Soon it will stop upgrading the OS and then the apps will stop working and then AppStore itself will stop working as well. Apple services will stop working as well.
I have a perfectly good Mac mini (32gb ram, intel based) but after I’ve updated the iOS on my iPhone the account stopped working on Mac mini. It says I need to upgrade the OS in order to use apple services(I.e iCloud, mail etc) but there is no OS upgrade option for the old Mac mini
You may have success running new enough macOS with OpenCore Legacy Patcher. I use it to run macOS Sonora (current latest version) on a 2015 MacBook Pro (Intel) and it works fine. It’s technically a MacBook Pro 12,1 and I spoof a MacBook Pro 15,2 with OCLP relatively easily with the GUI tool, and mostly all the features I want from the upgraded macOS like handoff etc work. Features that require updated macOS like Contact Key Verification also do work.
Some features that require ARM processors don’t work; for instance, I can’t install or run iOS/iPadOS apps from the App Store, unfortunately, but I don’t really need to do that very badly.
The fact that you have to do that just to keep compatibility with newer hardware that your purchase from them is just bonkers.
Then you realize that you probably shouldn't use their service if you can keep up with the discretionary spending on their hardware, they would like you to do (as far as they are concerned, Apple users only have one thing to buy: more Apple hardware).
But then you realize that if you need to use other services/apps they don't work that well on their platform and simply would work just as good or better on any other hardware.
Then you install Windows and figure out an Android phone will offer you the same type of integration, just in a less polished way. And you figure out you will save over 2K euros in a 10-years period and it will be much cooler to take some holidays (or whatever) instead of engrossing Apple shareholders.
Congrats, you found the get out of jail free card...
I mean, I guess if you want longterm backward compatibility, you should run Linux, which you can do on Apple hardware.
Apple deserves some blame for failing to maintain the drivers for legacy Intel hardware in modern macOS, which is what the OCLP software seeks to reimplement and restore, which is no small feat. The group maintaining the software deserves all the praise they get for doing what Apple doesn’t.
All that said, macOS on Apple hardware is the best native operating system experience today in my opinion. The trackpad alone remains the major differentiating factor, but the aluminum unibody construction is also a major plus. Running Linux on Apple hardware somehow makes the trackpad just as janky as running Windows on Apple hardware, and Windows trackpads are generally janky due to OEM hardware/drivers being garbage, so it seems that the issue is both hardware and driver related, as running macOS on non-Apple hardware also suffers from jankiness.
Windows and Android are not really suitable alternatives to Apple hardware. The build quality just isn’t the same, and there isn’t really anything like AppleCare or iCloud. Windows 11 is adding literal ads in the chrome. At least Android lets you sideload apps and ideally root your device. The EU is correctly rectifying that issue in iOS and iPadOS, but Apple is dragging their feet via malicious compliance and willful misinterpretation of DMA requirements.
Two thousand euros over a 10 year period is not really a bad price to pay for a device you use probably every day. That cheaper alternatives exist isn’t really the point, as the quality of alternatives isn’t at all comparable. I say this as someone who has professionally used, repaired, maintained, deployed, and trained people to use Windows, Macs, iOS/iPadOS, and Android for over 10 years. I use what suits the use case, budget, and preferences of individuals and groups to meet their needs, goals, and expectations.
I'm not sure why your iCloud account would stop working on old devices. I can still log into devices with Mac OS 10.11 with my iCloud account. Maybe because MFA was introduced a few years ago?
But like the previous comment said you can use OCLP to install new versions of MacOS on "unsupported hardware". Usually you can go 2-3 versions of newer MacOS without any issue. Beyond that little things will start breaking, but it will still be functional.
I run the newest versions of Sonoma on a 2010 iMac (that I upgraded to a quad core CPU, Metal capable GPU, and 32GB of RAM), a 2012 Mac Pro 5,1 (also upgraded to dual 3.46GHZ CPUs, RX 580, and 64GB RAM), and a 2009 MacBook Pro (SSD, and RAM Upgraded).
At some point security updates to iCloud logins break older systems. They don't intentionally break it when an OS goes out of support, but they don't fix it anymore, either.
There are versions of iOS on iPhone that can't do iCloud-stuff anymore.
Generally because the versions of SSL/TLS are outdated on those devices and so either need modern cryptographic libraries installed on them or they just cannot connect to ansy modern server.
I can either use the apple account on the latest iOS or on the old Mac mini but not on both. Basically when I’ve tried to log in on the iPhone it told me I need to upgrade the Mac mini or remove it if I want to use the account on my iPhone. Obviously I removed the account from Mac mini. Perhaps I can create new account specifically for Mac mini but what’s the point to have different iCloud iMac accounts for each device? I’m confident but at some point this trick will stop working as well.
I have a perfectly good Mac mini (32gb ram, intel based) but after I’ve updated the iOS on my iPhone the account stopped working on Mac mini. It says I need to upgrade the OS in order to use apple services(I.e iCloud, mail etc) but there is no OS upgrade option for the old Mac mini