how to update someone else's iPhone 3?

[jellyroll23]

My elderly dad has an iPhone 3 that has never been updated. I use my desktop to update my iPhone 5 and my phone is up to date.

Can I use my desktop mac to update his iPhone 3, since it cannot be updated wirelessly? If so, will it screw up my desktop and in turn, screw up syncing my iPhone 5 in the future?

He has no iTunes library, no music, no photos, and only a few apps so I'm not worried about losing that on his phone.

OR would the Apple store do it?

Sorry to be so ignorant! I appreciate any thoughts.

 

[Nermal]

OS updates are completely independent of libraries, etc. Once the update is complete you can just disconnect the phone without synching it and it won't affect your own phone or library at all.

 

[dhlizard]

If you are worried about it, sign out of iTunes, update his phone, then once it is disconnected, sign back into iTunes

 

[Shuri]

My elderly dad has an iPhone 3 that has never been updated. I use my desktop to update my iPhone 5 and my phone is up to date.

Can I use my desktop mac to update his iPhone 3, since it cannot be updated wirelessly? If so, will it screw up my desktop and in turn, screw up syncing my iPhone 5 in the future?

He has no iTunes library, no music, no photos, and only a few apps so I'm not worried about losing that on his phone.

OR would the Apple store do it?

Sorry to be so ignorant! I appreciate any thoughts.

I guess you're talking about the iPhone 3G? The latest supported Version is iOS 4.
But, if it's not already to late, I really recommend you to not update beyond iOS 3.1.3! With iOS 4 the iphone 3G really got messed up, becoming a really not -worthy experience. Plus: The amount of new features (Folders come to my mind) are negligible.

 

[Menneisyys2]

I guess you're talking about the iPhone 3G? The latest supported Version is iOS 4.
But, if it's not already to late, I really recommend you to not update beyond iOS 3.1.3! With iOS 4 the iphone 3G really got messed up, becoming a really not -worthy experience. Plus: The amount of new features (Folders come to my mind) are negligible.

Agreed. Updating is in no way recommended, unless one needs to run some apps only compatible with 4.0+. The 3G really seems to be artificially slowed down to boost upgrading to newer models - as seems to be the case with iOS7 running on the iPad 3.

Fortunately, the 3G is very easy to downgrade from 4.x to 3.1.3 - see http://www.iphonehacks.com/2010/07/how-to-downgrade-iphone-3g-from-ios-4-to-iphone-os-3-1-3.html .