I have a Model A1625 currently running tvOS 16.1. I noticed that even though I have automatic upgrades set to On, when I checked the manual upgrade it said version 18.5 was available.
I activated the upgrade but it failed after downloading the software in step 1 of 2 of the initialization.
Can the hardware support tvOS 18.5?
If yes, what might be the reason the software will not install?
Apple TV HD, tvOS 16
Can the hardware support tvOS 18.5?
Yes (else it wouldn’t offer it).
If yes, what might be the reason the software will not install?
Just a guess, but maybe the gap in versions is too big to do it on one step from the internal updater. It seems to happen much less when doing incremental updates. Please learn to distrust the automatic updater, and try it manually a few times per year, if you notice a discrepancy in version numbering.
tvOS 16.1 is from October 2022, so you missed a lot of updates, app compatibility fixes and a few features. About Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD software updates - Apple Support
What you can do, is a reset and update. You will lose any apps and settings in the process, so you may want to take notes of the current situation before doing this.
Can the hardware support tvOS 18.5?
Yes (else it wouldn’t offer it).
If yes, what might be the reason the software will not install?
Just a guess, but maybe the gap in versions is too big to do it on one step from the internal updater. It seems to happen much less when doing incremental updates. Please learn to distrust the automatic updater, and try it manually a few times per year, if you notice a discrepancy in version numbering.
tvOS 16.1 is from October 2022, so you missed a lot of updates, app compatibility fixes and a few features. About Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD software updates - Apple Support
What you can do, is a reset and update. You will lose any apps and settings in the process, so you may want to take notes of the current situation before doing this.
Apple TV Model A1625 is Apple TV HD released in 2015, purchased early 2017.
Upgrading Apple TV Model A1625 from tvOS 16.1 to 18.5.
