Now iOS 5 Can Update Over 3G
by DM
June 26, 2011
Good news for those who travel a lot, iOS 5's over-the-air update feature will work over your carrier's 3G network, not just Wi-Fi. That means easy and PC-free updates, wherever you are.
Hopefully, for users on capped data plans, these over-the-air updates won't be too huge. Especially considering Apple is making all iOS 5 updates "delta updates," which means you only download what's new, and not an entirely new iOS like we've done up until now. I wouldn't worry, though. It's a safe bet that when the majority of your customers are paying for their bandwidth, you'd do what you could to limit the file sizes as much as possible.
I have a feeling Steve is pretty annoyed that the unlimited plan he spearheaded with the first iPhone will soon be a distant memory. That's one Apple idea he wouldn't be so quick to dispense with. It looks like the updates will require 500 MB of free space on your device, but that's for the installation, not the size of the download.
Recently 9 to 5 Mac reported that not all updates could be delivered over-the-air, however. It's been suggested that so-called "point upgrades" -- 5.1 to 5.1.1-- would be possible over cellular networks, but that bigger updates, such as 5.1 or 5.2, would still need Wi-Fi. At least with this infrastructure in place, Apple can push security updates, the most important kind, straight to customers without a whole lot of fuss. We'll be seeing more of those in the future, as iOS becomes even more entrenched and security becomes a greater concern. For now, though, you can relax; in the future, your iDevice will stay safe, automatically.