Find out what to do if you already have sufficient free space on your iPhone or iPad but still can’t download and install the new iOS update.
The obvious solution: Make more space
Every small or big over-the-air iOS update requires you to have at least a certain amount of free space on your iPhone. For minor incremental updates, it may only need a few GBs, while major updates, such as moving from iOS 18 to iOS 26, may require more than 15 GB of free space.
When you’re low on storage space and go to iPhone or iPad Settings > General > Software Update and try to get the new iOS update, your device will automatically make space in the background by getting rid of app cache and other temporary app data (not your personal data). However, if that’s insufficient, you’ll have to delete apps, videos, photos, music, movies, and TV shows. Tap Storage on the popup or go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see what’s eating up your space and delete stuff.
If I ever have space issues on my 128 GB iPhone when installing a new iOS update, I delete apps like Instagram, X, and Facebook. Deleting these apps has no downside, as I can always redownload them. For more space, I remove large video files and content downloaded for offline consumption on YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, Apple Music, and Spotify. This usually frees up several gigabytes of space, and the update then goes through successfully.
Don’t forget to restart your device
Even after you delete a ton of data like photos, videos, and apps, the iOS Storage section (Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage) may not reflect the recently freed space. As a result, even if you have more free space than what’s required, your iPhone may still think it lacks the space needed to download, prepare, and install the update. Simply, turning your device off and back on should fix the problem.
Update using your Mac or Windows computer
Updating your iPhone or iPad via Finder on a Mac or the Apple Devices app on a Windows PC doesn’t require the minimum space condition, as the large iOS file is downloaded to the computer, not the iOS device.
If you can’t update your iPhone or iPad even though you have sufficient free space or can’t delete content to make space, use your computer to update instead.
- Connect your iPhone or iPad to a Mac or Windows PC using an appropriate USB cable. Hit ‘Allow’ or ‘Trust’ on any popups that appear.
- Open Finder on your Mac or the Apple Devices app on your Windows PC and select your iOS device from the left sidebar.
- Click the “Check for Update” button in the General section. If an update is available, your computer will download, prepare, and install it on your iPhone or iPad. As mentioned, it will work even if you don’t have sufficient free space on your iOS device.
Reset all settings and retry
I was going through Reddit and Apple Community forums, and a post in particular caught my attention:
My phone says I need to have at least 8.12 GB of storage before I update my phone. I managed to clear it down so I have 10 GB spare, but my phone still displays the same message. I need to update so I can download an app, but it’s a weird deadlock sort of situation and I don’t know what to do.
If you also face such a situation, follow the above tips, like making more space, restarting your device, and using a computer to install the update. However, if making more steps or restarting doesn’t help and you don’t have a computer around, consider resetting all settings. And then you should be able to download the over-the-air update.
Just note that even though restoring to default settings doesn’t delete personal photos, videos, and apps, you’ll still have to reconfigure permissions for all apps and re-add the device passcode, Face ID/Touch ID, VPN configurations, etc.
iPhone or iPad updated successfully
The above tips should help you get the latest version of iOS or iPadOS in case your device was wrongly thinking it didn’t have the required space. However, if the problem persists, it may be due to other reasons beyond space constraints.
Wait for a few hours before trying to install the update again. Secondly, go to iOS Settings > General > Storage and check if even a tiny portion of the iOS update file is downloaded. If it is, delete it and then reinitiate the update.
In case the problem stays unsolved, check out the following guides for more help: