Unable to update iOS 26.6.1 using cellular data

Download and install iOS 26.6.2 using Wi-Fi.

Then......your odds of using cellular to update should improve.

I figured out why my iPhone and iPad wouldn’t update. If your device is on low data mode change it to standard, also if your WiFi calling is off, switch it on and it will update the iOS. Good luck 🤞

I had the same problem. I deleted the update and then turned off the low data mode, btw, it’s the first time I’ve had to do this. Restarted the phone and then installed the update.

What, specifically, does "not even close to full storage use" mean? Can you update using WiFi? Have you tried updating using a computer?

You can't update to 26.6.2 over mobile data - it is exactly the same issue as trying to update to 26.6.1

I figured out why my iPhone and iPad wouldn’t update. If your device is on low data mode change it to standard, also if your WiFi calling is off, switch it on and it will update the iOS. Good luck 🤞

I tried everything and this answer with the different WiFi is the only one that actually worked

So I was able to update over a workplace wifi but I’ve wasted time messing with this. We all usually have 5G cellular access and it hasn’t been an issue before. Back in olden times you could only update over wifi but these days that’s inconvenient.

Set Data Mode to “Allow more data on 5G”

It's absolutely untrue that the carrier should restrict the updates!

As written before: updating over mobile data was impossible (even with "more data on 5G").

The solution for me was to connect my iPhone via USB cable to my Windows PC and open WiFi-Hotspot on the PC with the internet connection over mobile date of my iPhone (that is connected to the PC).

Sorry, Apple – but how crazy is that???

Aipi wrote:

@Lawrence Finch: in that case it is clear and obvious that apple makes the restriction to directly update via mobile data – and not the carrier. What the carrier does is only delivering data – not making a difference whether the target of the transaction is the iphone directly or the iphone that has a USB-cable connected that goes to a PC that has WiFi hotspot enabled and the iPhone is receiving it over WiFi. For the carrier the data is fetched on the update server of apple and delivered to the device that logs into the internet – and that is the iPhone. The data is no longer in the domain of the carrier as soon as it has reached the iPhone. It is not in the domain of the carrier if the data pass from the iPhone to the PC by USB and then back to the iPhone via WiFi. Conclusion: it is 100% Apple (and 0% the carrier) that restricts updating over mobile data directly – as updating over mobile data works if you make a network loop with WiFi behind and the iPhone sees WiFi (but uses mobile data in the background).

No, EXACTLY the opposite. If Apple were blocking it then Apple would block it over the Personal Hotspot also.

When you connect to a site or server over cellular data the carrier knows the IP that you are connecting to, and if it is an Apple server the carrier can block it.

When you connect to a site or server over the Personal Hotspot the carrier has no way of knowing that the IP you are connecting is an Apple server, because the connection is “tunneling” through the cellular network, and the carrier cannot view the connection.

I have commented a few days ago because my iPad or iPhone will not update to iOS 26.6.1. To those who think this is due to not being connected to WiFi, please note this is not the issue. I have been linked to my home WiFi, 5G, my work WiFi and it still won’t update. My husband, sitting sitting beside me on the sofa updated his iPad after one attempt. So WiFi is not the problem sadly.

Aipi wrote:

I do not have T-Mobile and it never works. There is absolutely no reason to restrict only iOS updates from Apple on mobile data but let through all other data!

I don't know why you can't do it, but Apple has not stopped iPhones from updating over cellular with 5G data. You'll want to speak with your carrier about this.