For some people who may be wondering about how long it will take to download the update, kindly take note that, the iOS 11.4 update is a large milestone upgrade for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and it could take you 10 minutes, or longer, to get it on board your device.
The newest version of iOS 11 delivers a rather long list of changes including bug fixes, security patches, and several new features including AirPlay 2 and Messages in iCloud.
If you’re upgrading from iOS 11.3.1, iOS 11.4 is a sizable download. It’s 306MB for the iPhone X and the download is in and around the same size for other Apple’s other iPhone and iPad models.
If you’re upgrading from an older version of iOS, your iOS 11.4 update will be much bigger thanks to the features and fixes from updates you skipped. They’re baked into your version of iOS 11.4.
While some of you might want to temporarily hit pause on a iOS 11.4 download, others are perfectly fine moving from iOS 11.3.1 (or whatever you’re currently running) to iOS 11.4.
If you do decide to download iOS 11.4 onto your device, you’ll want to set aside some quiet time to complete the download and installation. Making the transition from one version of iOS to another can cause problems so you’ll want to minimize potential distractions.
We can’t tell you exactly how long your iOS 11.4 will take because download times always vary from person-to-person, device-to-device. That said, we can help you approximate how much time to set aside if and when you decide to download the iOS 11.4 update onto your device.
If you’ve prepared for iOS 11.4 and you’re connected to a fast Wi-Fi network, moving to iOS 11.4 could take just a few minutes to complete. If you haven’t done any prep work, the process could take longer.
Pre-Installation
Before you start your iOS 11.4 download it’s important to prepare. A little prep work ahead of the installation can go a long way toward preventing issues.
If you don’t know where to start you’re in luck because we’ve put together a guide that will take you step-by-step through the process we take before we install iOS updates on our devices. We used this very process before we installed iOS 11.4 on our iPhones and iPads.
Most of you will be able to complete these steps in a matter of minutes, but everything depends on your skill level and the state of your device.
If you haven’t backed up your files, checked in with your company’s IT department, or researched the changes on board iOS 11.4 update, the pre-installation process could take you 20 minutes or more.
You don’t need to follow every step in our guide, but make sure you backup your most important files. You’ll want to keep those safe as you move from your current version of iOS to iOS 11.4.
iOS 11.4 Download Time
Once you’ve prepared yourself and your device it’s time to initiate your iOS 11.4 download.
The exact iOS 11.4 download size will, again, depend on your device and your version of iOS. The download time will also depend on your connection speed.
If you’re moving up from Apple’s iOS 11.3.1 update, your iOS 11.4 update should be a few hundred megabytes. If you’re using a fast Wi-Fi connection is should only take a few minutes to download. If your Wi-Fi connection is slow, it will take longer.
If you’re coming from an older version of iOS, your iOS 11.4 download will be much larger thanks to the updates you missed along the way. This will obviously increase the download time.
In some cases, it could be over 1GB.
iOS 11.4 Installation Time
Once the download is complete, iOS 11.4 will start installing to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. This process will take longer than the download.
If you’re upgrading from iOS 11.3.1, the iOS 11.4 installation could take anywhere from five to ten minutes to complete. It took about six minutes on our iPhone X.
If you’re coming from something older than iOS 11.2.6, your installation could take a lot longer. Those of you moving from iOS 10 to iOS 11 for the first time are looking at the longest installation time.
Your phone or tablet might reboot itself once or twice as the installation process starts finishing up so don’t be alarmed. This is normal.
Post-Installation
After the iOS 11.4 update finishes up, you might need to spend time setting up Apple Pay and/or logging into iCloud and your device’s various apps and services.
You’ll want to spend some time checking your important data (photos, music, etc) to ensure everything is still there. We also recommend testing your core apps and services to make sure they’re working normally.
You’ll also want to hunt for bugs and monitor your device’s performance (battery life, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, etc). iOS updates aren’t supposed to wreck your device’s performance, but we hear horror stories after every iOS release.
Apple’s next iOS 11 update could be iOS 12 beta, an early version of its upcoming iOS 12 operating system. The update is expected to arrive shortly after the conclusion of the company’s WWDC 2018 keynote on June 4th.
