18 Sep How to download iOS 8 when your iPhone is too full of stuff
Apple has been touting iOS 8 as the “The biggest iOS release ever.” And boy, it’s not kidding.
Last year’s iPhone software update, iOS 7, was considered large at almost 1GB. Depending on your device, the new version may weigh in at even more. Even worse, in order to install it, Apple requires that you have plenty of space cleared out.
Here’s how to find out if you have enough room, and if not, some tips on doing some house cleaning to make way.
Space Jam
On my husband’s iPhone 5, the iOS 8 download shows up at a svelte 957MB; on my iPhone 5S it’s 1.1GB, and it’s 1.3GB on my iPad mini. For installation, it needs even more room—between 3GB to 5.8GB on our iPhones, and 6.9GB on the iPad mini.
Woe unto those with 16GB iPhones, iPads or iPod touches. Even if you can get through to Apple’s servers, the installation may demand more than a third of your device’s storage. Fortunately, you get most of that space back after you’re done updating. But that doesn’t relieve the immediate overcrowding problem.
Here’s how you can tell whether you’ve got the capacity to handle the update: On your iPhone or other iDevice, go into Settings > General > Software Update. In some cases, it may tell you to update to a later version of iOS 7 first. Otherwise, it will show the iOS 8.0 software update page; that’s where you’ll learn whether you can immediately download the software or not.