Question about updating to iOS 9

By Janice Crosby, 16 September, 2015

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi. I did not update my iPad air 2 to 8.4. Will I need to do this before updating to IOS 9?

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Comments

By themusicman08 on Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 08:12

If your going to update to the latest IOS, then, yes. Update to 8.41. You will have problems if you don't.

By brandon armstrong on Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 08:12

hi folks, to the person who hasn't updated to iOS eight on the iPad, you won't have problems updating to iOS nine. please guys, don't tell people they will have problems updating if they chose not to update to the latest OS.

By mehgcap on Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 08:12

No, you'll be fine to install 9 when it comes out. There's no need to install *every* update between what you have and whatever's the latest. Indeed, you can't do so if you happen to miss one, so making that a requirement wouldn't make sense for Apple to do. No, just install whatever your device reports is there to be installed, and it will work just fine. Obviously things can go sideways in any update, so be sure to back up and such, but your chances of problems are remote to start with and won't increase by skipping updates.

By treky fan on Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 08:12

Is it better to update over the air, or to plug my phone in to my computer and update threw iTunes?

According to my personal experience, if you're short of your storage free space, then you'd better use your PC or Mac and Itunes for update. Otherwise you may safely use OTA updates.

By Scott Davert on Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 08:12

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

I think it's better to upgrade with iTunes if you have that ability, so you can also track the progress of the update. Once your phone shuts off to reboot itself, you will most likely have a 15 to 20 minute window of time where the device is doing its thing, but there will be no auditory feedback. If you're connected to iTunes, you can still monitor the progress of the update.
As to whether upgrading from an earlier iOS version is "safe", it **should* be. I upgraded a device running iOS 7.1.2 to the GM of 9 without any trouble.

By charles on Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 08:12

As far as I know, you can upgrade from any previous operating system directly to 9.0. And, if ayone is wondering if your iPhone will be supported, if you can run 8 point whatever, you can rn 9. HTH.

I will never update to a major platform change over the air. I always, always, always use iTunes. Reasons?? Everything is backed up on the computer, making retrieval possible if something goes wrong during the process. During the process, you can, using your screen reader, get feedback on the status of the upgrade process. If you update over the air, you cannot get feedback from Voice-Over so you're totally in the dark as to what is happening. If an error occurs while trying to upgrade over the air, your phone might be dead.

Many people don't like iTunes, but learning to use it is well worth the effort when it comes to upgrading oa new operation system.

Just as on any Windws PC, you do not need to be running the most current operating system to upgrade to the one that comes out tomorrow. About a month ago, I helped someone update an iPhone 4S from IOS 7.0 to 8.4 with no problems. This was quite an upgrade on an old phone, and it works fine.

By jcdjmac (not verified) on Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 08:12

I totally agree! some times I update via over-the-air OTA, but some times I always use iTunes for the update. I get progress during the update process. so folks, always, always use iTunes for the best update experience.

By treky fan on Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 08:12

Hi, before doing a major update, how do I back my phone up to the computer?

By sockhopsinger on Saturday, October 3, 2015 - 08:12

Connect your phone to the computer and open iTunes. Make sure your iPhone is selected and scroll down to where it talks about backups. Select the appropriate method you wish for backup, either to the Cloud or to your computer (my personal preference), and hit "backup now." Hope this helps.

Connect the phone to the PC with the USB cable. Open iTunes on the PC. Check for and get any desired app updates. Sync the phone. To do a backup, in iTunes, open the "file" menu and go down to "devices" which is a submenu. Right arrow once, then down arrow to "backup", hit enter and follow the prompts. Be sure that the "backup to this computer" is the checked selection.