iPhone 17 Pro Max Do you 'reinstall from zero' new IPSW iOS every time apple release a new update?

[AlexStrife]

Hi, I was wondering if it’s worth doing a clean update (using DFU mode and an IPSW file) every time Apple releases a new version of iOS. For example, I’m currently on 26.1 and 26.2 just came out.

I’m asking because my impression is that every time I update the system directly from the phone it ends up being slower than before.

For instance, I noticed this when I installed iOS 26.1 by updating directly on the phone. Then I tried doing a clean install of iOS 26.1 putting the phone into DFU mode and manually installing the IPSW file, and the phone seems more responsive.

Is this just placebo, or is there some truth to it?

 

[dukebound85]

lol no I do not, have not, and will not

 

[eyoungren]

There was a point before 2020 that I would put a phone into DFU mode then use iTunes to restore/update. But that's because I was jailbreaking my iPhones at the time. That said, it was never a start from scratch process. I always restored a backup.

Eventually I stopped jailbreaking (not for any reason someone is likely to think though) so just started doing OTA updates. I've never had any issue.

And this despite the fact that I KNOW there is still jailbreak data hanging around in my backups. It's happened more than once that in jailbreaking a phone my JB tweak preferences returned.

 

[triptolemus]

No.

 

[iSuzan]

No, never.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Hi, I was wondering if it’s worth doing a clean update (using DFU mode and an IPSW file) every time Apple releases a new version of iOS. For example, I’m currently on 26.1 and 26.2 just came out.

I’m asking because my impression is that every time I update the system directly from the phone it ends up being slower than before.

For instance, I noticed this when I installed iOS 26.1 by updating directly on the phone. Then I tried doing a clean install of iOS 26.1 putting the phone into DFU mode and manually installing the IPSW file, and the phone seems more responsive.

Is this just placebo, or is there some truth to it?

It is a waste of time and normally not needed with IOS unless there is a major software glitch.