You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Software Update Failed Error for iOS 15.7 on iPhone 8

I’m unable to install the update IOS 15.7 on my iPhone 8. I get an error message that software update failed



[Re-Titled by Moderator]


iPhone 8, iOS 15

Posted on Sep 13, 2022 11:01 AM

Reply
84 replies

Sep 19, 2022 5:26 PM in response to JanRM15

JanRM15 wrote:

Hi everyone. I appreciate all the comments and suggestions to my post earlier last week. Amazing Apple never responded to our complaints and issues. Once I freed up space on my phone the software downloaded and installed.

It isn’t at all amazing, unless you contacted Apple with your issue. Posting in this user-to-user forum is not a way to communicate with Apple.


Like just about every large company Apple has both formal technical support and an area where users can discuss technical issues with other users. And, like all of those other companies, Apple does not participate in any significant way in the user-to-user discussions, as that might inhibit the free flow of ideas. The formal name of this area is Apple Support Communities. The “Communities” should be a giveaway that this isn’t a formal support site. And if that doesn’t, the site itself is https://discussions.apple.com. The “discussions” is another giveaway.


Apple’s formal support can be reached several ways:


  • Click on “Get Support” at the top of this page
  • Go to Apple Support

Note that both of the above have options to receive a callback or chat


About the only communications method not used by Apple support is inbound email, probably because the volume would be overwhelming, and separating the wheat from the chaff (or, to us engineers, a poor signal to noise ratio) would be almost impossible. 


Sep 14, 2022 5:01 AM in response to Msswanny

I have the same issue on an iPhone SE 2nd gen., which I could not resolve, despite:


  • I have restarted my phone several times. (Following a power off I’ve kept it off for 2 minutes at least)
  • I have enough space available to finish the upgrade.
  • I have tried to update using only cellular data. (Wifi + cellular fails the same way)
  • I’ve been trying to proceed at different times during the day.


To my best understanding this is a server side issue, and it is truly sad that from iTunes I could only update to iOS 16!


This user ‘experience’ is far from what I’d consider ideal in case of an important security update.

Sep 14, 2022 11:37 AM in response to Msswanny

Lawrence Finch in a separate post on the same issue said as follows


“To update over the air from the phone all of these requirements must be met:

  • You need at least 6 GB of free storage
  • You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network (and not a personal hotspot) unless it is an iPhone 12 or 13 series or an SE 3rd edition with an active 5G network connection
  • The phone must be charged to at least 50%, and preferably plugged in so it stays above 50% during the update
  • The phone must not be in Low Power Mode
  • The phone must not be connected through VPN, and it may be necessary to delete any VPN apps and VPN profiles
  • The phone cannot be in Airplane mode
  • You cannot still have a beta version installed on the phone
  • You cannot have a previous version that was downloaded, but not installed - go to Settings/General/iPhone Storage to look; if you find an iOS installer, delete it”


As soon as I got 6 GB of space, 15.7 downloaded and I could install it.

Oct 12, 2022 7:08 AM in response to izhar34

To update over the air from the phone all of these requirements must be met:

  • You need at least 6 GB of free storage; more is better
  • You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network (and not a personal hotspot) unless it is an iPhone 12 or later with an active 5G network connection
  • The phone must be charged to at least 50%, and preferably plugged in so it stays above 50% during the update
  • The phone must not be in Low Power Mode
  • The phone must not be connected through VPN, and it may be necessary to delete any VPN apps and VPN profiles
  • The phone cannot be in Airplane mode
  • You cannot still have a beta version installed on the phone
  • You cannot have a previous version that was downloaded, but not installed - go to Settings/General/iPhone Storage to look; if you find an iOS installer, delete it


If you can't meet all of them you can still update using your computer.

Nov 30, 2022 7:11 AM in response to akashroy077

To update over the air from the phone all of these requirements must be met:

  • You need at least 10 GB of free storage for iOS 16 or 6 GB for iOS 15 or lower; more is better
  • You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network (and not a personal hotspot) unless it is an iPhone that supports cellular 5G (12, 13, 14 or SE 3rd edition) and has a 5G network connection
  • The phone must be charged to at least 50%, and preferably plugged in so it stays above 50% during the update
  • The phone must not be in Low Power Mode
  • The phone must not be connected through VPN, and it may be necessary to delete any VPN apps and VPN profiles
  • The phone cannot be in Airplane mode
  • You cannot still have a beta version installed on the phone
  • You cannot have a previous version that was downloaded, but not installed - go to Settings/General/iPhone Storage to look; if you find an iOS installer, delete it


If you can't meet all of them you can still update using your computer.

Sep 14, 2022 2:30 AM in response to heffalump12

I’ve been having the same issue on my 11 Pro for the last 24 hours.

but having just updated the wife’s SE I think I might know where the issue lays.

When I kicked of the update on hers an Accept new terms and conditions screen popped up. Once this was ok’d everything went ok.

When I do mine no such pop up occurs.

I also see that Google shows up terms and conditions issues for people who have managed to update.

Sep 14, 2022 12:04 PM in response to Msswanny

Same for me, same issue with my iPhone 12. I tried all suggestions and hints mentioned in previous comments without success, more than 10 times to try to upgrade in past three days.


BTW, I also cannot install iOS15.7 using iTunes app on computer because as update option only offers iOS16.0


This is unbelievable, first time that happens to me since iPhone 3G, how is this possible? :-(

Software Update Failed Error for iOS 15.7 on iPhone 8

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.