Recently I answered a question about how to stop an iPhone from nagging you to upgrade to a newer version of the operating system.
Some of the feedback I received surprised me.
“Perhaps you can help me disable my smoke alarms next.”
“Talk about bad advice.”
“This is horrible advice. … Are you advocating for iOS users to not be patched against security threats?”
I realize smartphone operating system updates are vital for keeping your device and your data safe. Security updates, bug fixes and the occasional new feature are included in iOS (and Android) updates.
To put off an update is flirting with disaster.
I wasn’t trying to tell anyone not to install iOS updates, but there are some people who have situations that keep them from updating.
The person who asked me the original question was out of storage space on his iPhone, which caused the update to fail.
He realizes he needs to clean off some of the apps and files from his iPhone before he can update, and he wasn’t ready to do that just yet.
Actually, according to Apple, during a wireless update, you might see a message that says the update can’t be installed because it needs more space than you have on your device. If you see this message, there are a few ways you can update your device:
Plug your device into your computer and update using iTunes.
Manually remove content from your device and try to update again.
There are other reasons a person might want to hold off on an iOS update.
There are older devices like the iPhone 4S or iPad 2 that just behave better with older versions of iOS.
In fact, there’s an article from the Cult of Mac blog titled “Got an iPhone 4s or iPad 2? Why you should never upgrade from iOS 7.”
Of course, with any update, you should wait a few days to see if there are any unforeseen problems introduced.
For instance, the iOS 9 update was followed by 9.0.1 a week later and 9.0.2 after just another week. Those follow up releases were to squash bugs introduced by the previous versions.
So the bottom line is, upgrade when you can, but be cautious and wait for others to find problems first.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Jim Rossman writes for The Dallas Morning News. He may be reached at jrossman@dallasnews.com.
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