back to article Apple iPhones, iPads BRICKED by iOS 9's 'slide-to-upgrade' bug

Apple has published a workaround after some iPhone and iPad users were left stranded in the middle of the iOS 9 update process. The Cupertino giant has acknowledged multiple complaints that devices were unable to progress past the "Slide to Upgrade" screen when moving to the latest version of iOS. Apple's remedy: wipe your …

  1. Chris 171
    Coat

    Ban Them!

    Samsung has the patent on this particular 'slide to' it would appear.

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Facepalm

      Re: Ban Them!

      No, it can't be the fault of the device, because Apples "help" desk has issued the following advice:

      You're uograding it wrong.

    2. ItsNotMe
      WTF?

      Re: Ban Them!

      Why? Not supposed to be any functionality problems with their devices. Everyone knows that Apple products "just work". Don't they? That's what my brother keeps telling me anyway.

  2. djstardust

    Apple

    No longer quality hardware or software. Cheap tat from China at expensive prices and massive margins..... and people still fall for it!

    1. asdf

      Re: Apple

      >No longer quality software

      Umm not like in the golden days huh (see video)? That said lucky for Apple in the mobile space its only viable competition is even worse for the most part.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5AEaEOZ1rc

      1. zen1

        @asdf

        "Umm not like in the golden days huh (see video)? That said lucky for Apple in the mobile space its only viable competition is even worse for the most part."

        On one hand you have a walled fortress, with the occasional "uh oh" vs. a platform that's one giant advertisement. Note: I won't even bother adding Microsoft's latest abomination to the equation...

        ugh... I hate smart phones sometimes.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Apple

      That is why I still have and use an iPhone 4s since 2012.

      It's functional, albeit slower and limited to do things at marketplace introduction without bloated software apps (iWatch etc..)

      Good Quality hardware made for purpose and still serving as intended.

      Software beyond iOS 6.3 has fallen foul of apple bloatware.

      1. 080

        Re: Apple

        "That is why I still have and use an iPhone 4s since 2012."

        Err..... that's only three years ago.

      2. ravenviz Silver badge
        Gimp

        Re: 4S (Re: Apple...

        I'm not a fanbois as such but I do like Apple's iThings (I like apps and syncing music), I have faithfully updated my 4S with all OS releases when they come out, and have noticed my 64 GB handset slowing down recently. I was going to wait for a 128 GB 6 before changing but seems like I'm going to have to get a 64 GB 5S to deal with slowdown (and get 4G).

        (Re iOS 9, has the press and navigate glass gone?)

  3. Lee D Silver badge

    Haven't got around to updating all our iPads (200+) but the two we did, we had one lose the AppStore icon - and anything that needs the appstore just hangs at the point it would load it up.

    Great start.

    1. Philip Lewis

      Worked for me

      Sample space of 1 Air2

      Upgrade to 9.0

      Worked fine

      1. Philip Lewis

        Re: Worked for me

        Sample space increased 100% to 2 with addition of 1 iPhone.

        Still 100% success

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Epic fail

    Apple re-branding 'Genius Bars' to 'Joe Sixpack Bars' to accurately reflect employee competence

    1. Not That Andrew

      Re: Epic fail

      So next time I need my car serviced I go to Apple?

      1. TeeCee Gold badge

        Re: Epic fail

        Depends. Do you own a Jagwire?

  5. decoherence
    Trollface

    This is obviously a feature, not a bug. Apple, in their infinite wisdom, is separating the wheat from the chaff. Those who don't make regular backups (via iCloud of course) are the Lesser fanbois and can't gloat over their Apple-calibre data hygiene practices. They should probably just go buy a Samsung since they're obviously not wise, sophisticated and well liked enough to use Apple's superior products.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just goes to show..

    .. that past performance is no proper indication of future quality.

    This is why I *ALWAYS* back up, and in the case of OSX even twice. In this context it is worth pointing out that the inability of iTunes to create more than one backup (and trying to overwrite that on connect) is absolute rubbish. I disabled automatic sync years ago because it endangers recovery.

    I didn't have a problem upgrading, though - but I still made a backup first.

    1. James O'Shea

      Re: Just goes to show..

      Errm... the statement "the inability of iTunes to create more than one backup (and trying to overwrite that on connect) is absolute rubbish" is, ah, not entirely correct. You _can_ have more than one backup. You merely need to go to iTunes preferences/devices, select the backup you want to keep, right-click, and select 'archive'. That backup will not be overwritten. I routinely do this before updating the OS on all iOS devices. This means that I have a succession of backups of older versions of iOS which I can go back to and use to restore, should I ever want/need to drop back.

      Furthermore, you can turn automatic backup off. Then you have to select the device you want to back up and back it up manually.

      For further info, check out https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Just goes to show..

        Well, there you go, you learn something new every day here, so it's buried merely 4 layers of menus away from the main interface. Who coded that, Microsoft?

        Anyway, thanks. Time to get that organised.

  7. Ilsa Loving

    I had no problems

    I was able to upgrade without any issues at all, nor have I ever had an issue while upgrading the OS.

    That being said, I *still* made sure to do a full backup of my device before upgrading.

    The idea that someone would perform a major, irrevocable change to your device without making a full backup first, is just ludicrous. You may as well invite Murphy over to stay in your house.

    1. asdf

      Re: I had no problems

      >The idea that someone would perform a major, irrevocable change to your device

      And the crazy thing is you pay premium prices to allow them to do that to you.

    2. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Re: I had no problems

      Had no issues either on my 4S. Waited with the iPad though, to see if any issues would show up. Backup! It's so simple to do, and the instructions tell you to as well.

      Bit surprised Apple can't reset the iOS without clearing all data though.

      A dumb USB drive mode to get to the data would have been useful.

      1. Tom Womack

        Re: I had no problems

        Which OS were you upgrading from? I have a two-out-of-two failure rate going from iOS 7 direct to 9.0

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I had no problems

          I have a two-out-of-two failure rate going from iOS 7 direct to 9.0

          I'd be interested to know why you waited that long, normally it's worth keeping up with their updates.

          I too have never really had an update problem although the last part of the iOS 9 upgrade seems to have a bug where the progress bar does not, well, progress. It appears to freeze for minutes which makes for a nervous time, only to resume later with the bar shooting to nearly 100% completed at which point the device goes live with all the trimmings. As a matter of fact, OSX sees it return well before the iOS display gives any sign of life.

          1. neilhuband

            Re: I had no problems

            maybe he skipped iOS8 because it was well known to be a big, steaming pile of dog**** ?

            Just a possibility

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    (untitled)

    (body)

    1. Little Mouse

      That's the most sensible thing anyone's said so far.

  9. Trey Pattillo

    Just spent 5 hours..

    on this nonsense.

    What finally worked --- reload but NO PASSWORD.

    That may take downloading the 4.8.x OS backload, and

    do a DFU reboot.

    Actually in the end the existing 9.0 worked but again NO PASSWORD ! !

    The commentor mentioned doing reinstall for 15 times and I agree, at least 10 for me.

    Then NO PASSWORD !

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just spent 5 hours..

      It has become sentient and hates you.

  10. WillbeIT
    Pint

    "Fanbois flustered, furious: faulty firmware fingered"

    lol katz

    May I add "faulty fruity firmware fingered".

    thanks, made my day.

    1. Mitoo Bobsworth

      Less fruit, more dirt

      in some cases the expression can be more 'earthy' ...

      "The fucking fuckers fucked!"

      No joke - I heard a co-worker say this after wasting his lunch hour (and then some) with this problem.

      1. ravenviz Silver badge
        Devil

        Re: Less fruit, more dirt

        Ah, a shortened version of the venerated "the fucking fucker's fucking fucked"!

      2. x 7

        Re: Less fruit, more dirt

        You missed the full expression....

        "Fuck!. Fucking fuckers fucking fucked."

    2. 080

      "Fanbois flustered, furious: faulty firmware fingered"

      lol katz

      May I add "faulty fruity firmware fingered".

      May I add "frustrated fanbois fucking fedup"

  11. Haku

    Spreading themselves thin?

    Shirley increasing the range of their supported iOS devices has to mean the programmers are doing more work in terms of getting things right?

  12. W Donelson

    I love Apple, and Apple products, but....

    ... Steve Jobs would never have allowed crap like this.

    1. Haku

      Re: I love Apple, and Apple products, but....

      *cough*

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/25/iphone4_antenna/

  13. Breen Whitman

    Aaaaaannnnnnndddd...Apples race to the bottom continues...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ah, the sweet sound of desperate, yet futile hope..

  14. Tromos

    It must have worked OK...

    ...for Apple when they comprehensively tested it before release. Um. They DID test it before release?

    1. James O'Shea

      Re: It must have worked OK...

      "...for Apple when they comprehensively tested it before release. Um. They DID test it before release?"

      Oh, they tested it. However, it seems that the majority of those who are having problems went directly from iOS 7 to 9, skipping 8. The majority of Apple's in-house testing would be on either new-build machines which never had an older OS or on machines running iOS 8. There would be some testing on systems running iOS 7, but that would be quite limited and edge cases would probably not get noticed.

      Worse, the outside testing, by both the open beta and the 'Apple Seed' programs, by definition is done by people who are at least moderately enthusiastic about Apple kit. This means that almost all of them will have had the latest released version of the OS before they started testing, so the number of test installs on iOS 7 devices would be... quite limited. Again, edge cases would probably not get caught. To catch this, Apple would have had to have done a _lot_ of testing using iOS 7 devices. Finding external testers who had iOS 7 devices which could be upgraded to 9 and who care enough to be part of a test program but yet didn't care enough to update to iOS 8 for the last year would be... difficult. Apple basically figured that anyone who was using iOS 7 was probably going to stay with iOS 7, and was on their own.

      And, finally, Apple posts this:

      "We do not recommend installing pre-release software on personal-critical and/or business-critical systems. Backups should be maintained to mitigate data loss in the event of an application or system crash. Apple is not liable for malfunctions resulting from the installation of this software. Furthermore, Apple makes no guarantee that data created or modified by this software will be compatible with future versions."

      to all participants in outside testing. Please note the second sentence. Anyone who was an Apple external tester and had a problem would either have had a backup, or wouldn't be able to complain 'cause he was bloody told 'make a backup before installing, dolt'. And the rest of that note is kinda scary.

      I cannot understand how anyone could make a major OS update without backing up first. I really can't. And I felt that way _before_ reading Apple's little note.

      1. Barry Rueger

        Re: It must have worked OK...

        Apple would have had to have done a _lot_ of testing using iOS 7 devices.

        Or could have the good graces to prevent a 7 to 9 upgrade, or at least offer up a stern warning that "Upgrades from your OS version have not been fully tested, and we cannot guarantee that they will work. Please upgrade to version 8 before attempting this upgrade."

        1. Another User

          Re: It must have worked OK...

          "Please upgrade to version 8 before attempting this upgrade."

          That is not possible. Version 8 is gone. It is not offered any more after version 9 had been released.

      2. x 7

        Re: It must have worked OK...

        "and edge cases would probably not get noticed."

        are edge cases ones that don't have round corners?

        1. hoola Silver badge

          Re: It must have worked OK...

          Spot on there, the edges are all the wrong shape. Or maybe the edge case is simply having an iDevice that has previously been switched on and setup.

          If a fresh install works then there is clearly not a problem!!!!

          Ha bloody ha, the concept here is that the move to iOS 9 is that it is an upgrade. That suggests that you have an older version to upgrade from. Otherwise it is just a new installation.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lucky

    Can confirm it worked just fine on my iPad 2, iPad Air and iPhone 5.

    They where all on iOS 8 already though.

  16. Richard Parkin

    So once again we find El Reg readers can't perform backups and upgrades. My iPhone 4s and iPad Air2 are working flawlessly on iOS9 and my old iPad 2 which has been running flawlessly on the beta version is now on iOS 9.1 with no problems.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      OK, I'll bite. 9.1?

      1. Richard Parkin

        Because it's on the beta channel.

        1. Sooty

          I got surprised by this one. I was beta testing IOS 9.0, as I wanted to try the picture in picture (not realising it wouldn't be enabled on my iPad version)

          Once the official IOS 9.0 was released I got an update notification, which I didn't really read and assumed it would take me to the official 9.0 release. Instead it took me to 9.1 beta. Downgrading back to 9.0 when the app store decided to stop working was surprisingly straightforward, however unofficial.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fanboi finds fruity firmware fantastic!

    iOS 9 deemed mighty fine, upgrade from 8 reduces hate, phone follows fate; iPad must wait, it's getting late.

    Keyboard lower case letters make typing miles better, others did this before, Apple late out the door, but points are scored.

    More news tomorrow readers when I update the iPad.

  18. messele

    So...

    In conclusion then the number of users affected is probably a percentage rounding error at worst.

    Still, I suppose a "tech professional" news site has to have something to go on, after all you wouldn't rely solely on mocking users for backing up before performing a major OS upgrade to get your click bait ad revenue...

    ...would you?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So...

      you wouldn't rely solely on mocking users for backing up before performing a major OS upgrade to get your click bait ad revenue, would you?

      Of course not - didn't you see the discussion about ad blockers earlier?

      :)

  19. JohnMurray

    iphone 4S on IOS 8.4....direct upgrade not via itunes...no problem, but that was after the 4-hour marathon restoring the ipad after an itunes IOS 9 upgrade attempt.

    Fortunately I had backed it up prior to the upgrade attempt.

    Note to others: backup. UPDATE ITUNES FIRST, THEN DO THE IOS 9 UPDATE (if you must use itunes)

    Don't bother phoning your local apple store: Clueless, they hung the phone up on me!

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I did 2 iPhone 5s's and one iPad Air

    no issues at all...

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    it's an ios 7 to ios 9 bug

    I noticed the upgrade size was quite small: around 90+ MB compared to the GB that iOS 8 is on an iOS 7 device.

  22. Unicornpiss
    Meh

    A particular favorite...

    About Apple backups on iTunes: I support hundreds of iPhones. (I must have been a real bastard in a previous life) If a user has ever encrypted a backup they made with iTunes, even if it was years ago, if they break their phone and I need to backup/restore to a fresh device, I can back it up, but need the password for the ages ago encryption to restore the backup. Even though it's a different phone, entirely different PC, and fresh backup. Naturally the user doesn't remember what password they used when in a drunken fit of repentance for past transgressions they decided to backup their phone in 2012 and encrypt it. There is also apparently no way to disable this after the fact. !@#$$%^!!

    Other Apple fun---I plug an iPhone into a Windows PC to recover photos and am met with a 'directory' that contains a few photos and dozens of 1K files listed as "drives." Curiously if I plug it into a Linux box, I can apparently see a good chunk of the FS as r/w, way beyond what you can normally access.

    I find Apple devices to be flaky, troublesome, fragile, and illogical. To me, they are the electronic embodiment of perpetual whining.

    1. messele

      Re: A particular favorite...

      You might think of legacy password protected backups as an inconvenience. I think of Apples methods as solid and secure.

      Are you saying you WANT ported user libraries to crumbly simply by moving them to a new device?

      Barmy.

      1. Unicornpiss

        Re: A particular favorite...

        I would consider it merely an inconvenience if there was ANY way of getting around the problem. Understand that I'm not talking about accessing an old backup for which someone forgot the password, but making a fresh backup of a different, damaged phone to restore to a new device. Something similar to 'iForgot' would be fine. Surely there should be something in place to help you backup and restore a new device years later if you forgot a password for an encryption you did years ago?

        To me it's like losing your car keys but the locksmith won't help you because you once lost your keys to a different car in 1988.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    7th level of update Hell

    same here, in my case it was a failed update which did for my 4S.

    The one with the temperamental WiFi chip, worked without it for months using the camera backlight overheat method then tried to do a chip transplant when it completely failed.

    Didn't work so took the new chip out, cleaned up the board and everything "seemed" OK, went to do an update to see if it could restore the saved data afterwards and BAM! Bye bye Iphone. :-(

    Still have the dead MB here because it has some value, rest got recycled.

    I had the exact same problem on a 'Pad, 1st gen 3G+WiFi.

    Worked fine, went to reboot (months back) and pop went the weasel.

    In this case it froze in the middle of the reboot sequence at about 90% bar requiring the Vulcan Nerve Pinch (tm) to fix it but fortunately it did work and got the recent data back.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lots of so-called IT professionals having problems with upgrades to software (regardless of platform or device) on these "tech sites"...... Most of these people having problems are the ones people trust to sort out problems that they have but they cannot resolve their own issues even! No wonder the IT industry is no trusted by the public...........

    1. Down not across

      IT professionals

      Lots of so-called IT professionals having problems with upgrades to software (regardless of platform or device) on these "tech sites"...... Most of these people having problems are the ones people trust to sort out problems that they have but they cannot resolve their own issues even! No wonder the IT industry is no trusted by the public...........

      Has it ever occurred to you, that many readers and posters on "tech site" forums are in fact not IT professionals and indeed frequent the sites perhaps in search of some information?

      Whilst some blame could be attributed to some IT professionals, often the issues stem from further up the chain.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Possible fix

    Sometimes it would work to try holding your home and power button at the same time to force shut down. However instead of putting your apple device into recovery mode via home button and plugging in the power cable, try continuously holding the power and home button till it forces recovery mode. From there you should be able to restore it on itunes. However try to update fails at the last second if you don't do the restore and update.

  26. alexinbrighton

    Workaround doesn't, well, work around the problem

    The workaround published doesn't work for everyone. 3 hours onto Apply chat support last night and my device is still bricked. Seems is you have Find my phone enabled then you're really screwed. Agreed in the end I'd ask my local store for a loan device until the problem is resolved... will let you know how that goes!

  27. Nameless Faceless Computer User

    I see a pattern

    Simple problem and solution. Apple does this frequently. They just assume that everyone in the world always has the latest hardware and latest software so they do no testing for people (like me) who tend to skip every other version. They also do annoying things, like suddenly abandoning support and testing for previous model hardware, such as Firewire 400 then Firewire 800. Then they decided to drop support for the Apple modem, sending those of us sending/receiving FAX's scrambling for a substitute.

    Apple's business model asks their customers to chuck all their devices into the nearest landfill and buy all new hardware every time they introduce a new operating system, which appears to be once a year now.

    Really getting old.

  28. Karl Dallas

    iOS9 screwed up Periscope on my iPad Mini

    I'd been streaming from my iPad Mini successfully using Periscope but since "upgrading" to iOS9 I've had to fall back on my Android phone to stream. That's OK, but the image is flipped L2R.

  29. XiangMayou

    ios 9 update stuck on 'slide to upgrade' screen

    It seems that your iPhone is freezing, but, don't worry, you can try to reboot your iphone.

    You can find ways in :

    http://www.any-data-recovery.com/tips/iphone/how-to-reboot-a-frozen-or-hung-iphone.html

  30. Rev.Ted

    Have a little common sense

    I have an iPhone 4s, which although getting on a bit, has never given me any problems updating any IOS. I can only assume that the people complaining are trying to run the update direct from their devices. It is to be honest a stupid thing to do, with far too many things that can go wrong. To anyone doing this, the simple answer is don't! Connect to your laptop or Mac and run any updates through iTunes. If something does go wrong, then re-imaging is simple.

    After all things could be so much worse, and you could have a Windows or Android phone, so stop moaning.

  31. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

    I did the Air a couple of days ago, with no issues. I cleared about 1GB of flash first though (above the download itself).

  32. Yilia

    We should firstly guarantee there is enough space to update our iOS device to a new iOS software. Secondly, make sure there is a good network connection and enough power to finish the whole update. Then make update on iPhone or iTunes quickly with few steps. Sometimes, the incompatible iOS version or software issue will cause the failure. You can in this case consider a professional system recovery, like Joyoshare UltFix, to repair with no data loss.

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