Software Update Failed Error for iOS 15.7 on iPhone 8

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

• Install the Apple Support app on your iPhone or iPad - you can contact support directly from the app, and the tech will have (with your permission) to diagnostic data on your phone
• Call Apple Support; the phone numbers are in this link→Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support
• Make a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple Store→Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple
• Find an Apple store or Apple partner service provider→https://apple.com/retail
• DM @AppleSupport on Twitter
• You can also provide feedback to Apple at→ https://apple.com/feedback, where your issue or suggestion will be recorded, but you won’t get a reply.

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. 

The update server temporarily lost its communication with your phone during the download process.

Power off the iPhone, wait a minute, then power it up again and try the update again.

If all else fails, you may need to connect the phone to a Mac or PC and run the update that way.

I have been having the same problem all day with my iPhone XR. I powered off the phone but it didn't fix it the download issue. Also, connected iPhone directly to Mac but the only update available in Finder was 16.0.

I’m getting the exact same error on my iPhone X. Tried restarting a couple of times, but to no avail!

I’ve enough free storage space, so that shouldn’t be the reason.

I don’t want to go for iOS 16 this early. I’ll rather wait it out to see more bug reports, when out.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Update using your computer. Here are 2 links, choose the one for your computer.

• if you're using a Mac with macOS Catalina or later
•  if you're using a Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier or a Windows PC

i have been having the same problem for the last 2 days it keeps saying that there is a connection problem & my service is active & I have wifi & it still won’t let me download it I tried restarting my phone plenty of times & it still won’t let me download it

Me, too, on one phone out of three. I suspect that it is caused by not enough storage space. I am deleting videos, etc. to get substantially more space. Had about 3 to 4 Gigs and got repeated failures.

I have the same problem on iphone XS (wifi or 4G)

On computer it offered 15.7 downloaded, but didn't update, and now only offering 16, not 15.7, and did not upgrade to 15.7

Stuck (cannot go to ios 16 yet, due to company policy)

My iPad gen 8 updated to 15.7 without a hitch around 2300 BST yesterday, but my iPhone SE gen 2 has a problem even after a power cycle. I’ve watched it download the whole update then fail with the same error. Sounds like a server side handshake issue rather than a problem with the update per se, like a file checksum error.

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.

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? :-(