ipad Air 2 update to iOS 13 problem

I have precisely the same problem. The update to iPad OS 13.1.1 went without apparent issue. However, after the update, the device can no longer connect to wifi. I've tried multiple access points and am correctly entering the password. I'm using a password manager and there is no error on data entry. Also, the password manager doesn't seem to recognize TouchID. The iPad is generally very sluggish. I don't seem to be able to Sign Out of my Apple ID; the button is gray and unresponsive. I did reset network settings with no effect. I was about to restore the device when I came across this post. Any suggestions on how to proceed? If noone else has a suggestion, I'll go the full restore route.

This is a deadly problem. My Ipad Air 2 is now a brick, with the very same problems you've outlined above, which suggests that this is a general problem. I would happily not have updated to iOS 13 if Apple had told us that it doesn't work on our iPads, but we were told that it WOULD work, and it's destroyed my iPad. I have no way to update the thing, even if Apple comes out with a fix, since I can connect neither to my wifi nor to iTunes on my computer. Amazing.

I was able to fix this exact issue today.

The problems started when my girlfriend's ipad auto installed ipados 13.1.2 -- once installed, the iPad lost the ability to join any wifi network that required a password. I had to temporarily disable encryption on my wifi router in order to get this ipad to connect. But even after getting it back on the internet, I still couldn't authenticate to iCloud. (Maybe some crypto routines were broken?)

So I resorted to a DFU restore from iTunes. But in retrospect, I don't think this was necessary. I think I was mistakenly thinking that the update failed to install correctly, but in reality, I think 13.1.2 is just very buggy. I think I could have skipped the DFU DETOUR below and gone straight to the BETA PROFILE INSTALL.

DFU DETOUR: DFU Mode on this iPad requires pressing the Power and Home buttons simultaneously for 10 seconds, and then letting go of the Power button while still holding the Home button for another 2 to 5 seconds. Oddly, the first two times I attempted this, the iPad wasn't restored to factory settings, but the third time it was. Thankfully, my mac is still running Mojave, so I didn't have to figure out the new way to do it without iTunes.

BETA PROFILE INSTALL: Anyway, once I had a clean 13.1.2 install, I STILL couldn't connect to wifi with WPA2 enabled, so I thought I'd install the beta. I went to http://beta.apple.com in the iPad's safari browser,, logged in with my icloud acct, and imported the beta profile, went to Settings/General/Profiles, installed this profile, and restarted the iPad.

After the restart, I went to Settings/General/Software Update and could download and install the 13.2 public beta. Once installed, I tested wifi with a password, and it worked! (But, because I had wiped my iPad to factory settings during the DFU DETOUR, I still needed to restore from iCloud next, but if you skipped the DFU DETOUR, then you're probably already done, so jump to IT WORKS.)

RESTORE FROM ICLOUD: So, with a good OS installed, I went to Settings/General/Reset and erased all content and settings, and set up the iPad as new again, this time restoring from a recent iCloud backup.

IT WORKS: And poof, everything was back to normal: wifi worked, iCloud login worked.

So, in summary, the real fix was: disable encryption on wifi router, and install 13.2 beta.

This is definitely not a problem/issue that was fixed with 13.1.2, as I was upgrading my iPad Air 2 straight from a [very stable] 12.4.1 and am now experiencing almost all of the same issues that everyone here is.

I was without my computer for a few days, so I attempted to do the upgrade OTA.

Interestingly, my wifi connectivity issues somewhat self-resolved after about 24 hours. As in, it will occasionally (about half the time) remember my home wifi networks (2.4 and 5ghz) and (unfortunately not as often) my networks at work.

About 50-70% of the time, attempting to go to Settings > Wi-Fi will cause the Settings app to freeze, and I will have to force-close it.

Unfortunately, a full 100% of the time, attempting to go into any of the following sub-areas of the Settings app will cause it to freeze, and require me to force-close:

• <whatever you call the top section, that has my initials in a big gray circle, as well as my name>
  • this section allows me to get to Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & App Store settings
• Apple ID Suggestions
  • sometimes this section shows up, and the red circle shows the number '2' or '3' inside of it; other times this section doesn't show up at all (but when it does show up, clicking on it causes the Settings app freeze problem)
• iTunes & App Store

Passwords & Accounts, I can actually get to... it displays a few things in the sub-category area, but attempting to click on any of them either causes the Settings app to freeze, and requires a force-close, or (in the case of Website & App Passwords) is completely empty and says 'No Saved Passwords' when there should be lots of things in there.

I ended up going to Recovery mode and performing an Update. This also failed, but then I tried a full restore and this came up fine. Then I restored from my backup and got everything running perfectly. As an added note, my iPhone XS update from 13.1.1 to 13.1.2 also failed and took my phone right to Recovery mode. Doing an Update there seemed to fix it. There is definitely something flakey about this update.

I have the opposite problem. I can’t sign into apple ID. But the gray button is unresponsive for me to. I don’t want to restore my iPad because I paid for things, and Apple took all my credit with iCloud without my permission.

Restoring your device doesn't prevent you from accessing things you've purchased. The problem you describe sounds different, but you should feel free to perform a restore to get the device functioning again, and then just restore from a backup to get all your stuff back. Even if you don't have a backup, your purchases are registered with Apple and you can still get them back by just downloading them again.

Well, thanks to the good suggestions in this thread I did a complete restore and now my iPad is at least working again, keeping my fingers crossed. It is a major pain to restore, since many apps claim they can’t be installed through the normal restoration process, even though their icons show up. One has to delete the icon, then go to the App Store and download the app again. Then it works. I think this may be the problem that a writer above is experiencing. And, sadly, the backup does not restore documents one has saved locally with particular apps. I restored my iPad from an iCloud backup, so maybe a computer-based back up does better. Anyway, thanks to you all for posting ideas here, they greatly helped me.

This same thing happened to my wife after applying iOS 13.1.2 update on Saturday. No WIFI, unable to connect to iTunes, etc. She just went to the Apple Store to see a tech who said he couldn't help her. He said they expect to see a lot of these issues with the iPad Air 2 because they are old models. He told her if she can wait, perhaps Apple will come out in a couple of weeks with some kind of fix that would require one to take the iPad into the store tech support. As for me, with an iPad Air 2 also -- we're both looking for newer models. But very annoying.

If your wife was really experiencing the same problem, the info from the Apple tech sounds incorrect. My understanding was that this issue was fixed with 13.1.2. If it is the same problem we had, just put the iPad into recovery mode and restore through iTunes.

Someone else commented about problems using apps after a restore from backup. You just need to give it more time. The grayed out icons just mean that your apps are queued for download.

Spent a career in IT. Problem occurred after applying 13.1.2. Tried several times to put the iPad into recovery mode and restore through iTunes with no success. Continue to get the error message that the device cannot be read. At this point she's buying a new iPad and hoping that at some time in the near future - there's a fix for this one.

I had a bit of difficulty with the button-pushing that is required to get into recovery mode, and it took a couple of times. Hopefully that is your problem. I can’t remember which website I got the instructions from, but they go like this:

Press and release the Volume Up button and then the Volume Down button. Then, press and hold the Side button until you see the recovery mode screen.

For me the problem was that I wasn’t holding the side button long enough. Someone else here much more knowledgeable than I might be able to give more exact instructions. I have never in 35 years of using apple products had such a disastrous time updating to a new version of an OS. But I absolutely love the features of iPadOS on my iPad Pro.

No, initiating recovery wasn't an issue. Tried it twice. It is as though the iPad is a "brick" (as someone referred to it earlier). I also tried some software to extract photos and that didn't work with the iPad (but worked fine with my iPhone).

We both purchased new iPads last night. So aren't put off. Just would like her "brick" restored at some point. Thanks.