Are OTA software updates larger than updating via iTunes?

[zooby]

.

 

[MagicBoy]

Shouldn't make a jot of difference. The OTA is a delta patch that updates old files with the new version where necessary and adds new ones. The iTunes download is a full image. They're the same build number, therefore end result should be the same.

 

[Cubeeless]

You should always do a full update through iTunes. OTA causes difficulties down the road.

 

[gordon1234]

You should always do a full update through iTunes. OTA causes difficulties down the road.

That's…not true. The end result is exactly the same - same files, same process. There is some potential for either method to have problems in which case you should try the other one, but you're not getting some secret lesser version of the OS when you update over the air. OTA is also the primary way customers update and presumably the scenario that gets tested most thoroughly by Apple, so there's also that going for it.

 

[Agent-P]

The file itself will be a different size when doing an OTA update versus an iTunes update. However the end result should leave the exact same amount of space on your device.

 

[MacOG728893]

My update through iTunes was about 1.4GB's for my iPhone 6, where as my buddy did the OTA update and it was around 300 MB. I always do it through iTunes as I've seen people have problems with OTA.

 

[MagicBoy]

Yeah, kinda missing the point there. The OTA update of 300MB is just the files that have changed between iOS 8.2 and 8.3. The iTunes update is the full image. End result should be the same, therefore storage space used for the OS should be the same.

I've never had a problem with OTA on iOS. Had one delta update give issues on OS X 10.6 years ago, reapplying the full combo update (all changes since 10.6.0) fixed that.