How to Update an iPhone Through iTunes

Last Updated: March 4, 2020

Your iPhone defaults to updating over-the-air, but you can also plug in your iPhone to your computer to update. This wikiHow will teach you how to manually update your iPhone through iTunes.

Steps

1
Launch iTunes on your Windows or Mac computer. You'll find this music-note icon in your Start Menu or in the Applications folder.
- If you enabled certain features, iTunes will open automatically when you plug-in your iPhone. If that's the case, you can skip this step.
2
Plug in your iPhone to your computer. Using the lightning cable that came with your iPhone when you bought it, connect your iPhone to your computer with the USB port.
- When your iPhone is connected, it will show up in your iTunes display.
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3
Click your iPhone's icon in iTunes. You'll see the iPhone icon near the top of the program to the left of "Library."
- Before you update, you should manually back up just in case you lose some data.
4
Click Back Up Now. Before updating, it's always advised to create a backup in case something goes wrong. This should only take a minute or two and will allow you to restore your iOS device along with all your data if an error happens during the update process.
5
Click Check for Update. You'll see this under the current iOS version your iPhone is running.
- You might get a pop-up when you first plug in your iPhone to update your iOS.
6
Click Update. You'll see this only if there's an update available to you.
- This process might take a few minutes depending on your connection speed and the size of the update. Don't interrupt the process by disconnecting your iPhone.
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