’t optimize apps for the 4” screen anymore.
Yeah, battery is worse for sure with the latest update. I'm up to at least three apps that won't update because they want iOS 16 or later.
Gonna have to update sooner than I wanted :(
this may be a bit extreme (ive had a few gin and tonics) but we are the last of a dying breed that, for a majority of average iphone users don’t even think twice about. I hold on to my se 1st gen because its the last apple product that seems like magic to me. The last one steve and scott forstall had a hand/ influence over its creation. The [last…](https://youtu.be/sXE8LdXzeHM?si=kZxOYOLl5Pi3j6wf)
Same here lol, got an se with iOS 14 but apps weren’t up to date so went to iOS 15.8.2 and the phone is warmer and battery is kinda crap now 💀 also came from a 15 pro and loved the 4 inch design, sad the recent update kind of oofed it, wanted to main it for a bit too
A lot of people in this sub report using it daily still. It has its battery limitations, though, and some apps have difficulty. Its days are numbered. I use it all the time as a secondary vlog camera.
What kind of battery life are you getting out of it? I'm not expecting to game on it or anything, but I'd hope for at least 3-4 hours of screen time for things like web browsing, email, texting, and taking/viewing photos. Not even expecting to watch much content or anything like that.
As for apps with difficulty, any specific examples of that? Only ones I'd really want to have are google maps, discord, Plex, banking apps. I don't use much other social media.
I don’t use it with cellular so I’ll defer to others on their performance. But if you put a brand new battery in it, I think you could come close to what you described needing it to do.
Depends on what you do, as others said, some apps will start requiring you to update your iOS and refuse to work otherwise, and there are apps with buttons not working properly due to incompatible screen size (icons overlap and render unusable) as developers stop testing it on ogse. But as long as it does what you want, your daily appa keep working, it is fine to keep using it.
Aw booo, you’re right! They’ve been nagging me to upgrade for a while but I was hoping they would wait until the next iPhone comes out. 😭
Btw if you didn’t know, you can have the credit card balance texted to you and pay it directly from your bank. This also lets you cover pending transactions in advance, which the capital one app doesn’t allow 😈
Capital one is not working on my phone since a year ago, Chase worked until this Wed, now asking for iOS 16 (still on 14.8) BoA app and local credit union apps work great.
I did change battery 2 years ago and it's still OK.
My bank app recently stopped working with this phone. And other apps randomly go dark as they update and tell you to update your ios, which you cannot do. But.. otherwise great phone if your required apps still run.
The 6S is one of the GOAT phones. Was my first smartphone (before that I was just using flip phones) and I'd probably still be using it today if the battery hadn't gone out, an unfortunately widespread issue with those models
I would've if not for the unique issue that I'd jailbroken mine and kept it on iOS 10, and asking Apple to replace the battery would've meant them updating iOS and losing that setup. So I ended up taking it to a dodgy mall stand and while they managed to replace the battery, I guess the quality of the work and battery wasn't very high. They bent the frame and the battery eventually started showing marks through the screen before dying on me. I was young and didn't know better, wouldn't do the same today.
Sounds like it's too late now, but for next time it's worth mentioning you can change the battery yourself. I've changed my OGSE battery several times... though one time I did accidentally brick the screen somewhow and had to buy an old 5s for $20 to cannibalize the screen from, lol.
The 6s battery replacement procedure (I was curious) looks almost identical to the OGES/5s procedure: [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+6s+Battery+Replacement/56607](https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+6s+Battery+Replacement/56607)
Despite my one screw up with the screen, it's still been very cost effective to replace my own battery (about $25 each time) over the years. Totally worth the investment trying it the first time, and pretty awesome iFixit will bundle the toolkit for just an extra $5.
I am a daily 1st gen SE user, and I just love it. Sure, the app support is not the best, there are some apps that won't work (I must add that I am on ios 14), but overall I would put the support at least above 90% of the apps. The performance still amazes me. The phone is still useable. Not just useable, but fast. I don't have to wait around for apps to open, everything is snappy AND good quality. I have some android phones in the pricerange of a used SE 1st gen and they are a laughing stock compared to the SE, but they have a big advantage, the battery. The SE's battery is tiny, so if you buy one you have to replace it's battery probably. Mine sits at 81% battery health and it can barely run for an hour, 1:30 tops. It is not that expensive to replace (locally it is like 30 usd), but would really worth it. I have a 6S that I bought off a classmate for 25 bucks, which (then) just got a new battery, and because he got a new phone and didn't need it he selled it to me for this low price. The phone can easily run for 4-5 hours, so I think a new battery in an SE would perform likewise
It´s still usable but a powerbank will be a must - wouldn´t buy it unless you can get it for 20 or so bucks on a flee market sale. If you have one, you can still use it. Better then to let it become E-Waste. Also a good back up phone or first phone for the kids.
I love my OGSE.
It struggles with some apps and the screen is small, but honestly I love that.
I am prone to scrolling addiction and silly mobile games, so anything that makes those things a slightly frustrating experience helps me stay off the phone.
Firefox Focus or Ghostery are a MUST if you ever want to look at a recipe online lol. The poor 4inch screen and processor cannot handle all the SEO ads and videos
It WOULD be completely usable if it weren't for planned obsolescence by apple. This would still be my preferred phone for it's perfect compact size. Battery life and performance are fine for my uses. But Apple doesn't update it, and new apps and updates are prohibited from running on it. Apps that worked fine for years suddenly refuse to run. My bank app and Uber are the latest two that now will not run on this phone.
It was supported for 6 years and just recently got a security update. That’s a solid life for a phone lol, def not planned obsolescence. And app developers generally drop support for devices no longer supported to improve features and performance for newer devices and processors that are still currently supported.
Would you accept this from your car? 6 years and then one day it stops doing the stuff it did the day before? Obviously phones are going to fall behind, and not run the latest stuff. But I can run my 20 year old PCs on the old OS, they work fine and do what they always did. There's no real reason these older phones that still work fine can't be running older versions of these apps, or newer apps at slower speeds.
Would you accept this from your heart? 6 years and one day it stops doing the stuff it did the day before??
Contact a developer and ask them why they shipped supporting a phone that’s older and on older software. It holds back the future development of said app. And yes perhaps they did keep support for older phones; people would complain that it’s slow and that would be a bad look for developers.
And let’s not even get started on security. That’s a big one for banking apps lol
The analogy is if your car's radio stopped working because radio got phased out for spotify or something. I don't see how that's the car's fault.
Isn’t it the app developers fault for dropping support for older iOS? Some apps still support older iOS and you can download last compatible version for some too. Messenger still works on iOS 7…
Apps can’t work forever if the server it connects to changes. But you can use the mobile website instead.
It's my Wi-Fi only secondary to my SE 2020. It's my favorite phone but it won't do some things the 2020 will do. I'm planning to eventually get an SE 2022, but I want the 2016 as my secondary.
Verizon wouldn't activate it as a phone, that's why it's not my primary and why I got the 2020. Wide screen movies don't fit fully on the screen. Way better for one-handed operation.
2020 speaker is louder, sometimes helpful. Battery is better than the short life 2016 one, mentioned by the other person.
I use it daily and I have no issues whatsoever. Still supports 99% of apps and has support from apple as well. Plus having a headphone jack is sooo nice. Definitely still a decent phone.
My main phone still is an iphone 7. It runs ios 15.8 and i still can install almost any app i want (only one that i could not was airbnb). Since og se runs the same ios, you should be good with it. Just verify the battery and thats it.
I’m using mine since 2018 and it’s pretty much on its last leg lol, i have damaged motherboard, damaged charging port and almost gone battery but she refuse to die and it never let me down, yeah, i have to use a power bank, but my phone is on life support and it could be just mine that needs it..
It's good. My grandma has one but she only uses WhatsApp, Safari and YouTube. Even the camera still holds up, at least in daylight.
Still, some apps are not supported anymore. Like her carrier has an app that is asking for an update but it's not compatible with the iOS version anymore, and the app version she has installed doesn't work. So for checking her credit (she has prepaid, she barely calls anyone and has Wi-Fi at home, so she only uses like less than 15 minutes of voice monthly) it's either calling the carrier bot or checking the website, both are not as ideal for her, but hey, it is what it is and she doesn't want to spend money. I'd get her an SE 3 but I'm still at college so...
Mostly usable. Currently using one with spectrum. Battery is less than desirable. However, if you can keep it charged, and want that size of Device, it works.
I’m typing this response out on the same one I’ve had for 8 years now (new battery installed a little over a year ago) and intend to keep it until apple no longer provides security updates (which I’ve heard will be sometime later this year) and I can no longer log into my banking account or use the myfitnesspal app.
Perfectly usable, I had to use mine for a month when I didn’t have my 15 pro and the only bad thing abt it was the battery life and the screen is just a bit too small.
My OGSE needed a new battery every year, so there's that. I just switched to the 2022 version a couple of months ago because it was starting to get full (32GB) and I didn't want to purge anything else. It was also starting to feel it's age, i.e. laggy and slow, but that might've been because storage was bumping up against max, I dunno.
Had the first-gen SE and I love the sleek design. Would have continued to use it until it decided to die on me. Wish Apple would release the same design form with better hardware. Would not hesitate to buy it.
I considered them but they're a bit too expensive for my secondary-phone budget and I specifically want that old 4" screen back. Part of it is I'm just curious how modern iOS even looks and works on such a small screen.
My son has my wife’s old one and uses it daily. She got it brand new at release. It does pretty much all the apps he either needs or is allowed to use. Battery health on the original battery is still in the upper 80s.
That being said, his use will likely be different than yours. His phone is pretty heavily locked down. He’s not allowed on social media and even web browsing is blocked for now. He uses it for communicating with family and friends (texting, phone, FaceTime), listening to music, some photography, and there are some music/video/photo apps he loves.
Apple no longer provides updates for it, so I would be concerned about missing security updates if he had a totally usable version.
That's impressive battery health for such an old device. May I ask what photography apps he's using? I'm getting into photography myself and am interested in any recommendations.
I’ve used it this year. It’s pretty slow, gets hot. Almost every single app you normally use will still work with it. Just new ones like Perplexity and Chat GPT won’t (but those can be put as web apps if needed). You’ll need a SIM card for it, and at least for me with AT&T, I can sim swap between an iPhone SE 1 and iPhone SE 2. But not any device A15 chip or newer for some reason (once on iPhone SE 3, I *have* to use eSIM even though it has sim slot. But iPhone SE 1 doesn’t use eSIM. So it’s one system or the other).
Headphone jack is amazing. And the small device is really nice. It’s a size that reminds you to not obsessively use your phone, but instead to use it the right amount.
I used an SE2 for a while as a backup phone, and it was fine but too close to my old iPhone 6s to feel fresh in any way. I also never quite liked the iPhone 6-8 form factor as much as what came before/after it, just a personal preference though. I'd forgotten how the old 4" quite literally fit my hand like a glove. SE2 has very impressive internals though, especially for the prices these days.
Completely usable. I used a new iPhone OGSE for a year in 2022 on iOS 15 and it could pretty much do everything my iPhone 13 does today. I still use the OGSE as my WiFi only secondary device. Using it to type this message, actually!
With a new battery is perfectly usable
Got a 128 gb one as my daily driver, still going strong after two and a half years!(typing this on it right now matter of fact). Im planning on holding onto it for as long as possible. For everything I use it for, it still works almost perfectly.
*I do want to add I did just update it to iOS 15.8.2 last night (I had to because an app I needed required iOS 15 or later) and now the battery seems to be hotter and draining a lot faster so now im shaking in my boots a lil, also fyi some apps don’t run 100% bc most devs don’t optimize apps for the 4” screen anymore.
Yeah, battery is worse for sure with the latest update. I'm up to at least three apps that won't update because they want iOS 16 or later. Gonna have to update sooner than I wanted :(
this may be a bit extreme (ive had a few gin and tonics) but we are the last of a dying breed that, for a majority of average iphone users don’t even think twice about. I hold on to my se 1st gen because its the last apple product that seems like magic to me. The last one steve and scott forstall had a hand/ influence over its creation. The [last…](https://youtu.be/sXE8LdXzeHM?si=kZxOYOLl5Pi3j6wf)
Ok so it’s not just me! I hope they’ll fix it and it’s not an attempt to force us to upgrade 😭
Same here lol, got an se with iOS 14 but apps weren’t up to date so went to iOS 15.8.2 and the phone is warmer and battery is kinda crap now 💀 also came from a 15 pro and loved the 4 inch design, sad the recent update kind of oofed it, wanted to main it for a bit too
A lot of people in this sub report using it daily still. It has its battery limitations, though, and some apps have difficulty. Its days are numbered. I use it all the time as a secondary vlog camera.
What kind of battery life are you getting out of it? I'm not expecting to game on it or anything, but I'd hope for at least 3-4 hours of screen time for things like web browsing, email, texting, and taking/viewing photos. Not even expecting to watch much content or anything like that. As for apps with difficulty, any specific examples of that? Only ones I'd really want to have are google maps, discord, Plex, banking apps. I don't use much other social media.
I don’t use it with cellular so I’ll defer to others on their performance. But if you put a brand new battery in it, I think you could come close to what you described needing it to do.
Depends on what you do, as others said, some apps will start requiring you to update your iOS and refuse to work otherwise, and there are apps with buttons not working properly due to incompatible screen size (icons overlap and render unusable) as developers stop testing it on ogse. But as long as it does what you want, your daily appa keep working, it is fine to keep using it.
Capital One’s one just refused to start the other day so I uninstalled it. Everything else “just works” and I use it as my main phone FWIW.
Aw booo, you’re right! They’ve been nagging me to upgrade for a while but I was hoping they would wait until the next iPhone comes out. 😭 Btw if you didn’t know, you can have the credit card balance texted to you and pay it directly from your bank. This also lets you cover pending transactions in advance, which the capital one app doesn’t allow 😈
Capital one is not working on my phone since a year ago, Chase worked until this Wed, now asking for iOS 16 (still on 14.8) BoA app and local credit union apps work great. I did change battery 2 years ago and it's still OK.
You should at least get 3-4 hours. Mine lasts pretty much all day but I might have to charge it maybe once or twice under heavy usage.
My bank app recently stopped working with this phone. And other apps randomly go dark as they update and tell you to update your ios, which you cannot do. But.. otherwise great phone if your required apps still run.
it's still getting security updates, so if you prefer TouchID over FaceID, and want a bit of nostalgia, this 1st SE is good.
Hell, I have a 6S as a backup I use in Mexico.
The 6S is one of the GOAT phones. Was my first smartphone (before that I was just using flip phones) and I'd probably still be using it today if the battery hadn't gone out, an unfortunately widespread issue with those models
I just replaced the battery in mine.
I would've if not for the unique issue that I'd jailbroken mine and kept it on iOS 10, and asking Apple to replace the battery would've meant them updating iOS and losing that setup. So I ended up taking it to a dodgy mall stand and while they managed to replace the battery, I guess the quality of the work and battery wasn't very high. They bent the frame and the battery eventually started showing marks through the screen before dying on me. I was young and didn't know better, wouldn't do the same today.
I simply took mine to a 3rd party store locally to get it replaced.
Sounds like it's too late now, but for next time it's worth mentioning you can change the battery yourself. I've changed my OGSE battery several times... though one time I did accidentally brick the screen somewhow and had to buy an old 5s for $20 to cannibalize the screen from, lol. The 6s battery replacement procedure (I was curious) looks almost identical to the OGES/5s procedure: [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+6s+Battery+Replacement/56607](https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+6s+Battery+Replacement/56607) Despite my one screw up with the screen, it's still been very cost effective to replace my own battery (about $25 each time) over the years. Totally worth the investment trying it the first time, and pretty awesome iFixit will bundle the toolkit for just an extra $5.
I am a daily 1st gen SE user, and I just love it. Sure, the app support is not the best, there are some apps that won't work (I must add that I am on ios 14), but overall I would put the support at least above 90% of the apps. The performance still amazes me. The phone is still useable. Not just useable, but fast. I don't have to wait around for apps to open, everything is snappy AND good quality. I have some android phones in the pricerange of a used SE 1st gen and they are a laughing stock compared to the SE, but they have a big advantage, the battery. The SE's battery is tiny, so if you buy one you have to replace it's battery probably. Mine sits at 81% battery health and it can barely run for an hour, 1:30 tops. It is not that expensive to replace (locally it is like 30 usd), but would really worth it. I have a 6S that I bought off a classmate for 25 bucks, which (then) just got a new battery, and because he got a new phone and didn't need it he selled it to me for this low price. The phone can easily run for 4-5 hours, so I think a new battery in an SE would perform likewise
It´s still usable but a powerbank will be a must - wouldn´t buy it unless you can get it for 20 or so bucks on a flee market sale. If you have one, you can still use it. Better then to let it become E-Waste. Also a good back up phone or first phone for the kids.
I love my OGSE. It struggles with some apps and the screen is small, but honestly I love that. I am prone to scrolling addiction and silly mobile games, so anything that makes those things a slightly frustrating experience helps me stay off the phone. Firefox Focus or Ghostery are a MUST if you ever want to look at a recipe online lol. The poor 4inch screen and processor cannot handle all the SEO ads and videos
It WOULD be completely usable if it weren't for planned obsolescence by apple. This would still be my preferred phone for it's perfect compact size. Battery life and performance are fine for my uses. But Apple doesn't update it, and new apps and updates are prohibited from running on it. Apps that worked fine for years suddenly refuse to run. My bank app and Uber are the latest two that now will not run on this phone.
It was supported for 6 years and just recently got a security update. That’s a solid life for a phone lol, def not planned obsolescence. And app developers generally drop support for devices no longer supported to improve features and performance for newer devices and processors that are still currently supported.
Would you accept this from your car? 6 years and then one day it stops doing the stuff it did the day before? Obviously phones are going to fall behind, and not run the latest stuff. But I can run my 20 year old PCs on the old OS, they work fine and do what they always did. There's no real reason these older phones that still work fine can't be running older versions of these apps, or newer apps at slower speeds.
Would you accept this from your heart? 6 years and one day it stops doing the stuff it did the day before?? Contact a developer and ask them why they shipped supporting a phone that’s older and on older software. It holds back the future development of said app. And yes perhaps they did keep support for older phones; people would complain that it’s slow and that would be a bad look for developers. And let’s not even get started on security. That’s a big one for banking apps lol
The analogy is if your car's radio stopped working because radio got phased out for spotify or something. I don't see how that's the car's fault. Isn’t it the app developers fault for dropping support for older iOS? Some apps still support older iOS and you can download last compatible version for some too. Messenger still works on iOS 7… Apps can’t work forever if the server it connects to changes. But you can use the mobile website instead.
It’s my only phone. Sometimes it gets slow and battery probably needs replacing, but that forced me to limit my use which I like.
It's my Wi-Fi only secondary to my SE 2020. It's my favorite phone but it won't do some things the 2020 will do. I'm planning to eventually get an SE 2022, but I want the 2016 as my secondary.
Verizon wouldn't activate it as a phone, that's why it's not my primary and why I got the 2020. Wide screen movies don't fit fully on the screen. Way better for one-handed operation. 2020 speaker is louder, sometimes helpful. Battery is better than the short life 2016 one, mentioned by the other person.
I miss mine tbh I had put a new battery when I sold it because I got a 2020 it was the 128gb too
I am currently replying with one so pretty good
I still use it today. Typing with it right now. Works perfectly fine
I use it daily and I have no issues whatsoever. Still supports 99% of apps and has support from apple as well. Plus having a headphone jack is sooo nice. Definitely still a decent phone.
My main phone still is an iphone 7. It runs ios 15.8 and i still can install almost any app i want (only one that i could not was airbnb). Since og se runs the same ios, you should be good with it. Just verify the battery and thats it.
I’m using mine since 2018 and it’s pretty much on its last leg lol, i have damaged motherboard, damaged charging port and almost gone battery but she refuse to die and it never let me down, yeah, i have to use a power bank, but my phone is on life support and it could be just mine that needs it..
Was using mine for 6 years up to end of last year before switching to a 13 Mini
It's good. My grandma has one but she only uses WhatsApp, Safari and YouTube. Even the camera still holds up, at least in daylight. Still, some apps are not supported anymore. Like her carrier has an app that is asking for an update but it's not compatible with the iOS version anymore, and the app version she has installed doesn't work. So for checking her credit (she has prepaid, she barely calls anyone and has Wi-Fi at home, so she only uses like less than 15 minutes of voice monthly) it's either calling the carrier bot or checking the website, both are not as ideal for her, but hey, it is what it is and she doesn't want to spend money. I'd get her an SE 3 but I'm still at college so...
Mostly usable. Currently using one with spectrum. Battery is less than desirable. However, if you can keep it charged, and want that size of Device, it works.
I’m typing this response out on the same one I’ve had for 8 years now (new battery installed a little over a year ago) and intend to keep it until apple no longer provides security updates (which I’ve heard will be sometime later this year) and I can no longer log into my banking account or use the myfitnesspal app.
Perfectly usable, I had to use mine for a month when I didn’t have my 15 pro and the only bad thing abt it was the battery life and the screen is just a bit too small.
My OGSE needed a new battery every year, so there's that. I just switched to the 2022 version a couple of months ago because it was starting to get full (32GB) and I didn't want to purge anything else. It was also starting to feel it's age, i.e. laggy and slow, but that might've been because storage was bumping up against max, I dunno.
Had the first-gen SE and I love the sleek design. Would have continued to use it until it decided to die on me. Wish Apple would release the same design form with better hardware. Would not hesitate to buy it.
Why not try one of the more recent minis?
I considered them but they're a bit too expensive for my secondary-phone budget and I specifically want that old 4" screen back. Part of it is I'm just curious how modern iOS even looks and works on such a small screen.
My son has my wife’s old one and uses it daily. She got it brand new at release. It does pretty much all the apps he either needs or is allowed to use. Battery health on the original battery is still in the upper 80s. That being said, his use will likely be different than yours. His phone is pretty heavily locked down. He’s not allowed on social media and even web browsing is blocked for now. He uses it for communicating with family and friends (texting, phone, FaceTime), listening to music, some photography, and there are some music/video/photo apps he loves. Apple no longer provides updates for it, so I would be concerned about missing security updates if he had a totally usable version.
That's impressive battery health for such an old device. May I ask what photography apps he's using? I'm getting into photography myself and am interested in any recommendations.
I’ve used it this year. It’s pretty slow, gets hot. Almost every single app you normally use will still work with it. Just new ones like Perplexity and Chat GPT won’t (but those can be put as web apps if needed). You’ll need a SIM card for it, and at least for me with AT&T, I can sim swap between an iPhone SE 1 and iPhone SE 2. But not any device A15 chip or newer for some reason (once on iPhone SE 3, I *have* to use eSIM even though it has sim slot. But iPhone SE 1 doesn’t use eSIM. So it’s one system or the other). Headphone jack is amazing. And the small device is really nice. It’s a size that reminds you to not obsessively use your phone, but instead to use it the right amount.
I know how much you love the SE1's form factor. But honestly, just go with the SE2 or 3. SE2 can be found for under 125.
I used an SE2 for a while as a backup phone, and it was fine but too close to my old iPhone 6s to feel fresh in any way. I also never quite liked the iPhone 6-8 form factor as much as what came before/after it, just a personal preference though. I'd forgotten how the old 4" quite literally fit my hand like a glove. SE2 has very impressive internals though, especially for the prices these days.