Every year, Apple releases their latest version of iOS and this year it is called iOS 11. We are going to go in-depth on if you should upgrade, and if you do, what you should do before.

Upgrade or Not?

The first factor in deciding if you should upgrade or not, is compatibility. This is asking, “does your iPhone or iPad support iOS 11?” The list of phones and tablets that support the newest OS are as follows:

iPhone 5s, 5E, 6, 6 plus, 6s, 6s plus, 7, 7 plus, 8, 8 plus, and the iPhone X.

iPad Air, Air 2, Mini 2, Mini 3, Mini 4, iPad pro 9.7” 1^st gen, iPad pro 12.9” 1^st gen, iPad pro 12.9” 2017, iPad pro 10.5” 2017, and the 2017 ipad.

iPod touch 6^th Gen.

This is the full list of compatible devices that will be able to update to iOS 11. The iPhone 5s and the iPad mini 2 probably won’t get any more updates going forward, but this also means those devices won’t be able to run iOS 11 very well. Often, the older devices suffer from poor performance with the latest iOS update. If your device supports iOS 11 and you are planning on upgrading, here are a few things to check before you do that.

First, make sure that you go to settings -> general -> about -> Applications. This will show you all of the Apps on your phone that won’t work after you update to iOS 11. The new OS requires all Apps to support 64bit. This means they will run better and be more powerful. In the past, 32bit Apps would still run, but would be slower. With the new operating system, they will no longer work at all. If you have Apps that you use all the time that won’t be supported, you probably don’t want to update quite yet. Hopefully those App developers will upgrade their Apps to be 64bit.

Secondly, here is something to keep in mind. Often right after a new launch, the software still has some bugs that Apple needs to work out. If you are an early adopter, then you may have to live with some bugs that haven’t been fixed. Apple generally is good about releasing good software, but it is inevitable that there will be bugs in any large software rollout.

If you are okay with both of the above considerations, then install iOS 11! You can do this right from your phone, and shouldn’t take long. However, before you click the install button, there is something extremely important you should do first:

Back up your phone! While nothing should happen to your files and data, it is still very important to back up your data in case something goes wrong. The worst thing that could happen is the install getting corrupted and you lose all of your pictures and contacts, among other things. You can do this a couple ways. The first is by plugging your phone into a computer and using iTunes to back it up. This puts the backup on your computer. The second way is to use iCloud. This will upload all of your data from your phone to iCloud. This is convenient because once it is turned on it will regularly backup any new data. The problem with this is if you don’t back up regularly, it can take an extremely long time to upload dozens of gigabytes of data.

Also, plug your phone in or make sure you have a nearly full battery. If your phone dies in the middle of updating, it is more likely to cause the OS to be corrupt.

That is pretty much it regarding the new iOS 11 update! Apple makes it easy to update your phone, and usually it is a good idea. The new version of iOS includes many new and helpful features. Just make sure you are careful to avoid the issues that can happen.