How to make older iPad/iPhone usable?

Jailbreak it and you can install compatible older apps via IPA files:

https://ios.cfw.guide/get-started/iPad-(3rd-generation).html

https://cydia.akemi.ai/?page/net.angelxwind.appsyncunified

The best thing to do is take them apart and use the screen for something, recycle the rest. The screen is the only really useful part as it's high quality and wont require updates to keep being useful.

https://www.amazon.com/Controller-Driver-LP097QX1-LTN097QL01...

You can do this with lots of old electronics actually. Laptops tablets and phones, you name it.

This has frustrated me to no end: my iPhone 4s is still in brand new condition and if only Apple would allow me to downgrade to iOS 7 or so, it would be roaring fast, albeit limited in what websites it can handle or what app versions it can run.

But instead it's stuck on the newer iOS 9.x, which turned it into a paperweight.

It's The Peter Principle for tech devices: a competent device will keep getting upgraded until it becomes unusable at its current OS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

I've got an "iPad with Retina display" - screen is still beautiful, but it's crazy slow to the point of being totally unusable. When you type, the keyboard types 15 seconds later. It's insane.

I've been waiting for like iPad Linux or something I could do with it to make it useful. Nothing has come along.

This thread and the comments are a masterclass on Apple's terrible naming for the iPad. They've somewhat fixed it now, but it should be illegal to launch products called "New iPad with Retina Display (2013... no not that one, but that one)"

Realistically, and I know this answer isn't popular (or even a true answer to your question) but: recycle them and don't waste your time. Not sure if they can be used as trade-ins with Apple anymore but could always put them towards something newer.

I have an iPad from 2012 with retina display, still a good device, but on slower side. The battery backup is still mighty good (can last around 6-8 hours easily with constant use). It is running iOS 9.5 (probably?). It is a potential security risk too, so I dont use it for browsing random internet stuff. Instead I mostly use it for consuming media content - like podcasts, youtube videos etc, which I pre-download on my homeserver setup.

I put my old laptop and hard disks to use as a homeserver, I have scripts running which download podcasts and youtube channels I view often, and at night I can just use my iPad to consume this. Another plus with this setup is, I dont need to see those annoying YT ads, and I always have the videos backed-up with me even if the channel is taken down or the author removes videos.

I also use my iPad as a roku remote over WiFi. Overall I am able to extract utility than just throwing it away.

The iPad that I still use pretty much every single day -- for several hours a day, sometimes -- is an iPad Air 2 that I bought shortly after it was released (late 2014, I think?). It still performs quite well and I don't have any real complaints about it.

In my case, however, I stopped updating it -- a long time ago, in fact! I'm not sure when it was that I stopped but it's running version 10.0.1 so around whenever that came out.

I'm quite aware of the "risks", however, so I don't use it for anything important. It's the device I grab whenever I'm gonna sit and browse HN, catch up on the news, or read some technical documents / papers. I don't really use any apps besides other than Safari and iBooks (I was going to install Firefox for iOS a while back but couldn't as it required a newer version).

About a year or two ago, I did look into updating it to a newer version, but I didn't want to install the newest version as I was afraid I'd be unhappy with either it or its performance and be unable to downgrade / rollback. Upgrading to any version other than the latest simply isn't an option, apparently, even "manually" using iTunes with locally downloaded ".ipsw" files (which were downloaded when they were released and so had valid signatures, etc.). Apple wouldn't let me update it to the last version of iOS 13, for example, so I decided it'll be running 10.0.1 until either it dies or becomes unusable (due to being so far behind).

Similarly, I'm still using the iPhone 6S that I've had for several years -- it is kept up-to-date, though!

Ironically, I ordered both a new iPad and a new iPhone about 15 months ago (December 2020). I did finally open up the new iPhone recently, but I still haven't switched over to it; it's still sitting there at the initial "Hello" setup / welcome screen! The new iPad, however, has been sitting on a shelf, still in the unopened box, since it arrived.

Set up apache2 server, set to show file listings. Amass video folder full of x264 Profile 3.1 & AAC videos and link to apache root. Point old iDevice at server with mobile Safari browser. Browse and view movies on old iDevice across wifi forever.

Where do you intend to use it? I have an older Fire tablet that, while never fast to begin with, is frustrating slow. Ive been using it to remote into my desktop, and want to experiment running linux/windows/android/chromeOs or something in a VM and rdp into it.

I don't know what the jailbreaking scene looks like now but it was amazing almost a decade ago. It's probably worth a try.