I've loved the feature of the iOS lock screen Live Photos animation ever since it was released, and since I was a medical student during that time and wasn't home that often, I kept my lock screen photo as my best friend. To me, the dog sort of represented home in a way. He would be there almost all of the time, and I could talk and play and whatever, with no judgment, just joy with the fact that we were together.

And as a cruel fact of nature, dogs don't live that long.

My buddy lived to the age of 16 before passing away. To say I was devastated for nearly a year would not be an understatement.

With the release of iOS 16, Apple removed the ability for Live photos to be animated on the lock screen. This had been my reason for sticking with iOS 14 ever since (I still use an iPhone 8). And since iOS 15 isn't being signed anymore, if I were to update, it'd just jump straight to 16.

Late last year, React-Native bumped its version requirements to a minimum of iOS 15, skipping 14 entirely. The reasoning was most devices that supported iOS 14 could be updated to iOS 15 and up anyway. I can understand that as a developer, but I didn't expect this to affect my daily life since I control most of what I use on my phone anyway.

But the darn banking apps finally suddenly decided together to update to require a minimum of iOS 15, starting late this month. I can pretty much guess why. It's pretty obvious that most of them are React-Native based too.

In Thailand, mobile banking is a big deal. Many places don't even accept physical cash anymore.

I'd likely need to update to the dreaded iOS 16 within next week to keep my daily life functional. No idea how much slower my trusty iPhone 8 will be, but that's not what I care about.

I just want to keep seeing my buddy with me, animated, moving, whenever I need some mental comfort.