The problem of iTunes to move media from phone to PC got better. There’s the Intel unison app that implements iMessage and reminders as well as transfer files. I personally use sendanywhere with my devices because Intel unison is windows 11 only and I’m on windows 10.

Only problem might be if Apple stops giving major updates to the 8 plus. It was released back in 2017 and Apple has a policy of 5 major updates with 2 more years of security updates so it's not likely. 16.7.1 or 16.7.2 is your best bet.

Yeah 15.6.3 isn't terrible and decently secure. Good battery life. Don't update unless you have to. I'd say iOS 16.7 is where it stabilizes so consider updating then.

Here you go. I believe this method still works and gets you back to 15.6 RC(not the same as the one you have now) and lets you OTA update to 15.7.2.

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EDIT:

New link because I think Apple made it possible to update to 16.1.2 through the 15.6 method not 15.7.2:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/guide-how-to-update-to-ios-15-7-2-for-iphone-8-x-xr-xs-11-se2-12-13-se3.2373742/

The latest iOS 16.3 update is more or so stable compared to the previous versions. My mom also has an 8 Plus that I've kept on iOS 15 mostly because there might be a hit on the battery life and I wouldn't want my mom to go through that. Expect a slight change for the battery life. In all honesty though, Apple is still pushing out security updates for iOS 15 so if you really want a few features exclusive to iOS 16 like the change in lockscreen, iMessage finally being able to delete messages etc. then sure go for it. I would recommend staying on iOS 15 for the time being though. iOS 16.0>16.3 has overall been a bugfest.

Yeah it was meant to be exclusive to the intel evo lineup. I’m glad they didn’t although some people think they might make it exclusive in the future. We just have to hope.

I was stoked to hear about this but apparently it’s win 11 only. I’m on win 10 so really unfortunate. You also need an intel evo laptop but apparently it works on other OEMs and on AMD and arm processors. By the reviews it seems working really well.

Lmao I didn’t realize how good this was for me when I found my old iPad mini 1. Airdrop STILL WORKS between my iPhone 11 and the iPad. I was sure it would’ve been too outdated and wouldn’t work but I was dead wrong and I’m happy I was.

I have an iPhone 11 too. I still get the warm tones when using the camera. It's probably ios 16. I recommend backing up and restoring using iTunes.