iOS 9 update stuck at ‘Slide to Upgrade’ screen? Here’s how to fix it

BY Gautam Prabhu

Published 18 Sep 2015

iOS 9 logo

Users faced quite a few problems on Wednesday with the iOS 9 software update such as getting the “Software Update failed” error or the update process getting stuck at “Update Requested”.

It wasn’t as bad as last year, but it looks like based on this thread on Apple Support Communities, some users faced another major problem that went under our radar.

Some users have reported that they got stuck at the “Slide to Upgrade” screen while updating their iOS device to iOS 9. Apple Support Communities member madisonkandrotas was one of the first users to report the issue:

after update phone says “slide to upgrade” but won’t allow it

Based on the number of views and replies it doesn’t seem to be a widespread issue, but it looks like the only way to fix the bug is to restore your iPhone or iPad from an iTunes backup. Apple has just published a new support document which provides the instructions to fix the issue. Here are the steps:

  1. Connect your iOS device to your computer and open iTunes.

  2. Select your device. If you don’t see it listed, force restart your device by pressing and holding both the Sleep/Wake and Home button for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo.

  3. If you made an iTunes backup of your device before updating to iOS 9, restore your device from that backup. If not, you need to make a backup of your device in iTunes, then restore from that backup.

Please note that it means that if you’ve taken a backup of your device in iCloud, you will first need to take a backup of your device in iTunes, and then restore from that backup.

Update

As several readers have pointed out, this method may not work if you’ve “Find my iPhone” enabled, as you will need to first disable it to restore your iPhone using iTunes.

So if you’ve managed to take a backup of your device using iTunes, then you will need to put your device in recovery mode to restore it, and restore from that iTunes backup. If you need help on how to put your device in recovery mode, check our guide for step-by-step instructions:

➤ How to Put the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch into Recovery Mode

Did you face this problem? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks Alan for the tip!