9th and 12.9 M1 iPad Pro - should update to iPadOS 17.6.1. or iPadOS 18?

[LetteIT]

Hello everyone!
We have two iPads in my family - 9th gen iPad (2021) and iPad Pro M1 12.9, both running 16.6.1 version of iPadOS at the moment. Should I update these iPads to the latest iPadOS 17.6.1.? Maybe you have the same devices and could share your experience? I know that iPadOS 18 will be released tomorrow, and I’m not sure if we should install 18th update on our devices later. Also, I’ve read some negative reviews about iPadOS 17.6.1. from 9th iPad users. Some say their computers won’t detect the iPad connected by wire anymore and the battery drains much faster.
And what would you say about iPad Pro M1? Will this update affect this model battery and performance in negative way?
Would you recommend us to stay on iPadOS 16.6.1, update to iPadOS 17.6.1. or wait for 18th version?
When the iPadOS 18 releases, the previous version will not be available anymore? What time do you think iPadOS 18 will be released?
I'm looking forward for you replies! Thank you in advance!

 

[JRobert@macrumors]

We have a 6th gen (I know you're asking about Gen 9) and an M1 12.9". The Gen 6 is running 17.6.1 without any issues. The M1 likewise ran it with no issues, and has now had 18.0b7 for 2-3 weeks, also without any problems. Hope that helps...

 

[LetteIT]

We have a 6th gen (I know you're asking about Gen 9) and an M1 12.9". The Gen 6 is running 17.6.1 without any issues. The M1 likewise ran it with no issues, and has now had 18.0b7 for 2-3 weeks, also without any problems. Hope that helps...

Thank you for sharing! I've read an opinion that iPadOS 17.6.1 has a lot of bugs. Did you try to connect your devices to PC or Mac by wire?

 

[LetteIT]

Is iPadOS 17 better than iPadOS 16? Or should I stay on iPadOS 16?

 

[JRobert@macrumors]

I've been connecting the M1 to a iMac M3 and an an old (late 2015) iMac 27" before that, for backing up with iMazing. I just now tried looking at the iPad's files (which, as I said above, is now on 18.0b7) with the iMac M3 and could browse them with no issues.

Is iPadOS 17 better than iPadOS 16? Or should I stay on iPadOS 16?

I don't know how to answer that for someone else, really. I upgrade for two reasons: Access to new features (once I read here that people are happy with the OS' stability, battery management, and being relatively bug-free, at least in the apps I depend on. Since I've had no issues with 17.6.1, I'd say go for it if you feel it has advantages for you. If you don't ... then why mess with a good thing?

 

[LetteIT]

If you don't ... then why mess with a good thing?

Yes, but I'm thinking about security updates... and that I don't want to be left completely behind with an old OS version.

 

[platinumaqua]

17.7 is coming out soon, so that's another option (though since you are on 16.6.1 right now, you might need to use a computer and manually download the 17.7 ipsw to upgrade to that version)

I just upgraded from 14.8.1 to 17.6.1 for my M1 iPad last week and it was fairly stable but Apple did break a bunch of features (like wallpapers) and the design is much worse with so much wasted space

 

[DaniTheFox]

I have been using iPadOS 18 since its beta release without encountering any significant issues on my 12.9-inch iPad Pro M1 device, which is now running the 18.1 beta 3 version. Therefore, I can confidently assert that iPadOS 18 is a stable and secure operating system. (Disclaimer: This text was generated using Apple’s AI language model)

 

[LetteIT]

17.7 is coming out soon, so that's another option (though since you are on 16.6.1 right now, you might need to use a computer and manually download the 17.7 ipsw to upgrade to that version)

I just upgraded from 14.8.1 to 17.6.1 for my M1 iPad last week and it was fairly stable but Apple did break a bunch of features (like wallpapers) and the design is much worse with so much wasted space

Do you think I'll be able to get 17.7 on my iPad if I've downloaded 17.6.1 ipsw (to update later to iPadOS 17.6.1 and then to 17.7)? Will I be able to update my iPad to 17.6.1 version after iPadOS 18 comes out?
And which features did break on your iPad after an update?

 

[platinumaqua]

Do you think I'll be able to get 17.7 on my iPad if I've downloaded 17.6.1 ipsw (to update later to iPadOS 17.6.1 and then to 17.7)? Will I be able to update my iPad to 17.6.1 version after iPadOS 18 comes out?
And which features did break on your iPad after an update?

17.6.1 to 17.7 is definitely possible. Just not sure if 17.7 will be available as IPSW.

The "dark appearance dims wallpaper" option was removed, and I can't make changes to the lock screen if I want to keep my existing wallpapers that dims in dark mode. I can restore the pictures but they won't dim anymore.

Not a big problem for you since you are upgrading from 16, and that's when the feature was removed.