How to Delete iOS Updates from Your iPhone & iPad

Don’t want to install an iOS update on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch? You can remove the iOS update from your device, which is really the best way to prevent accidentally installing and update or not installing one at all.

All users can easily delete any iOS update that has already been downloaded onto your iPhone, or iPad or iPod touch.

The ability to remove a software update from a device is not well known, but it works to remove the update completely, thereby eliminating the possibility of accidentally installing it. Here’s what you’ll want to do to:

How to Delete an iOS Update

Removing an iOS update from an iPhone or iPad is pretty easy:

1. Open the Settings app and go to “General”
2. Head to “Storage” (or “Usage”) and look for “iOS 8.0.1” (or whatever version you want to delete, eg “iOS 9.2.1”)
3. Tap the “Delete” button and confirm the removal of the downloaded update from the device

This deletes the entire delta download from the iPhone, preventing any accidental installations of the iOS release, and also freeing up whatever storage capacity the update consumed.

This is not permanent and you can get the update again if you want it, obviously not what you’d want to do with the buggy iOS release. If you head to the OTA Software Update section of iOS Settings, you’ll be able to download the update again when it comes out.

For now, heading to Software Update will inform you the device is up to date, however.

And no, this is not the same as downgrading, it simply removes the uninstalled update from the device.

This trick became necessary when the original iOS 8.0.1 update proved to be a disaster for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users, where it has led to a nonexistent cellular connection and malfunctioning Touch ID. This has forced users to restore or downgrade their iPhones to resolve the iOS 8.0.1 problem, a nuisance to say the least. While many users were able to avoid the iOS 8.0.1 update, others may have downloaded it onto their devices but haven’t yet installed it, with the update just sitting there waiting to install and wreak havoc on their device.