Apple
How to Update Your iPhone to iOS 7.1.2 Without Any Problems
It seems many users come across problems when updating iOS on their iPhone, but here are steps to assure that you stay away from any updating issues as much as possible.
The latest iOS update was released last week, and while it was a rather minor update for Apple’s mobile operating system, many users came across problems downloading and installing the update on their iPhones and iPads.
Of course, we have a guide on how to fix these issues for those having problems with the iOS 7.1.2 update, which can simply be accomplished by performing a hard reset on your iPhone or iPad by holding down the power button and home button at the same time for a few seconds until the device restarts.
However, the ultimate goal is to not have these problems occur in the first place. Fortunately, there’s a way to update iOS on your device in a way that minimizes issues from happening. You can’t completely prevent update problems from occurring, but this is at least the best way to go about updating your iPhone or iPad will minimal problems.
Backup Your iPhone
First thing’s first: Back up your iPhone before updating it. Even though iOS 7.1.2 is a minor update and you wouldn’t think it would completely bonk your device, all updates change the stability of the software in some way, and sometimes it doesn’t work out for the best.
This is why it’s important to back up your iPhone before you update the software, so that if something bad does happen during or after the updating process, you can go back to how it was before without any problem.
We have a handy guide on how to back up your iPhone using iTunes, but essentially you’ll plug in your iPhone to your computer and follow these steps:
- In the upper-right corner of the iTunes window, you’ll see a button that says iPhone or iPad, depending on what you have.
- Click on that button to open another window that provides information about your device.
- Below the main information is the Backup section. To do an all-out full backup of your iOS device, select This computer on the left-hand side.
- Optionally, you can choose Encrypt backup to secure it from others accessing the personal data that gets backed up.
- Next, click Back Up Now to begin the backup process. You may get a pop-up that talks about apps on your iOS device that aren’t currently in your iTunes Library. Click Back Up Apps to sync these apps with your iTunes Library, that way you’ll have all of your apps completely backed up.
- iTunes will begin transferring any apps over to your iTunes Library if there are any, and then it will begin backing up your iOS device. When it’s done, just click the blue Done button in the upper-right corner and you’re good to go!
Update iOS Through iTunes
After you back up your iPhone or iPad using iTunes, you’re now ready to update to iOS 7.1.2 risk free.
There are two ways you can update the iOS software. You can either update over-the-air by opening up the Settings app and navigating to General > Software Update, or you can update through iTunes. The best way to update iOS with minimal issues is to do it through iTunes, simply because the over-the-air update is less reliable with a wireless connection to download and install the update.
To begin, plug in your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes, then follow these quick steps:
- In the upper-right corner of the iTunes window, you’ll see a button that says iPhone or iPad, depending on what you have.
- Click on that button to open another window that provides information about your device.
- Click on Update and follow the on-screen instructions.
The update process should only take a few minutes, since the update is fairly small in file size. After it’s done, your iPhone will restart and will eventually boot to the lock screen where you can begin using your iPhone again.
If you come across any issues during the install process, like random freezing, simply perform a hard reset by holding down the power button and home button at the same time for a few seconds until the device restarts. From here, the update may continue to install automatically or might have to begin the process again.
Read: iOS 7.1.2 on iPhone 5s Review
If you experience a lot of problems after the update successfully installs, this is where your back up comes in handy, and you can restore that back up in iTunes to essentially roll back your software to the time when it properly worked.
Other than that, that’s all there is to it, and if you follow these steps, you hopefully won’t come across any of the issues that many iPhone users have been coming across, but all you can really do is cross your fingers and hope for the best.
Sultan singh
07/11/2014 at 3:00 am
yesterday i purchased i4 and phasing problem after updating 7.1.2. how to go ahead . restart is also not working . slide unlock is also not working ?????????
Jodie R Smith
07/11/2014 at 1:20 pm
I tried updating my iphone 4s to 7.1.2 and my phone is locked and will not do a hard reset. It’s just showing a screen with the apple icon and will not do anything else. What else can I try?
sahana
07/11/2014 at 2:26 pm
i’m having the same problem, having to reset my iphone 4s but it won’t complete the reset so i’m now stuck with my phone not even being able to turn on, bloody brilliant.
Tim M.
07/13/2014 at 1:47 am
I have an iPhone 5. My phone has crashed, just like with the last update. I will have to do a factory reset again and reload all my music, etc. What a waste of time and effort! I am so tired of this! I am on my 4th iPhone 5 in 2.5 years! I am a PC person and I gave this company a chance. I will NEVER spend a dime on an Apple product again! Hello Android!!!!
Edmond
07/13/2014 at 3:23 am
Difficult handset i ever had in many years. Please make our life easier with your gadgets. Everytime u want us to visit your stores just because of a phone!these phones are for the rich , am going back to other type of a phone.whatsapp,facebook and opera downloads needs an IOS installation.hey
James
07/15/2014 at 11:41 am
I remember updating my iPhone 3GS for when iOS 6 had just came out..
After I updated my old 3GS handset,
It put the phone into recovery mode (ITunes logo) with black backdrop and nothing else in the screen.
I checked youtube and watch several videos on how to get out of recovery mode and none of the tips from YouTube videos actually never worked.
After that I taken the 3GS into my local apple store and it taken 3 engineers to finially work or what was wrong with my iPhone!
They said it was a hardware problem and it would need replace which would cost about £129.
I decided not to pay it as I had already paid £200 for this old handset and was willing to pay another £129 just to fix it.
If you iphone is stuck in recovery mode and you’ve tryed everything?
It’s maybe a hardware issue like I had with mines!
Hope this helps :)
Dawn Rise
12/29/2014 at 12:48 pm
Thank you! The backup is CRUCIAL, because after spending hours getting through the obstacle course of other errors (software not uploading – found a fix for that too), my iPhone 4 still wouldn’t update, so I was forced into doing a restore, which wipes your iPhone clean, but then installs the updated IOS. Then iTunes prompts you to reinstall your data from the backup you did. The phone works great. The only issue I had is that – ironically – iTunes didn’t back up my Music file. Maybe I needed to do that separately. My cloud is shared with the kids, and I also uploaded CDs to my library, so it was a bit of a hassle getting all that square the next day. But it’s all good now!