You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

iOS 8 update download takes forever

I've been trying to update my iPad thru iTunes for two days. Every time, it estimated 30+ hours to download. I left on Mac on, but eventually, it got network connection error and I had to started all over again. Tonight, it's even worse, it's estimated 63 hours to download. This is the worse iOS update I've experienced. Previously it could be slow, but I can usually get it done for a couples of hours. This is just insane. I understand the severs are busy to deliver these big files all over the world. But iOS 7 was a pretty big update, I was able to upgrade pretty quickly. Seriously, can anyone from Apple can look at the server log and make sure there is no oversight.

Posted on Sep 19, 2014 11:20 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 20, 2014 6:26 AM

Exactly the same issue that I am encountering. I even updated my iTunes to the latest version in hopes that iit would solve it. It didn't. either if I download it my phone or laptop, it still says it will take 14 hours but even after an hour or so it has no progress. Worst update ever...

94 replies

Sep 23, 2014 8:29 AM in response to cschwartz59

cschwartz59 wrote:


I wish I had the same luck as the rest of you. Updated iPhone 5S and iPad mini a few days ago from iTunes pretty quickly. I have been trying to update my iPad Air for three days. Tried from iTunes, says 50 to 99 hours remaining no matter how many times I hit pause and resume I can never get a download speed faster than 400 Kbps and I have a fast home connection. Tried it over wifi, started it last night, this morning it still says 22 hours remaining. My iPad is held hostage for the next day?? This is ridiculous. I wish I could stop the process.


You can. I believe the solution was to turn off your WiFi and turn back on and try again.. (effectively the same as a pause/resume)

Sep 23, 2014 8:31 AM in response to cschwartz59

cschwartz59 wrote:


Tried it over wifi, started it last night, this morning it still says 22 hours remaining. My iPad is held hostage for the next day?? This is ridiculous. I wish I could stop the process.


You can stop it by either temporarily turning off your WiFi or walking out of the range of your WiFi. Usually when you do that with downloads, that will kill the entire download process. You might not actually want to follow through with the iOS 8 update right now, anyway.

Sep 23, 2014 8:44 AM in response to wgogo

Same here, my iPhone 5C estimates ruin between 10 and 25 hours, times out over and over.


Had the same problem with latest OS X for my iMac, took seven attempts before I finally downloaded it, but my MacBook Pro was able to download the OS X in eight attempts, but without Safari upgrade.


Apple must be experiencing some strange phenomina with its servers. I like the old way of updating, the app store is a disaster.

Sep 23, 2014 8:46 AM in response to cschwartz59

If it was still in the download process or it is waiting for a requested connection, that would mean there haven't been any changes made to your system. It downloads and completes that, then it goes through a check to verify the download, and then it starts the actual installation.


SO ... I would force a reboot with the power and home button being held at the same time. I think if you hold it for about five seconds, it will reboot.

Sep 23, 2014 8:56 AM in response to Star Traveler

sorry forgot to mention, I tried that too, hard reset holding down home and power button. iPad restarts and then goes back to trying to download the update. I turned off wifi on my iPad, plugged it into iTunes and am now trying again. 43 hours remaining. I guess I'll just resign myself to not using my iPad until this weekend when the update finishes.

Sep 23, 2014 1:50 PM in response to csdeg

I tried restarting the download about 50 times with no luck. I finally went to the apple store and while waiting for a genius, I logged into their wifi and magically the download completed in 6 minutes. I ended up just waiting in the store for the update to take place. Their wifi is a lot slower than my home connection so I don't know what is up. I wonder if ATT is doing something nefarious in the background to keep me from being able to get the download. The genius finally came by after the update had completed and did some diagnostic tests on my iPad which were all fine.

Sep 23, 2014 3:10 PM in response to cschwartz59

Count me in as another in 19075. Its crazy slow and don't anyone tell me its my internet connection. Verizon is fine, up load and download is about 50mps. Its the same thing the last 4 days, I plug my phone or pad in and the download says 30, 40, 50 hours. What BS, the rest of iTunes is fine, flying thru download new apps



Edit.......its a server issue, I just started downloading 10.9.5 which is 139 mgs normally that would download in a few minutes if that......its telling me 3 hours


2 hours, back up to 7 hours, 5 hours, 2 hours Ugh............

Sep 23, 2014 4:38 PM in response to Feejer

I think I've figured out the issue (at least for me). I was unable to get iOS 8 or the latest OS X patch to download because of 14400 modem speeds even though I have a Verizon Fios 75Mbps internet connection. I was trying downloads on 2 iPods, an iPad Air, and a MacBook Pro. None worked. I called AppleCare and eventually got a senior tech who had me change my MacBook DNS settings to use Google's 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 servers. Sure enough, my Apple update speeds were back to the normal super fast rate. This made no sense to me so I did a little experimenting by comparing nslookup for swdownload.apple.com using both the google DNS servers and the one my Verizon router uses. I was not getting the same address from the DNS servers. The Verizon supplied address (for swdownload.apple.com) gave me horribly slow speeds, and the Google supplied address was smoking fast. Bottom line: set your DNS server to 8.8.8.8 if you're having issues. Hope this helps.

Sep 24, 2014 8:24 AM in response to Star Traveler

It is not just this guys internet pipe -- I am having the same issue. The download has started and it is showing 24 hours remaining. I am using an ethernet connection and I have FIOS fiber optic internet connection with consistently high download speeds. In fact, I just did a speedtest and it is showing download speed of over 54Mbps. This issue is not on the internet side.

iOS 8 update download takes forever

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.