iOS 10 OTA Update Bricks iPhones and iPads: How To Fix It

Reports about iOS 10 updated disabling iPhones and iPad are starting to surface. The primary symptom is an update screen which progress is “stuck”, followed by a Connect to iTunes via cable screen. Apple is aware of the problem, has come up with a fix, and this should no longer happen. Some of you may still be stuck with the initial roll-out though, so here’s the fix.

Symptoms

• Update progress bar freezes for minutes (like this)
• A screen asks you to connect to your computer (see above image)

Fix

• Connect device via USB to a computer with iTunes
  • If you don’t have one, head to an Apple store for support
• Once connected, restart in recovery mode by pressing & hold POWER and HOME buttons simultaneously until the recovery mode activates
  • On iPhone 7/7+, press & hold POWER and VOLUME DOWN simultaneously until the recovery mode activates
• Choose the Update option
  • This tries to update iOS without deleting data
  • If download fails, wait for the download to finish and try again with the data on disk
• Official issue help page on Apple.com

“We experienced a brief issue with the software update process, affecting a small number of users during the first hour of availability. The problem was quickly resolved and we apologize to those customers. Anyone who was affected should connect to iTunes to complete the update or contact AppleCare for help.” (Apple)

First the issue happens only when updating over the air (OTA), so if you are updating from a computer, this should not happen, or you may bump into an unrelated issue. So far the only solution is to restore or upgrade from a computer. Now, if you have NOT YET done the update, it’s safer to perform a backup via iTunes BEFORE attempting the upgrade.

Since the iOS 10 beta was out for a while, it seems bizarre that this would be happening, but it could just be that the volume of simultaneous updates is causing some problems. At this point, we don’t know the exact cause for it.

If you are not home and cannot restore a previous backup, you may be stuck until you get home, or decide to do a full reset / clean install. Good luck!

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Apple
Tags: iPad, iPhone