Why can't I update my iPhone to iOS 18?

I’m trying to update my phone. I have a 13 Pro Max. I’m only seeing iOS 17.7 and not 18. How do I get the 18?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 13 Pro Max, iOS 17

Posted on Sep 16, 2024 10:35 AM

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Posted on Sep 21, 2024 12:31 PM

hey!! i had the same issue, and then i made sure to click the betas tab and turn it off, and then ios 18 became available to me. you may have ios 17 beta selected, and that’s what stopped it from bringing up ios 18 for me.

227 replies

Dec 19, 2024 3:47 PM in response to shakeela130

shakeela130 wrote:

I want to update iOS 18 on iPhone 7


You cannot.


The iPhone 7 does not have the hardware to support iOS 18. Just for starters,

  • Every iPhone that can run iOS 18 has a Neural Engine with at least 8 cores. The iPhone 7 has none.
  • Every iPhone that can run iOS 18 has 3 to 8 GB of RAM. The ones with 3 GB of RAM are stragglers (which, in my opinion, are lucky to have made the iOS 18 compatibility list) – and all of the phones that first shipped with iOS 18 have 8 GB of RAM. The iPhone 7 has only 2 GB of RAM, not enough to even qualify it to be a straggler.


The iPhone 7 started out on iOS 10, and has gotten five major version updates, but iOS 15 is the end of the line. If you want iOS 18, buy a new iPhone that can run it.

Feb 5, 2025 5:41 AM in response to alina-elena229

alina-elena229 wrote:

But I want 17 not 18 ???


There was a time after iOS 18 came out when Apple offered a choice between iOS 17 and 18. This screenshot is from my phone, from last September, when it was running iOS 16. Note the offer to update to iOS 17.7 at the top and the offer to update to iOS 18 at the bottom.



You apparently waited too long to take advantage of this "exception that proves the rule" – so now the only major version update available to you is iOS 18, whether you want iOS 18, or not.

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Why can't I update my iPhone to iOS 18?

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