Stop iPhone from downloading iOS6 OTA

I had the SAME problem & it was incredibly frustrating. Having WiFi disabled for days caused me to eat up A LOT of my data plan. It is total BS that there is no way to cancel an OTA download. And it is total BS that no one can get ANY help on this issue. There should be a way to cancel or at least downgrade if you don't like the newest iOS.

So, since Apple won't let you downgrade if you went ahead & installed it, and Apple won't help AT ALL if you don't want iOS 6, I had to figure it out myself. Here's what I did....

The stupid iOS 6 update that nobody wants needs a certain amount of free space in order to download & install. I had started the download & disabled WiFi like you did, so the download was paused. While it was paused, I set my video camera to record & it sat there & recorded for like 2.5 hours (ugh) before it finally took up all the space on my phone. Then, I went back in & enabled WiFi & checked the piece of junk iOS 6 install & it now said it couldn't download b/c there wasn't enough space.

I figured this solution still s ucks b/c now I can't download any apps or take any more pics or vids. About 30 minutes later, though, I went back to the horrible iOS 6 download & a message popped up saying there wasn't enough space. When I hit "OK" or whatever to clear the message, the screen had reset & gone back to the "download & install" button. FINALLY I was able to stop the download & installation of iOS 6. THANK GOD. I want nothing to do with it, and there is NO WAY Apple is taking my Google Maps or YouTube.

Yes, it does. My dads iPhone downloaded it automatically, and he has almost no space left now. He has no choice but to update.

Wrong. It downloaded it because he explicitly told it to download it. It doesn't happen by magic.

I thought the same thing about youtube, but after you use it and use the web app or cruddy google app in the App Store, you get used to it and I now actually prefer it more than the built-in app.

Um, who are you to tell me what my dad did or did not do? He never touched the download button, and it started downloading. All of you who say otherwise are ****** who don't understand that it's not YOUR PHONE or YOUR LIFE that you are trying to disprove. My iPhone updated to ios 6 automatically as well. "No, its your fault. You're wrong about your life and I know everything about you." Think about that.

Believe what you want. It won't alter reality. I suppose you'll argue with the police officer that the tree just jumped out and bit your car, too...

AndrewL14 wrote:

I now actually prefer it more than the built-in app.

Same here. And it is also worth noting that a recent update to the YouTube app makes it compatible with the iPad, for those here who are iPad owners.

AndrewL14 wrote:

"No, its your fault. You're wrong about your life and I know everything about you."

No one here knows everything about you, but we do what about the iPhone, and what it can and cannot do. And one thing it cannot do is download a software update without user interaction.

I think it's ignorant to ignore the dozens upon dozens of complaints (not just in this forum) about iOS 6 initiating download without user interaction. And I DO think it's conceivable that it could happen. Anyone who's even come close to working in tech support knows that users always leave out key details & that you have to dig for information. I am sure that is the case here. Who knows if the download started only when they plug their phone in & iTunes automatically starts up. Who knows what settings they might have. Who knows if the same exact thing happened with iOS5 & other past iterations of iOS, but people didn't mind, complain or possibly even notice. iOS 6 is the one people don't want, though, so they notice when it "magically" downloads on its own. There are a million variables that could be happening, and with the amount of complaints rolling in about it, it's downright ignorant to assert such a black & white "you're wrong & I'm right, and what you suggest is utterly impossible , so you're stupid" assumption. At the very least, you should be able to consider the possibility that what these people assert has some amount of truth to it.

ncaptiva wrote:

At the very least, you should be able to consider the possibility that what these people assert has some amount of truth to it.

We did. And we concluded that it didn't happen. It did not magically download all by itself. Initiating an over the air update requires user intervention. Initiating a wired update via iTunes requires user intervention.

We did not state that the poster was stupid. The user in question did not pay attention to what they were doing and did not bother to read the prompts before tapping "OK".

There is no more possibility that the download happened by itself than there is that the Earth is flat and only 6000 years old.

Perfect. That's all I need to know. The more you write, the less I value your opinion. I don't know who the "we" is that you refer to, but the fact that you cannot fathom an automated download happening (perhaps a bug? But no, that would also be impossible, right?) causes me to err on the side of the huge number of users complaining about the same thing. Do you think they all got together & planned to complain about the same issue throughout the course of several months, or do you chalk that up to "magic" too? It is most certainly conceivable that what these users claim could happen. It hasn't happened to me, and it apparently hasn't happened to you, but the difference between us is that I know better than to assume if it hasn't happened to me, then it hasn't happened to anyone else, and that anyone who claims that it HAS happened has clearly done something wrong. User error is the ONLY explanation? Please don't ever go into tech support... I think that it's worth considering the possibility that these users' claims are valid.

Anyway, back to the users... the way to stop iOS 6 from completing the download/install (whether it's magical, accidental, divine intervention, or whatever... since that is TOTALLY irrelevant) is to force it to time out. I did this by loading up my phone's storage so that there wasn't enough room to install iOS 6. I turned off WiFi to pause the iOS 6 download, then took a bunch of video to eat up the remaining storage on my phone, then turned WiFi back on & about 20 minutes later, I checked the download (Settings > General > Software Update) & it threw an error message & reverted back to the "Download & Install" button (as opposed to perpetually staying "paused.").

Hope this helps.

I have been having the same problem now too. I go to bed, plug in my phone (and it's on WiFi), wake up to a red notification on the settings telling me there is an update, I check it out, and it says "downloaded." Now I have no choice but to live with the lost space (which is BS) or update because I can't find any way to make it delete that update. On top of this, I haven't been in the settings app for days before this happened and now on my already too full iPhone I am stuck with either updating, or losing that space until I do. This is unacceptable. Kilted Tim, I am sorry to say this, but you are simply wrong. I know my way around tech, and it happened to me, just like everyone else has said. So if you aren't going to give constructive help, then please just leave. Has anyone found a solution yet? I am on an AT&T iPhone 4 16GB and this has occured with both 6.1.2 and 6.1 for me. I didn't have this problem prior to this and I can't find any setting anywhere to turn it off. I don't mind it bugging me about the update, but I don't want it to steal my precious storage space until I am ready to update.

KiltedTim and stevejobfan0123,

I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Your responses seem logical to the point that the OP & ncaptiva appear as angry monkey button pushers.

However...

Your replies sound EXACTLY like those of the apple geeks vehemently arguing against multi-corner window resizing when I switched from Windows to a Mac Pro PowerPC in 2009. I had difficulty managing my desktop because corners of windows wouldn't scale the application. I got online to find out what I was missing and all the old Mac users and fanboys took verbal sledgehammers to those of us simply inquiring about why the Mac OS didn't have this feature. Apparently it was the Apple "way". You all touted you didn't need it and have never needed it.

Really? how is that freaking possible?

Well, screw you guys, a few years later multi-corner resizing is here in Mountain Lion.

My point is either you are "actually" wrong and iOS devices CAN download without user interaction or you are a fanboy troll defending a policy and apple "way" that humorously will flip-flop in a year, after which time you'll adobt that way and act like you never defended the former.

My brand new out of the box iPad 3 immediately started downloading the software update when:

A) the wifi was on

B) after I deleted a few large apps freeing memory

The "Download" button was present before both of those requirements were fulfilled.

I will further my point with this:

Notice in step 3 of support.apple.com/kb/HT4623?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US that there is no picture showing the "download" button

Kind of telling isn't it? Apple does not wish us to hesitate on updating the device.

There are many reasons why a user/owner of a device would wish it to NOT download automatically, just like there are many reasons why a Mac OS user would wish to resize an app window from any corner.

*Edit: After following the tips posted above me about turning off wifi, using up memory (in my case just installing some 1GB games), and turning wifi back on, my iPad has stopped the download and possibly/probably removed the partially downloaded update file.

Here is a picture:

It should be noted that on my iPad 3 it shows the iOS 6.1.2 update being 1.1GB and requires 3.2GB of available storage to download and install.

If I keep my iPad under 3.2 of available memory, it will not download...theoretically.

Further thoughts...

1) There is no option for automatic downloading on the iOS device.

2) KiltedTim and stevejobfan0123 state that the device cannot automatically download.

If #2 is a fact, then the conclusion is there is a setting or matrix of settings in iTunes causing the download to be pushed to the device (or automatically downloaded)

I only see 2 options in iTunes that are connected to "software" and "automatically":

1)File/Preferences/General Preferences at the bottom "Check for new software udpates automatically"

2)File/Preferences/Store at the top "Always check for available downloads"

I unchecked those options. I will re-enagle wifi and clear over 3.2GB of memory to see if the download starts.

If it starts, then I conclude KiltedTim and stevejobfan0123 and the myriad of others like them are simply fanboy trolls...evil evil trolls.

Curious thoughts...

1) I downloaded iOS 5.1.1 to my iPad 1, did not install, backuped up to iTunes.

2) I purchased iPad 3 with 5.1.1 factory and restored the iPad1 data to the iPad 3 via iTunes

3) The update began downloading without my knowledge or interaction, I only happened upon it halfway through.

Maybe KiltedTim and stevejobfan0123 in all their experience and knowledge could tell the masses if the "download and install" option is pushed it is "persistent" and "for life" through all devices.

Just came across this thread, which supports what I discovered after posting the following:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5331886?answerId=23064036022#23064036022

The morning iOS 7 was released, I had connected my iPhone 4 to my MacBook Pro to back-up and charge. At the time I was running iTunes 10.7. 'Other' on my phone was reading .85GB. At this point there was no badge on Settings indicating iOS 7 was available. Like Cravit 8, I've always had the boxes that have anything to do with "software" and "automatically" unchecked.

Yesterday, I updated my MacBook Pro to iTunes 11.1, and made sure the boxes were still unchecked, as I don't want iOS 7 on my phone given all the issues that have been reported, not to mention the fact that the UI is ugly. I then connected my iPhone again, and noticed that 'Other' had jumped to 2.85 GB. As I had only used the phone to make several calls and play Sudoku, the jump was a bit alarming. At this point there was still no red badge on Settings. After spending some time searching the internet for info on the matter, I went into Settings > General > Software Update, and discovered my phone was downloading iOS 7.

That said, the ONLY time I go into 'Settings' is at the end of the month to 'Reset Statistics' of my 'Cellular Usage'.

Having discovered the reason for the jump in 'Other', I decided to set-up the phone as new, adjust all my settings, reinstall my Apps/Music and create a new back-up, after which 'Other' was down to .45 GB. An hour of so later, I noticed the red badge on 'Settings', and sure enough my phone had automatically downloaded iOS 7 again without ever having gone into 'Software Update'.

Last night I set-up the phone as new a 2nd time, and upon waking up this morning found the phone had again downloaded iOS 7, without ever having gone into 'Software Update'. 'Other' now has jumped from the .45 GB after setting up the phone as new, to 2.58 GB.

Of the three iPhones I've set up for friends, two have had the exact same thing occur, and like me they never went into 'Software Update'. Fortunately, I have a 32GB iPhone, so even with my Apps and Music installed I still have 11GB available.

So to Kilted Tim, stevejobfan0123, sberman et al., your wrong!!! Given my experience, I have to agree with Cravit8 that "there is a setting or matrix of settings in iTunes causing the download to be pushed to the device (or automatically downloaded)".