iOS 7.1 brings good tidings to the aging iPhone 4, as a result of Apple's big effort to improve the device which was lagged by iOS 7. The updated mobile OS now performs better and could help squeeze a few more months out of the iPhone 4 until the iPhone 6 arrives later this year.

Jordan Golson of MacRumors reported that when Apple released iOS 7 in September, iPhone 4 was the oldest model running it. Many iPhone 4 users found their devices slow. There were several features of iOS 7 that did not work with iPhone 4, such as Siri, AirPlay Mirroring, AirDrop and some special effects across the UI, including parallax, live wallpapers and some translucency.

The release of iOS 7.1 on Monday brought a much improved iPhone 4 user experience than on iOS 7, though not as good as the previous version 6.1.3. Ars Technica reports that running the apps becomes faster, some of which are very noticeable. For example, impressively, iOS 7.1 nearly catches up with 6.1.3, despite the gap between the two OS in some of the apps. Though not a complete recovery for iOS, it is a good thing to see what Apple can do to old hardware, where small speed enhancements are felt throughout the OS.

iOS 7.1 also helps reduce the irregularities when with 7.0, pulling up the shade of the Control Center or launching apps were noticably jerky, but with 7.1 these operations have become smooth.

iOS 7.1 may be the final major OS release for iPhone 4 as Apple regularly removes support of the last generation of iPhones when a new one is released. The iOS 7.1 brings about an experience good enough to make the iPhone 4 bearable a while longer.