If you’re an iPhone user you’ll know that Apple pretty frequently adds new features and options to its smartphones via iOS system updates.
Many of us just let these happen automatically, but if you’re curious about how you can force your iPhone to check for new updates and download them, we’ve got all the key details for you here.
How to update your iPhone manually
We'll cover the automatic side of things further down, but if you want to know how to manually initiate a software update on your iPhone, we've got the steps you can follow.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone
- Tap into the General section
- Tap on Software Update
- Wait for it to check if an update is available
- If one is available, tap Install or Download and Install to install it
While it might take a little while to download and initiate the update on your phone, which will restart during the process, this will have manually kicked it off.
The only update you'll be offered is the most recent one, so you don't have to worry about version numbers or anything like that, either.
How to update your iPhone automatically
Like most phone makers, Apple also makes it pretty simple to have your iPhone download and install big software updates automatically. If you want to control how this works, follow the steps below.
- Open the Settings app
- Tap on General
- Hit Software Update
- Tap on Automatic Updates
- Turn on both Download iOS Updates and Install iOS Updates
This will mean that your phone will download and install updates without needing to check in with you, which is great for ensuring that the latest security packages are in place, for example.
You don't have to worry about these updates interrupting your work or leisure, though - they'll always happen overnight, while the phone is charging and provided it's connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Of course, you could leave Install iOS Updates unchecked if you want to be able to choose exactly when the updates your phone downloads are installed.