Can We Download iOS 9 Update From 3G/4G Cellular Data?
So one of the iPhone user wants to know if there is any way to get iOS 9 update via OTA (Over The Air) using the cellular data.
This is because some of us have 3G/4G network with lots of free MBs / GBs left – and because the download speed is extremely fast, it makes sense to use cellular data over home WiFi or broadband, right?
But iOS 9 Updates Are Massive
The old iOS 9 betas were almost 1.5 GB in size. And if you were to download it via 3G/4G, there’s a greater chance that your mobile bill at the end of the month will be ridiculously high.
As far as we know, many carrier network has a FUP (Fair Usage Policy) in the name of “unlimited” 3G/4G usage. So you may have to be a cautious when you download files of such size.
If that wasn’t enough, some folks are receiving text messages from their services providers requesting to use Wi-Fi over cellular data when you upgrade from iOS 8 to iOS 9.
Here is the message received by a Reddit user that requests you to use Wi-Fi instead of the cellular data while upgrading to iOS 9:
What if you want to ignore all this? What if you really have an unlimited 2G… 3G… 4G LTE data plans that you could use to download the new iOS 9?
Sure, go ahead like we did. The result will surprise you because…
Apple Stops You From Using Cellular Data
Yep! That’s right. Apple doesn’t want you to use cellular data to get the iOS 9 update files.
In fact, the cellular download cap is 100 MB – meaning that you cannot download files that are more than 100 MB in size using your cellular / mobile data…
(And we all know how large these iOS 9 firmware updates are.)
Two years ago, Apple had a 50 MB cap and now it’s 100 MB (we never knew).
So even Apple is against the “idea” of using cellular data to grab those iOS 9 files from the company’s busy servers.
Want a solution? Well, you can always turn on your cellular data, then enable Personal WiFi hotspot. Then, you can grab the update from the activated WiFi hotspot.
This is the only way to get the latest iOS 9.0 update for your iPhone / iPad.