User profile for user: Pizzaballs
Pizzaballs Author
User level: Level 1
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Why are my downloads unstable in Safari on iPad 10th Gen?

After I updated my iPad 10th generation with the last update. It is very unstable with downloading files from the internet , a little jpg even stuck and I have to redownload it in the status window. But I also get a weird gear icon in blue on the top right of the screen. I can not find anything on this icon online on the Apple website. Can somebody explain what it is and why my downloads in Safari are so unstable after updating my iPadOS?


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iPad, iPadOS 18

Posted on Jan 26, 2025 11:40 PM

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User profile for user: LotusPilot
LotusPilot
User level: Level 10
303,980 points

Posted on Jan 27, 2025 6:35 AM

The icon indicates that your iPad is synchronising with "something". Yours is one of many reports seen in recent weeks. At present, pending confirmation by Apple, this icon is believed to have some relationship to post-update synchronisation tasks performed by your iPad after updating to iPadOS 18.x.


Here is a screenshot taken from my own iPad soon after updating to iPadOS 18.2 showing this icon. After seeing the icon on brief occasion within a period of a few days, this icon has not since appeared on my own iPad.



While purely speculative, I suspect that appearance of this icon is associated with your iPad downloading LLM (Large Language Models) and associated data used by your iPad's Machine Learning and Apple Intelligence features.


Apple's documentation is often slow to catch-up with new features. Here is another status icon - that appears briefly when connecting some USB-C hubs - that Apple have yet to add to their documentation:



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User profile for user: LotusPilot
LotusPilot
User level: Level 10
303,980 points

Jan 27, 2025 6:35 AM in response to Pizzaballs

The icon indicates that your iPad is synchronising with "something". Yours is one of many reports seen in recent weeks. At present, pending confirmation by Apple, this icon is believed to have some relationship to post-update synchronisation tasks performed by your iPad after updating to iPadOS 18.x.


Here is a screenshot taken from my own iPad soon after updating to iPadOS 18.2 showing this icon. After seeing the icon on brief occasion within a period of a few days, this icon has not since appeared on my own iPad.



While purely speculative, I suspect that appearance of this icon is associated with your iPad downloading LLM (Large Language Models) and associated data used by your iPad's Machine Learning and Apple Intelligence features.


Apple's documentation is often slow to catch-up with new features. Here is another status icon - that appears briefly when connecting some USB-C hubs - that Apple have yet to add to their documentation:



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Why are my downloads unstable in Safari on iPad 10th Gen?

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