iPad OS 18.7

[Oohara]

Released since yesterday. The .7 releases are supposed to be the final iteration of any given release, right? Meaning if you don't want to or your device isn't able to install iPad OS 26, this is the final update you can actually do?

Did anyone install this on an iPad Pro 12.9" (2018)? I'm on 18.6.2 on mine and it works perfectly. So I assume 18.7 would too. But I'm always a little paranoid with these things so would love to hear if anyone else has.

 

[Reverend Benny]

Released since yesterday. The .7 releases are supposed to be the final iteration of any given release, right? Meaning if you don't want to or your device isn't able to install iPad OS 26, this is the final update you can actually do?

Did anyone install this on an iPad Pro 12.9" (2018)? I'm on 18.6.2 on mine and it works perfectly. So I assume 18.7 would too. But I'm always a little paranoid with these things so would love to hear if anyone else has.

Well there can be releases beyond 18.7 even for devices that can be updated to 26.
Looking back I belive there was one or two releases after the 17.7 release (that was released alongside 18.0) and there were two more for devices that could upgrade to 18. It all depends on if there are newfound bugs and security issues that need to be fixed.

I'm sticking with 18 untill its not getting any security updates, then I will update my device to 26. And by that time 26.1 will be out that prob has fixed most of issues found by early adopters.

 

[Oohara]

Ok thanks! So from 18.7 and up it should be all basically security updates, right? Meaning I can probably install it without any fear of it screwing up my darling iPad Pro 2018?

 

[Reverend Benny]

Ok thanks! So from 18.7 and up it should be all basically security updates, right? Meaning I can probably install it without any fear of it screwing up my darling iPad Pro 2018?

I think it has pretty much been only bugfixes and security updates since 18.6 tbh, not much has been added in terms of features.
Just installed 18.7 on my iPad Pro M1 (from 18.6.2), seem to be fine. Have it on a number of devices at work (mostly phones) and same there. No reports of either good or bad stuff.

But as always, do a backup before updating.
I tend to do an update on all apps before I update and also a proper restart before update just to make sure its working properly. Kill off apps and so on.

 

[Oohara]

I think it has pretty much been only bugfixes and security updates since 18.6 tbh, not much has been added in terms of features.
Just installed 18.7 on my iPad Pro M1 (from 18.6.2), seem to be fine. Have it on a number of devices at work (mostly phones) and same there. No reports of either good or bad stuff.

But as always, do a backup before updating.
I tend to do an update on all apps before I update and also a proper restart before update just to make sure its working properly. Kill off apps and so on.

Ok great to hear that, thanks! Gonna go ahead with 18.7 after backing up

 

[kkclstuff]

I updated 18.6.2->18.7 on my 6thgen iPadPro yesterday. IME, I should've stayed at 18.6.2 - I'd go back if I could. there are "small things" that worked fine forever, that are now 'broken' under 18.7.

• One example (though maybe not important to some), FaceTime Photos are no longer saving to Photos?? worked fine until now, and still working fine on iPhone Pro 18.7. (settings correct and hard rebooted).
• Backing up 18.7 via Mac after install was very glitchy, then slow.
• Notifications not 'syncing' between Mac/iPhonePro/iPadPro

Im curious what other item are 'bent or broken', hope they add fixes (ie 18.7.x, 18.8. etc). Im holding out from 26 upgrade because of work.

 

[Populus]

Instead of opening a new thread, I’m going to post here:

I’ve finally decided to update from 18.6.1 which, admittedly, worked perfectly but still had that security fix from 18.6.2 pending, a vulnerability that could be exploited by a maliciously crafted image. 18.6.2 according to several sources impacted a bit the battery life of devices (as it is usual with a security hot fix), so I stayed on 18.6.1 until now.

Apparently, from what I’ve been reading, 18.7 has almost as good battery life as 18.6.1, and because I wanted to stay for a while on iOS/iPadOS 18, I decided to update.

There’s no IPSW for the final version of iOS or iPadOS 18.7 (build number 22H20) and I almost never perform an OTA update. But this was the only way to get 18.7 -thanks Apple- and because I had already performed a clean install of iPadOS 18.6.1 recently, and I haven’t used my M2 iPad Pro too much, it’s still empty, I decided to take the plunge and perform the OTA update.

So yes, now I’m officially on 18.7 and I’m crossing my fingers for it to work as well as 18.6.1 did for a week, as there’s no way back, sadly. Well, there is one, but that would imply installing 18.6.2, which I won’t.

@kkclstuff if you really want to go back to iPadOS 18.6.2, you actually can, with a clean install. Keep in mind that a TimeMachine backup won’t work on a previous version to the one where you are performing the backup, but you can always manually copy all your files, photos and data to an external drive or a computer, and then restore your iPad through a Mac to iPadOS 18.6.2, and start manually copying back all the saved data.

As for me, I’m staying on 18.7 and, as I said, I really hope it didn’t introduce any new bugs to the system, like it often happens. Fingers crossed.

Next, I’m going to update my iPhone SE 3 to iOS 18.7

 

[SalisburySam]

Did an OTA update to iPadOS v18.7 on my 12.9” iPadPro 4th Gen. No adverse issues noted for my uses. Similarly my wife’s iPadAir 4th Gen. Similarly our two iPhone13minis. Apparently we’re fortunate.

On our AppleTV4K however, there is no upgrade available from tvOS v18.6 to v18.7, just a direct upgrade to v26 which I’ve opted to not initiate so far.

 

[Dylan33x]

I have an M1 iPad air currently on 17.7.2. Is there any update path to 18.7, through betas or anything? I’m aware there’s no IPSW

 

[SalisburySam]

Did an OTA update to iPadOS v18.7 on my 12.9” iPadPro 4th Gen. No adverse issues noted for my uses. Similarly my wife’s iPadAir 4th Gen. Similarly our two iPhone13minis. Apparently we’re fortunate.

On our AppleTV4K however, there is no upgrade available from tvOS v18.6 to v18.7, just a direct upgrade to v26 which I’ve opted to not initiate so far.

UPDATE: I went ahead and let our two AppleTV4Ks update to tvOSv26. Still don’t like how the interface works (no change there), and the other differences are so minor I don’t notice them. Performance is still ok but the Paramount+ app seems to change its Home page almost with every use. To get a consistent appearance, I have to double-click the TV icon, hard close the app, and try again. Odd, annoying, don’t see any way to avoid.

 

[F27]

I'm trying to update an iPad Air 5th Gen to 18.7.1 and every time after downloading for about 15 minutes I get this error.

It doesn't explain what's going wrong. Whether I select 'Download & Install' or 'Download Only' it always shows an error.

I have 12.48 GB free on the iPad. If storage is the issue surely I could manage to download just the 5.89 GB and then it would let me know if I need more space to install it...

Does anyone know what's happening here?

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I wish I could go back to 18.7. I do not like the liquid glass or what they did to the Ipad at all. The whole touch screen thing and trying to combine it with Mac OS just doesn't work that well.

 

[Reverend Benny]

I'm trying to update an iPad Air 5th Gen to 18.7.1 and every time after downloading for about 15 minutes I get this error.

View attachment 2564968

It doesn't explain what's going wrong. Whether I select 'Download & Install' or 'Download Only' it always shows an error.

I have 12.48 GB free on the iPad. If storage is the issue surely I could manage to download just the 5.89 GB and then it would let me know if I need more space to install it...

Does anyone know what's happening here?

Strange, no errorcode either.
Try a forced reboot and see if that helps, delete stuff so you get more space or try and update via a computer, that requires less space on the device if you update that way.

 

[F27]

Strange, no errorcode either.
Try a forced reboot and see if that helps, delete stuff so you get more space or try and update via a computer, that requires less space on the device if you update that way.

Thanks for the reply,

I've now tried a forced reboot and freed up 13.53 GB. Tried 'download only' again and got the same error. Can't understand what's wrong, if you can't download 5.89 GB with 13.53 GB free well then I'm stumped!

I'm reluctant to update using a computer because I have a PC and Apple's devices app is notoriously terrible on Windows, many have had soft bricked devices using it for updates. If I had a Mac I'd probably give it a go.

 

[Reverend Benny]

Thanks for the reply,

I've now tried a forced reboot and freed up 13.53 GB. Tried 'download only' again and got the same error. Can't understand what's wrong, if you can't download 5.89 GB with 13.53 GB free well then I'm stumped!

I'm reluctant to update using a computer because I have a PC and Apple's devices app is notoriously terrible on Windows, many have had soft bricked devices using it for updates. If I had a Mac I'd probably give it a go.

I've used both Mac and PC to update in the past, but it was years ago. Never came across any issues tho.
Not sure if ithe update need a lot of space to unpack the update.

I found an old post from 2024 saying that iOS 18 needed 13.7GB free to install, so it sounds like you might need a bit more space.

 

[F27]

I've used both Mac and PC to update in the past, but it was years ago. Never came across any issues tho.
Not sure if ithe update need a lot of space to unpack the update.

I found an old post from 2024 saying that iOS 18 needed 13.7GB free to install, so it sounds like you might need a bit more space.

Back when Apple was using iTunes to update devices on Windows it was a lot more stable and a much better piece of software, think I used it to update an iPad like 10 years ago. The new 'Apple Devices' app which replaced it seems to be really buggy in comparison with many reported issues.

Was hoping I could just download it 'packed' and then it would say 'you need X amount of space to install this update'. Clearing even more space on a 64GB iPad isn't going to be fun, wish I just knew a definite number to work towards!

 

[Reverend Benny]

Back when Apple was using iTunes to update devices on Windows it was a lot more stable and a much better piece of software, think I used it to update an iPad like 10 years ago. The new 'Apple Devices' app which replaced it seems to be really buggy in comparison with many reported issues.

Was hoping I could just download it 'packed' and then it would say 'you need X amount of space to install this update'. Clearing even more space on a 64GB iPad isn't going to be fun, wish I just knew a definite number to work towards!

The only numbers I could find was the one above and another article that said you need between 5-10Gb additional space during installation, so worst case 5.89 + 10GB.

If you have loads of photos you can store the original in the cloud and a compressed version on the iPad, that saves a good amount of space (if you haven't done so already).
If you have Spotify you might be able to delete cached and downloaded file (if you have that) same goes for Netflix and similar services. If you have movies in iphotos, like a long 4K one or similar you can move that to files temporary.
Also, if you disconnect files it seem to delete cached files.

 

[histeachn81]

I've held off on updating my M2 iPad Air from iPadOS 17 to iPadOS 18. I'm not really considering iPadOS 26 (it's far too early in its build), but would anyone here consider it safe to update to 18? Should it not take too much of a performance hit, particularly if I turn off Apple Intelligence? Thanks in advance.

 

[SalisburySam]

I've held off on updating my M2 iPad Air from iPadOS 17 to iPadOS 18. I'm not really considering iPadOS 26 (it's far too early in its build), but would anyone here consider it safe to update to 18? Should it not take too much of a performance hit, particularly if I turn off Apple Intelligence? Thanks in advance.

I’d consider it safe…and likely advisable for security if nothing else. I have my iPadPro (4th Gen) on v18.7.1 with no issues and have experienced no noticeable performance degradation. Same with my wife’s iPadAir (4th Gen).

That said, we have no plans to go to v26 on these devices unless v18 becomes obsoleted/no-longer-signed/deprecated (“killed” in software development lingo). AI is not an enticement at this point, nor are any of the other “features” sufficiently compelling.

 

[histeachn81]

I’d consider it safe…and likely advisable for security if nothing else. I have my iPadPro (4th Gen) on v18.7.1 with no issues and have experienced no noticeable performance degradation. Same with my wife’s iPadAir (4th Gen).

That said, we have no plans to go to v26 on these devices unless v18 becomes obsoleted/no-longer-signed/deprecated (“killed” in software development lingo). AI is not an enticement at this point, nor are any of the other “features” sufficiently compelling.

Thanks. So the same processor in your Pro. I will still stew on this a little bit, but will probably do it this week if I do. I realize once they get deeper into supporting iPadOS 26 they'll make 18 disappear.

 

[FeliApple]

I've held off on updating my M2 iPad Air from iPadOS 17 to iPadOS 18. I'm not really considering iPadOS 26 (it's far too early in its build), but would anyone here consider it safe to update to 18? Should it not take too much of a performance hit, particularly if I turn off Apple Intelligence? Thanks in advance.

My M1 iPad Air is running iPadOS 15. Really the question I’d ask you is your longer-term plan. Are you planning to update eventually to iPadOS 26? If you are, I’d argue your current quandary is irrelevant.

If you aren’t, then the question becomes one: how damaging is iPadOS 18 for the M2 iPad Air? You can probably get more compatibility (although the difference won’t be much) long-term vs iPadOS 17, and I don’t think iPadOS 18 would be harmful (unlike iPadOS 26).

So even though I’d never recommend updating anything, perhaps, as a long-term decision, staying on iPadOS 18 indefinitely vs iPadOS 17 may be a good choice, if only due to compatibility reasons. In spite of that, however, I reckon that iPadOS 17 vs 18 isn’t a difference significant enough so as to be a major decision: the compatibility difference for the future may be negligible.

iPadOS 26 carries FAR more risk and should be considered far more carefully than iPadOS 18. Chances are that on an M2 iPad Air, iPadOS 18 will have the exact same performance and battery life than iPadOS 17.

 

[histeachn81]

My M1 iPad Air is running iPadOS 15. Really the question I’d ask you is your longer-term plan. Are you planning to update eventually to iPadOS 26? If you are, I’d argue your current quandary is irrelevant.

If you aren’t, then the question becomes one: how damaging is iPadOS 18 for the M2 iPad Air? You can probably get more compatibility (although the difference won’t be much) long-term vs iPadOS 17, and I don’t think iPadOS 18 would be harmful (unlike iPadOS 26).

So even though I’d never recommend updating anything, perhaps, as a long-term decision, staying on iPadOS 18 indefinitely vs iPadOS 17 may be a good choice, if only due to compatibility reasons. In spite of that, however, I reckon that iPadOS 17 vs 18 isn’t a difference significant enough so as to be a major decision: the compatibility difference for the future may be negligible.

iPadOS 26 carries FAR more risk and should be considered far more carefully than iPadOS 18. Chances are that on an M2 iPad Air, iPadOS 18 will have the exact same performance and battery life than iPadOS 17.

Thanks. Yeah, iPadOS 26 isn't even on the table, as it just seems like a step too far. Your point about compatibility is fair, and the previous reply seems to indicate it's stable. I'll just switch off Apple Intelligence and roll with it.

 

[FeliApple]

Thanks. Yeah, iPadOS 26 isn't even on the table, as it just seems like a step too far. Your point about compatibility is fair, and the previous reply seems to indicate it's stable. I'll just switch off Apple Intelligence and roll with it.

I personally don’t update anything (as I said, my M1 Air runs iPadOS 15), but looking at it from a long-term perspective, perhaps iPadOS 18 makes sense.

Do ask around as far as M2 Air users go.

The M2 Air is more powerful than my A16 iPad on iPadOS 18, and for what it’s worth, mine is flawless. And I don’t take that word lightly: as I said, I never update anything and I am completely performance and battery life-focused.

I’d ask around first.