Getting Ready for iOS 11!

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With Apple already in beta testing iOS 11, it’s always good to go back through the list of things that you need to do to prepare before updating your phone with a major operating system update. If you follow these simple steps, the odds of your update going well are greatly increased. Over the years Apple has made installing new updates pretty simple. When the update is ready it will show you on the device by showing you a small red number on top of General icon in the Settings application.  But many times if you go into system updates and check for an update it will show you it’s available before the icon shows. If you’re in a hurry to update, you might give this a try.

1.) Check to see if your device is iOS 11 capable

The iOS 11 update is officially coming to the iPhone 5s and later, all iPad Air and iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation, iPad mini 2 and later and iPod touch 6th generation. This means popular devices like the iPhone 5 and iPad 4 are staying put on iOS 10.  If Apple releases any new devices, iOS 11 will be standard on them.

2.) Make sure you have enough space for the update

iOS 10 required as much as 2GB of space and while its unknown how much its successor will require, you can be sure its going to be similarly large amount. Apple will prompt you before downloading if you do not have enough space, so either way you will either have to get rid of some unnecessary apps, photos, music/TV shows/movies or other data you might not need right on your device .  One place that I see space often used on iOS device is in the camera roll. If you sync your photos over to your computer and delete them from your phone that will free up that space. You can always put photos back on the phone using iTunes at the time of sync.  In previous releases, Apple has offloaded applications to automatically free up space but it is always a good idea to do the cleanup yourself, just to be sure.

You can check how much space you have by going into settings and then general.  Select about and then it will tell you in the list how much free space you have on your device. iOS updates often have additional applications updated too. Apple generally updates many of their apps at the time of the system update so you’ll need additional space for those. Don’t cut your space to close.

3.) Is your device running iOS 10.x.x?

You’ll likely be able to update from any version of iOS 10 version and quite likely any version of iOS 9.  If your device is running a version older than iOS 9, you may have to update that far first and then move to iOS 11.  We will have to wait and see to be sure.

4.) Do you have the latest version of your apps?

If you don’t want to lose your app or its data, make sure they are up to date. This will also ensure you get the most out your apps in iOS 11, as they will have been tinkered with for iOS 11 integration. Just check for updates, and apply all updated applications that you find prior to the operating system install.  Apple usually announces the release date of a new iOS version about a week before it is available.  That is a great time to update your apps.

5.) Back up your device!

This is the most important step you need to take before updating. While everything is done to ensure the transition to iOS 11 goes smoothly, major updates can go awry. To back up, simply follow these steps:

  • Connect your iPhone or iPad into your Mac or PC and open iTunes.
  • Select your device under Source and select “Summary.”
  • Under “Backups” select “This Computer” and then “Back Up Now.”

I also recommend encrypt in your back up. If you encrypt your back up, and give it a password that you have to enter when you restore it, all of your passwords that you stored on your device will remain. This keeps you from having to go back in and reenter passwords in applications, or mail, before you can use the new OS.

So here is my final bit of advise…..

For most general users, it is often good to wait a about a week after the new OS is available to make sure there are no issues with it.

That’s about it. You’re ready to go. Enjoy the new OS. All the new features will be great fun to play with.