The ability to perform a clean restore on an iPhone or iPad without a Mac or PC is a huge deal when you have a device full of software cruft. That’s why Apple’s over-the-air OS recovery will solve a huge problem.
I had an iPhone lying around that simply shut down randomly. There was no pattern to it. There was no specific percentage that it hit before the shutdown even happened… So, I sent the phone over to Apple, they performed a clean restore of the software and the shutdown simply stopped happening.
This iPhone had around 2 years worth of over the air updates on top of one another, meaning it was filled with garbage. It badly needed a restore. And we all know how we do it – connect it to a PC or a Mac, download the firmware file and then restore. Sure, you can do it from Settings, but it’s not the same thing. You are essentially just erasing your files and settings and bringing it back to a ‘stock state’ using the software bits that were accumulated over the years.
So, now you will immediately understand why the over the air recovery feature has me excited… At this point it’s unclear when this feature will make the cut to the public. With iOS 13.4 or iOS 14? It’s hard to say. But whenever it does arrive, I’m going to use the heck out of it.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s amazing how many people we know who have an iPhone and/or iPad, but no Mac or crappy Windows PC to go with it. We don’t know how they do it, but Apple’s over-the-air OS recovery will certainly be a boon to them (and to Apple Store staff).
I’m almost there myself… no more laptops/desktops for me. Just my iPhone and the next iPad Pro with Wi-Fi 6.
So how do these people without Macs or Windows machines (both are PCs) do full backups? Don’t say iCloud as iCloud backups are NOT full backups.
Maybe Apple should allow full backups to an iPad. Maybe Apple should allow full restores and full resets through an iPad.
Instituting an over the air (cell or WiFi) reinstall of original (or current) iOS implements an attack vector I do not want to see.
I am not sure I understand what is new in this announcement. I have backed up (to iCloud), erased my iPhone and reinstalled the operating system and all my files/settings over wifi more than once – without use of my Mac.
small print: cloud provider is not liable for data loss, availability issues, or security breaches. but you knew that.