iOS 7 is coming

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Wednesday, September 18th, iOS 7 will be available to download (for free).  The questions I get a lot about these major updates are “should I do it?” and “how do I do it?”.  Let’s address those:

Should I upgrade?

It depends.  If you have an iPhone 4 or iPad 2, this update may make your device seem sluggish.  In iOS 7 there is a lot going on under the hood that takes processing power from your iPhone 4 or iPad 2’s meager supply.  It may be worth waiting a week or two, watching the tech news reports for any issues users may be having before proceeding yourself.

Remember, once you touch the “Upgrade now” button, there is no going back.

If you have an iPhone 4S or 5 or an iPad 3 or newer or iPad mini, there are no issues with processing power - proceed with upgrading to iOS 7 when you want.

How do I upgrade?

Upgrading is easy, however, just like upgrading a computer, when things go badly it is usually caused by the condition of the device and its operating system before the upgrade.  Here is how to prepare your device for an upgrade:

  1. Go to your home screen (where you can see all of your app icons), double click the Home button (the round button on the bottom of the face of your device.
  2. Hold any of the icons until they all wiggle.
  3. One by one, click the red circle in the upper left of each icon until there are no more to click.
  4. Tap the Home button once.
  5. Now, restart by holding the sleep/power switch at the top of the device to turn it off.  Wait for it to totally shut down, then hold the power button again until the Apple logo appears in the middle of the screen.
  6. Let the device start up normally.

Now, you want to make sure you have a fresh backup just before you upgrade:

If you backup to iCloud: Settings > iCloud > Storage and Backup > Backup Now (you will have to be connected to wifi to do this).

If you backup to your computer, plug the device into your computer with a USB cable, start iTunes, click once on your device on the left column and click Sync in the lower right corner of iTunes.

After that you are ready to upgrade.  Plug your device into a charger then go to Settings > General > Software Update.

If Software Update says that you do not have enough free space to upgrade, you should upgrade through iTunes.  Plug your device into your computer, start iTunes, click on your device on the left side of iTunes, then click Update on the Summary screen.

Upgrading to iOS 7 should take about an hour but will vary depending on how much stuf

f you have on your device.  You will not be able to use the device during the upgrade.

Enjoy iOS 7!