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Are major version iOS updates done Over The Air, or do they require connecting to iTunes? Does AT&T give the bandwidth for free? I suspect the real reason is t
by TorKlingberg 14y ago
Are major version iOS updates done Over The Air, or do they require connecting to iTunes? Does AT&T give the bandwidth for free?
I suspect the real reason is that it is harder to reflash an OS from inside, and a higher risk of getting stuck in some bad state. Not impossible of course, just not as simple as reflashing from outside.
- gmac 14y agoAs of iOS5, updates are OTA, and I believe only a diff is downloaded.
- josephlord 14y agoI'm not sure if you can do it over the telco network (you probably can), but you can certainly upgrade over Wifi since iOS 5. The procedure used on at least some products was to download the new version alongside the existing software, verify it, configure it all and then set it to be the boot version only when the install is done - then it can reboot. Until that point it will still boot the original version. You could even have a 'boot this next time only' mode and then at the conclusion of a successful boot it would set it to be the default and in the event of failure would go back to the previous version. There probably are bad cases if the power is lost at the very end but the window is quite small and you are probably safer with the phone having its own battery (don't start installing unless there is enough charge) than you are with products like TVs. I know at least one TV manufacturer used such an approach and it seems a reasonable approach for reduced risk.
- tedunangst 14y agoAt least for some of the iOS updates, you have to be on wifi to download it.