26

iOS 9 Installation Stuck At Slide To Upgrade? Here’s The Fix


If you are updating your iPhone / iPad to the new iOS 9, this is what happens:

You go to the Software Update page, then request to download and install the new iOS 9. Then you forget all about it.


Next thing you know, your iOS device’s screen is locked automatically.

Then, when you pickup the device to check, you see two things:

  • Verifying Update
  • Slide To Update (or “Slide to Upgrade“)

You can take your finger, like we did, to unlock the locked screen by swiping the “Slide To Update” bar but nothing really happens.

The iPhone / iPad is frozen.

slide-to-upgrade-ios-9

And that is what happened with us last night – and several others have confirmed this issue!

You can’t unlock your iPhone’s screen and you can’t get rid of the “Verifying Update…” pop up too.

So what’s the solution?

We simply locked the phone by pressing the power button. Of course, it took us 5+ tries.

First, you have to constantly keep pressing the power button to lock the device.

Then you will get a blank loading screen, and the installation of your downloaded iOS 9 file will start immediately.

This was one of those tricks we have learned it the hard way. There must be other “fix” to this as well – and if you know any of them, feel free to share via the comment section below.

Update September 18th, 3:30 PM: We have confirmed that hard resetting your device can help you get rid of the “Slide To Upgrade” frozen screen. Please try it and let us know through the comment section below.

Update September 19th, 1:45 AM: Apple has finally acknowledged this issue and they have also posted an update to fix the “Slide To Upgrade” problem. This looks like generic solution, but still is worth a shot:

-> Connect your iOS device to your computer and open iTunes.

-> 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.

-> 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.

Our Thoughts:

  • In case your iOS 9 device shows a blue/red iTunes icon with USB cable pic, then it is stuck in the recovery mode. Get out of it by reading this article: Recovery Mode in iOS 9 Explained.
  • If you believe your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch is frozen, then put it into recovery mode and restore it via iTunes. Update: Here is the new tutorial to do just that: How to Fix Frozen iOS 9 Device.
  • Some users have reported that the device gets “stuck” at the Apple logo. Unfortunately, we couldn’t replicate this problem, but the “search” for solution is on.
  • Please make sure that you are using the latest version of iTunes player on your computer (currently: iTunes v. 12.3). It is important you have that when you are trying to restore your iPhone / iPad.

Update September 19th, 6 AM: If nothing else works, or you don’t have the time to try everything, then you have a chance to go back to the earlier iOS firmware by downgrading.

Right now, Apple allows you to downgrade from iOS 9.0 to iOS 8 firmware. Note that only iOS 8.4.1 is signed at the moment – which means you can downgrade from iOS 9.0 to iOS 8.4.1.

Update September 23rd, 1:30 AM: Apple has released a new iOS 9.0.1 update that fixes many issues including one that is related to “Slide to Upgrade.” It looks like the problem will no longer appear when you upgrade from iOS 7 or iOS 8 to the new iOS 9 (directly to iOS 9.0.1).

Still this new iOS 9.0.1 update doesn’t “fix” anything if you are currently stuck with the Slide To Upgrade screen. It’s just that from now onwards, whenever you upgrade to iOS 9.0.1 – you won’t get the white screen, or at least that’s what Apple claims.

Update September 24th, 2:35 AM: As Allen points out, iOS 9.0.1 actually fixes this problem. All you have to do is install iOS 9.0.1 update via iTunes on your iPhone / iPad.

Here is the complete tutorial: Easiest Way To Bypass The “Slide To Upgrade” Screen

With this, the whole drama comes to an end. You will no longer see those white screen with that painful “Slide to Upgrade” message anymore. Feel free to share your thoughts via the comment section!