Apple stops iPadOS 18 updates for M4 iPad Pro

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPadOS edited September 17

Apple has halted the distribution of iPadOS 18 to models of the iPad Pro equipped with the M4 chip, after users reported the update was bricking their tablets.

A child holding a slice of watermelon, with iPad home screen icons and widgets overlayed, lying on a striped cushion outdoors.
iPadOS 18



Apple released iPadOS 18 alongside its other major operating system updates on Monday, but it seems not all is well. One day later, Apple's stopped the iPadOS 18 update for one specific model of iPad Pro.

A number of users on Reddit have claimed that the update to iPadOS 18 is bricking the iPad Pro with M4. While some reports date back to during the beta-testing process, the issues became more of a problem with the full public release.

It is unclear how many users are affected by the issue at the time of publication.

All other models of iPad capable of running iPadOS 18 are continuing to receive the update as usual, and are seemingly unaffected by the bricking issue.

While it is evident that Apple knows there's a problem with the update for its M4-based models, it is unknown what is causing the bricking in the first place.

A statement was provided to AppleInsider by Apple. It says "We have temporarily removed the iPadOS 18 update for M4 iPad Pro models as we work to resolve an issue that is impacting a small number of devices."

Though it is similarly unclear when users will be able to update their M4 iPad Pros to iPadOS 18 once more, Apple's engineers are trying to find a fix for their top-of-the-line model's issue.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    aatbaatb Posts: 11member
    Glad it’s not something that impacts all M4 iPad owners as, luckily, my M4 hasn’t bricked and I’ve been using iPadOS 18 since I bought it. Now I’m on iPadOS 18.1 beta. Hopefully they can get things resolved quickly. 
  • Reply 2 of 13
    RDWRDW Posts: 4member
    No issues with my M4 with IOS 18, of course, I've been running the beta software for months.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    pinbot61pinbot61 Posts: 7member
    aatb said:
    Glad it’s not something that impacts all M4 iPad owners as, luckily, my M4 hasn’t bricked and I’ve been using iPadOS 18 since I bought it. Now I’m on iPadOS 18.1 beta. Hopefully they can get things resolved quickly. 
    Umm how since it was just released? 
    M68000
  • Reply 4 of 13
    emskoremskor Posts: 3member
    I updated to iPadOS 18.0 a few hours ago. Never installed an 18 beta. First time using 18 in any form. Everything is perfect. No issues at all. 
    jahblade
  • Reply 5 of 13
    emskoremskor Posts: 3member
    Installed on my M4 iPad. 
    jahblade
  • Reply 6 of 13
    emskoremskor Posts: 3member
    Just read speculation that the bricking could occur if iPadOS 17.7 was installed before upgrading to 18. I updated my M4 iPad to 17.7 before upgrading to 18. Again, no issues at all. Everything is perfect so far. 
  • Reply 7 of 13
    omasouomasou Posts: 611member
    Mine works perfectly.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    WTimbermanWTimberman Posts: 49member
    My 13 inch M4 updated without any issues. Having been using it since, and so far all is well.
  • Reply 9 of 13
    iOS_Guy80iOS_Guy80 Posts: 872member
    No issues here with the update, however I did have a problem when I installed the first beta version of 18.0. Arbitrarily 237 files were deleted automatically from the Files app fortunately, I was able to retrieve everything from iCloud and never had an beta issue after that. 
  • Reply 10 of 13
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,236member
    Installed 17.7 and then installed 18 immediately after no problem working like a champ. 13 inch M4 iPad Pro.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    BlueLightningBlueLightning Posts: 149member
    Sometimes, an issue can occur when the device has a relatively new feature disabled on the previous release.  On MacOS, once had an OS update loop after disabling the 120 Hz ProMotion feature on a relatively new (at that time) M2 Pro MacBook Pro during a maintenance release to the first macOS version supported on that machine.  Easiest recovery (after visiting Genius Bar) was to jump to the then 1 month old version of macOS from the prior version.  Would have had to do a fresh/scratch install otherwise.  
    Sonoma worked fine, but would normally have waited a few more months before skipping forward to a new macOS version.  

    Generally, safest to wait a few days for updates to any supported version of an OS immediately after a new version is released (especially if critical software is running on the machine, or if it is your only machine).  Getting too old (and cranky) to work with new versions early after general availability.  We generally waited several months or even a year to update Windows machines to a new OS (and like many business users) skipped Windows 8 entirely.  
  • Reply 12 of 13
    kiltedgreenkiltedgreen Posts: 620member
    My iPadOS update install was flawless. No 17.7 previously installed.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    M68000M68000 Posts: 833member
    This is being reported on other websites.  In addition,  according to Tom’s guide website - iOS 18 has a “nasty” messages app bug that causes repeated crashing.  Oh boy..  i had considered updating but going to hold off. 
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