How to Prepare Your iPhone for iOS 18

Apple will officially release iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 on Monday, September 16, bringing a host of new features to existing iPhones and iPads, including new Home screen customization options, a revamped Control Center, an improved Photos app, and improvements to Mail.

In this article, we’ll cover some things you can do to prepare your iPhone or iPad for Apple’s latest mobile operating system, including storage management tips, backup advice, and other helpful tips to consider before upgrading. But first, you’ll need to make sure your device is compatible with the new software.

Is my iPhone compatible with iOS 18?

As iOS 18 is compatible with the iPhone XR, it’s also compatible with the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max models, which are equipped with the same A12 Bionic chip.

This means that iOS 18 is compatible with the same iPhone models as iOS 17.

iPadOS 18 drops support for iPad models with the A10X Fusion chip, so iPadOS 18 is compatible with the following iPad models:

Additionally, iOS 18 will come pre-installed on the new iPhone 16 models that go on sale on Friday, September 20th.

Reclaim storage space on your device

Before attempting to migrate to iOS 18, you should first make sure your device has enough free space to download and install the new operating system over the air.

With that in mind, it’s worth taking a look at the apps currently installed on your device and considering whether you really need them. Swipe through your home screen, look in your folders, and purge yourself of any long-forgotten apps that are taking up precious storage space.

To delete an app, place your finger on it and tap the X that appears in the corner of the icon. Or, go to Settings ➝ General ➝ iPhone/iPad Storage, tap the app you’re not using, and select Delete App. This action can’t be undone, but you can always reinstall deleted apps later if you change your mind, so be ruthless when deleting.

Check the size of installed social media and messaging apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. These apps often grow in size over prolonged activity due to chat history, media cache, etc. Hence, we recommend deleting and reinstalling the apps to start over.

Also, be sure to follow the personal recommendations shown on your iPhone’s Storage screen, such as storing high-resolution photos in iCloud and smaller ones on your device, and letting iOS automatically offload apps you don’t use often.

Create an archive backup of your device on Mac

We recommend that you keep a local backup of your device on your computer in case something goes wrong or, worse, the installation of iOS 18 fails. If you need to downgrade immediately after installing a new iOS update, you should create an archived local backup beforehand, otherwise you won’t be able to revert to ‌iOS 17/iPadOS 17‌ if something goes wrong.

Connect your iPhone to your Mac using the cable provided. Click “Allow” in the dialog prompt to allow the accessory to connect. Click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a Finder window. Click the name of your iOS device in the sidebar.

If this is the first time you connect your device to your Mac, click Trust in the Finder window.

If prompted, tap Trust on your device and enter your passcode to confirm. In the General tab, click the circle next to “Back up all iPad data to this Mac.” If you want to encrypt your backup, check the box next to “Encrypt local backups” and enter a password to protect your data. If you don’t want to create an encrypted backup or you’ve already set up an encrypted backup, click Back Up Now. Once your backup is complete, the date and time of your last backup will be displayed in the General tab, just above the Manage Backups button.

Finally, archive your backup: go to Manage Backups → Select Backup, right-click on the backup and select Archive. This will ensure it won’t be overwritten by your next local backup or automatically deleted if your Mac is low on storage space.

This backup won’t be overwritten when you back up your iPhone manually or automatically in the future, so you can restore it at any time using the “Restore Backup…” option from the same Finder screen.

Create an archive backup of your device in Windows

The iTunes app remains the primary tool for managing a connected iPhone on Windows.

Connect your iPhone to your Windows PC. In iTunes, click the iPhone button in the top left. Click (Summary). If you want to encrypt your data, select the (Encrypt local backup) option and set a password. Click (Back Up Now). Click (Manage Backups). Right-click the backup you created and select (Archive). This extra step ensures that the backup will not be overwritten by the next local backup or automatically deleted if your computer runs out of storage space.

Installing iOS 18

Once iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 are available as an over-the-air update (which, based on past releases, will likely be around 10am PST/1pm ET on the official release date), it could take some time to complete, so make sure your device is fully charged before starting the process over Wi-Fi.

To check if an update is available, go to Settings > General > Software Update and wait for a few moments for your device to connect to Apple’s servers. If you’re not in a hurry, you can wait for iOS 18 to be delivered to your iPhone the next time you connect it to your computer.

It’s important to note that the initial release versions of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 won’t include the Apple Intelligence features. Apple plans to introduce the first Apple Intelligence features in an update scheduled for release next month.