Apple
Here’s How Long the iOS 13.7 Update Takes
The iOS 13.7 update is a small milestone upgrade, but it could take quite a bit of time to install on your iPhone.
Apple’s latest iOS 13 update brings a short list of changes to the iPhone. The update includes new COVID 19-related features and under-the-hood improvements.
If you’re moving your iPhone from iOS 13.6.1 to iOS 13.7, you get the shortest list of changes and the smallest download size. The iOS 13.7 download is 100+ MB for iPhone users currently running iOS 13.6.1.
If you’re upgrading from an older version of iOS, your iOS 13.7 update will be larger because the features from the updates you skipped are baked in.
While some of you might want to hold off on downloading iOS 13.7 right now, most people should install the update right now or in the near future.
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If you decide to install iOS 13.7 on your iPhone, you’ll want to set aside some time to get the upgrade properly installed on your device.
Moving your device from one version of iOS to another can cause problems so you’ll want to monitor the download and installation.
We can’t tell you exactly how long your iOS 13.7 installation will take because it will vary based on your current version of iOS and the iPhone model you own.
That said, we can help you approximate how much time you should set aside should you choose to install the new operating system.
If you’ve prepared yourself and your device for the move and you’re on a fast Wi-Fi connection, it could take less than 15 minutes to complete.
| Task | Time |
|---|---|
| Sync (Optional) | 5 - 45 Minutes |
| Backup and Transfer (Optional) | 1 - 30 Minutes |
| iOS 13.7 Download | 3 - 20 Minutes |
| iOS 13.7 Installation | 7 - 15 Minutes |
| Total iOS 13.7 Update Time | 10 Minutes - 1 Hour+ |
Pre-Installation
Before you start the iOS 13.7 download make sure you’re prepared.
If you don’t know how to properly prepare, have a look at our pre-installation guide. It’ll walk you through the most important steps to take before you hit download.
You should be able to get through these steps in 30 minutes or less, but it all depends on your skill level and the current state of your phone.
If you haven’t backed up your data in awhile or you if you aren’t familiar with iOS 13.7, the pre-installation process could take you a longer.
You don’t need to follow every single step in the guide, but at the very least you’ll want to make sure your data is backed up. Data loss issues are pretty rare, but if you store sensitive data (photos, videos, etc) on your device, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
iOS 13.7 Download
Once you’ve handled that, it’s time to start the download.
Again, the exact size of your iOS 13.7 download will depend on your device and the version of iOS it’s currently running.
If you’re on a newer version of iOS like iOS 13.6.1, your download should be around 170 MB. However, if you’re running an older version, your iOS 13.7 download could be even bigger. In some cases, much bigger.
If you’re on a fast Wi-Fi network, the download could finish up in three minutes or so. If your connection is slower, you’re looking at 10 minutes or more.
iOS 13.7 Installation
Once your device is done pulling iOS 13.7 from Apple’s servers, the installation process will begin. This could take longer than the download.
If you’re moving up from iOS 13.6.1, your installation should take around seven or eight minutes to complete. It took around seven minutes to install on an iPhone X that was previously running iOS 13.6.1.
If you’re moving from an older version it could take closer to 10 minutes. iPhone users moving from iOS 12 to iOS 13 will see the longest installation time.
Your device might reboot itself a couple of times during the installation process but this is perfectly normal. Your device should boot up normally once the process completes.
Post-Installation
After the installation finishes up, you might need to spend time logging into your iCloud account, signing into your device’s various apps and services, and/or setting up Apple Pay.
You also might want to spend some time checking your important data (photos, music, etc) to make sure it carried over properly from iOS 12, iOS 13.0, iOS 13.1, iOS 13.1.1, iOS 13.1.2, iOS 13.1.3, iOS 13.2, iOS 13.2.2, iOS 13.2.3, iOS 13.3, iOS 13.3.1, iOS 13.4, iOS 13.4.1, iOS 13.5, iOS 13.5.1, iOS 13.6, or iOS 13.6.1.
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After you do that, you should test your core applications and services to ensure they’re working normally. iOS updates sometimes cause apps to go haywire.
If you notice an issue with one of your applications, try downloading the latest version. Developers are still rolling out iOS 13 support updates and they could help stabilize the app’s performance.
You’ll also want to poke around for bugs and performance issues. If you notice something take a look at our list of fixes for common iOS 13 problems.
Install iOS 14.8.1 for Better Security | |||||||||||||||||
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If security is important to you, think about installing iOS 14.8.1 right away. The iOS 14.8.1 update brings 12 new security patches to the iPhone. You can read about all of them over on Apple's site. If you want to better protect your iPhone and its data, you'll want to install the iOS 14.8.1 update in the near future. If you missed iOS 14.8, you'll get its security patches with your upgrade. You can learn more about them right here. If you missed iOS 14.7.1, you'll get its patch with your upgrade. If you want to learn more about iOS 14.7.1's security update, check out its support page. If you missed iOS 14.7, you'll get its 31 security patches with your upgrade. You can learn more about those on Apple's website. If you skipped iOS 14.6, you'll get the update's 38 security patches with your iOS 14.8.1 update. If you're curious about the particulars, you can read about them right here. If you skipped iOS 14.5.1, you get the update's two security patches on board. You can read about them over on Apple's website. Both are related to WebKit. If you missed iOS 14.5 you'll get its patches with your upgrade. You can read more about those changes over on Apple's website. iOS 14.5 also brought Apple's new App Tracking Transparency which lets you control which apps are allowed to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites for ads or sharing with data brokers. If you skipped iOS 14.4.2, you get its security patch with iOS 14.8.1. You can learn more about that patch over on Apple's website as well. If you missed iOS 14.4.1, you get its patch with your upgrade to iOS 14.8.1. You can read about that patch right here. If you skipped iOS 14.4, you get the update's patches with your upgrade. You can learn more about iOS 14.4's security patches right here. If you skipped iOS 14.3 you'll get its nine security updates with your upgrade. You can read more about them on its security site. iOS 14.3 also included a new privacy information section on App Store pages that includes a developer-reported summary of the app’s privacy practices. If you skipped iOS 14.2, your iOS 14.8.1 update includes 24 additional security patches. You can learn more about the patches on Apple's security website. If you're still running iOS 13, iOS 14.8.1 includes iOS 14.0's security updates. iOS 14.0 brought 11 new security patches to the iPhone. If you're interested in the exact nature of these improvements, you can read about them over on Apple's website. In addition to those patches, iOS 14 comes with some security and privacy upgrades including improvements to Home/HomeKit and Safari. For instance in Safari, you can now tap the Privacy Report button to better understand how websites handle your privacy. With iOS 14 on board you can now get information on the App Store that will help you understand the privacy practices of apps before you download them. There is also a new recording indicator that will appear at the top of your screen whenever an app is using your microphone or camera. You can see if an app has used them recently in Control Center. Researchers also discovered that Apple brought a new "BlastDoor" sandbox security system to iOS 14. The system is meant to prevent attacks from occurring via the Messages app. You can read more about "BlastDoor" right here. | |||||||||||||||||
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issavib3
09/19/2019 at 3:02 pm
I’ve been at it for 2.5 hours and that’s coming from 12.4.1!!! Ughhhh!
Evral Tatum Mcfield
09/20/2019 at 10:35 am
You right about that, doesn’t matter how fast your internet provider, this download and installation its taking more than 2 hours to complete!!
Dee
09/21/2019 at 11:33 am
I received a brand new iPhone X yesterday from Apple under my AppleCare plan. Obviously needed to upgrade it to iOS 13 from what it was currently running, which I don’t recall now. It has been sitting with a white background and black apple icon for over 12, yes I said twelve, hours. The black line going across to show download progress was slowly trekking across underneath the apple icon all night and now day. I think there might be a minuscule amount of the download line that has not completed. My eyes are not that good to say for absolute certainty. It has been plugged in the entire time and on a fast WiFi. I will be 100% honest here, I did think maybe it was stuck and so attempted to restart and try again tonight so I could at least have access to my phone during the day, but it would not turn off. Should I let it continue in this state? Is it still actually downloading? And if I am to force a restart, what is the best way to do it? All of my backups are in the cloud, not on my Mac in iTunes.
Cicely
09/21/2019 at 1:39 pm
Mine says 21 hours. Canceling now. That’s ridiculous
Eva
09/21/2019 at 5:30 pm
My phone is taking forever what can I do to do it much more faster :(
Nina
09/23/2019 at 9:42 am
I was on 12.4.1 and it’s been 5+ hours so far. The progress bar has been at the end for about 90% of the time. no end in sight. Ugh.
Burt
09/26/2019 at 2:51 am
I’m going from 12.4.1 on my iPad to 13.1. It started off saying “8 hours” but now says “1 day”.
Wesley
09/27/2019 at 4:08 pm
Upgrading from iOS 13 too 13.1.1…over an hour so far. Right now its on the Apple icon with the spinning circle. Hopefully it will be installed soon!
KellyC
09/29/2019 at 9:15 pm
Download took under an hour. Going from 12.4 to 14.1.1 on new iPad 11inch. Verifying update is at 1:20 mins and still counting. Can’t Apple figure out how to do an upgrade time estimate before you start the install?
KellyC
09/29/2019 at 9:18 pm
And why doesn’t autocorrect not recognize IOS versions and fix them? It tries to fix everything else! Meant 13.1.1 above obviously.
Nikheel
10/01/2019 at 2:03 am
Mine says 2 days…
William Gale
10/02/2019 at 10:58 am
I’m scared to mess with it …my 12.4.1 is working fine and my “auto log in” on “keychain” is working great. ….hate to think of all I might have to do to get back to normal ……. I’m going to wait a while …. all those fancy features I would likely never use … I’ve never used a split screen or all this “drag and drop” stuff.
I would like (I think) to be able to use a device to upload and download photos but it seems like it only puts them in the “files” app although I imagine it wouldn’t be hard to transfer them …lots of questions here for me.
I do have the SD card adapter to load photos from my camera but it won’t accept photos from an SD card from my laptop … not sure ipadios 13 will let me do that either ???