[ipad] Installing iPadOs 18.2.1 update - storage issues

[Koldov]

This latest iPadOS update is kicking my butt...

 

A lot of the iPads are saying they can't download or install due to needing 11 or 12GB free space for downloading/unpacking/installing!

 

Anyone else having this problem?

[Jawloms]

I had this years ago on a brand new, fresh out of the box iPhone 5C. Turned it on and it said there was an update, told it to do it and it said it couldn't as there wasn't enough room. BRAND NEW PHONE! Plugged it in to a computer and did it via iTunes. That still a thing?

 

Stuart

[LeMarchand]

Been OK (so far) on the 64GB pads, but have had to uninstall GarageBand and sometimes other large installs and reinstall them after the update on the 32GB ones.

[Koldov]

I had this years ago on a brand new, fresh out of the box iPhone 5C. Turned it on and it said there was an update, told it to do it and it said it couldn't as there wasn't enough room. BRAND NEW PHONE! Plugged it in to a computer and did it via iTunes. That still a thing?

Stuart

 

Yes, I guess the computer does the downloading and unpacking which would help, but I'm hoping I don't need to do that for 100s of iPads.

 

Been OK (so far) on the 64GB pads, but have had to uninstall GarageBand and sometimes other large installs and reinstall them after the update on the 32GB ones.

 

Unfortunately 32GB here... because how much space could a couple of apps take? Luckily they are glorified cameras and internet research devices, so I've asked the teachers to give me a list of 'essential' apps, everything else is getting deleted, however Garage Band is being used in music lessons and they are creating a song week by week.

 

Luckily I've managed to get a couple of the teachers to tell the kids to delete all the photos & videos, the apps I can do via the MDM and some of them need a reboot as it seems they are holding on to cache (because I don't even know the last time they were turned off and on again), but with over 21GB already used (18GB for the OS and 3GB System Data) it's always cutting it fine...

 

Still don't seem to be able to get the iPads to actually do the update in a through the Cisco Meraki SM though...

Edited January 24, 2025 by Koldov

[Cat_Jam148]

Been OK (so far) on the 64GB pads, but have had to uninstall GarageBand and sometimes other large installs and reinstall them after the update on the 32GB ones.

 

Same here. A surprising amount of apps keep data in a cache and don't clear it, and have no way of doing it manually apart from an uninstall.

[Koldov]

FFS!!!!

 

I'm still trying to battle through getting this installed and yesterday looked at one of the iPads which was full because it finally downloaded 18.2.1 and today it has somehow regained all its storage...

 

...because 18.2.1 has disappeared... now I have to start all over again with 18.3

 

I cannot get Meraki SM to kick off an OS update even by selecting 'Install Latest OS update'!!!!

[PotNoodleTech]

If you've got 32GB drvices then it's only gonna get more painful and difficult - 64gb ipads we have don't tend to have massise of space left on them either once the teachers get their hands on the capera app :/

[LeMarchand]

I often wait until the holidays and then grab those that still need updating.

[Cat_Jam148]

I often wait until the holidays and then grab those that still need updating.

 

Same here. Plug them in to Apple Configurator and all is good.

 

Meraki can be a bit of pain when it comes to pushing out OS updates, although that is probably more to blame on Apple than the MDM. We usually get a lot of "Update: Not now" entries in the logs which is usually the iPads way of saying I'll update when I feel like it.

[3s-gtech]

AC2 (or iTunes) downloads the update itself, so doesn't hoover up space before the update. It's a faff but may be the only way on the older/smaller ones now.