upgrade from 10.3.3 to 11.1 via iPhone instead of iTunes?

[jk73]

I've never owned a non-Apple computer (dating to the 1980s) or smart phone. As such, I'm part of that old school who religiously used full installers, etc. I've owned an iPhone since Week 1 in 2007 and I don't believe I've ever upgraded the iOS without using iTunes to download the full installer.

Is this really necessary anymore? If I upgrade from 10.3.3 to 11.1 via the iPhone itself, am I risking anything?

Thanks.

 

[phillytim]

You really aren't risking anything; the majority of everyone has been fine to upgrade from one major version to the next.

In fact, it is probably LESS risky to go from 10.3.3 to 11.1 (.0 problems fixed) than it is to go from 10.3.3 to 11.0.

 

[jk73]

You really aren't risking anything; the majority of everyone has been fine to upgrade from one major version to the next.

In fact, it is probably LESS risky to go from 10.3.3 to 11.1 (.0 problems fixed) than it is to go from 10.3.3 to 11.0.

Right, I always wait for a few small updates before upgrading from, e.g., 10.x to 11.x. What I'm wondering is, are updates done on the iPhone itself — using the phone's Software Update function — riskier than using iTunes to download the full installer? The conventional wisdom among Apple loyalists was always to use a full installer whenever possible, but it's unclear just how beneficial that is anymore.

 

[phillytim]

I think the phone-only Update is solid. Most likely you won't have any problems at all.

Never hurts to back up the phone via iTunes, regardless. But you'd be fine to update only by using the phone.

 

[KGB7]

Just have a good WiFi connection and you shouldn’t have any issues.

 

[NoBoMac]

I still do the full update. I'm probably in front of the computer doing something, so why not?

A few years ago, some early updaters on a certain dot release did experience problems via device update vs full iTunes updaters not running into that. So, if moving to OTA updates, hold off to later in the day/week, until early adopters run into (or not) any issues.