How to install iOS 8

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iOS 8 has been released by Apple. While the upgrade went smoothly for many people, no major update is ever completely flawless – and iOS 8 is no exception. In this case, many users with a 16GB iPhone or iPad are having problems installing iOS 8 because they don’t have enough free space — it can require up to 5.7GB! For others, the download of iOS 8 is just going very slowly.
If you’re running into the free space issue while trying to download iOS 8, or you’re looking for an alternative, faster route of downloading iOS 8, read on!

Backup and making enough free space

The update to iOS 8 is available for most iDevices released in the last three years, including the iPhone 4S and later, the iPad 2 and later, and all permutations of the iPad Mini.
Before you update any iPhone or iPad, you should update your version of iTunes to the latest version and then back up your device. For Mac users, open iTunes, then click iTunes > Check for Updates. Windows users, open iTunes, then click Help > Check for Updates. To back up your iPhone or iPad, click File > Devices > Back Up.
If you want to perform an over-the-air update directly to your iPhone or iPad, you will need up to 5.7GB of free space on your device to install iOS 8. Needless to say, if you have a 16GB iPhone or iPad, you may not have enough free space. You can either try to clear some free space by deleting photos and apps — or, alternatively, just plug the device into your Mac or PC and perform the update through iTunes. Upgrading to iOS 8 through iTunes removes the 5.7GB free space requirement.

How to officially update to iOS 8

The official update process is very simple. If you wish, you can update to iOS 8 directly from your iPhone or iPad by visiting Settings > General > Software Update. Alternatively, plug your iPhone or iPad into your computer, open up iTunes, navigate to the Summary tab for your device, and then click Update. It will either tell you that no updates are available (in which case, try again later), or the download will begin.
The download might be quite slow initially as Apple’s servers get hammered. (This can be a good reason to download an unofficial version using the links below, rather than wait for the real thing, which may take hours to download.)
Once you have iOS 8 installed, skip ahead to the end of the story to discover more about your new operating system.

Download iOS 8 unofficially

An alternative route, if you’re struggling with the official iOS 8 download, is to download the appropriate Gold Master (GM) of iOS 8 for your device. These files are legitimate versions of iOS 8 that were released over the last few weeks to developers and beta testers — and were then redistributed unofficially to the public.

• iPhone 4S (Models A1431 & A1387)
• iPhone 5 (GSM, Model A1428)
• iPhone 5 (CDMA, Model A1429)
• iPhone 5S (GSM)
• iPhone 5S (CDMA)
• iPhone 5C (GSM)
• iPhone 5C (CDMA)
• iPad 2 (WiFi)
• iPad 2 (Rev. A)
• iPad 2 (WiFi + GSM, Model A1396) – no download available currently
• iPad 2 (WiFi + CDMA, Model A1397)
• iPad 3 (WiFi, Model A1416)
• iPad 3 (WiFi + GSM, Model A1430)
• iPad 3 (WiFi + CDMA, Model A1403)
• iPad 4 (WiFi, Model A1458)
• iPad 4 (WiFi + GSM, Model A1459)
• iPad 4 (WiFi + CDMA, Model A1460)
• iPad Mini (WiFi, Model A1432)
• iPad Mini (WiFi + GSM, Model A1454)
• iPad Mini (WiFi + CDMA, Model A1455)
• iPad Air (Wi-Fi, Model A1474)
• iPad Air (Wi-Fi + GSM)
• iPad Air (Wi-Fi + CDMA)
• iPad Mini with Retina (Wi-Fi, Model A1489)
• iPad Mini with Retina (Wi-Fi + GSM)
• iPad Mini with Retina (Wi-Fi + CDMA)
• iPod Touch (Fifth-generation)

If the link for your device doesn’t work, Lifehacker is doing a good job of locating new links that still work. Bear in mind that these links aren’t official, and I haven’t personally tested all of them. They should be completely fine, but if you’re at all concerned just use the official iOS 8 upgrade process. Once you have your iOS 8 GM, follow these steps:

• Extract the downloaded file and make sure you have a file that ends in .ispw — something like: iPad2,1_7.0.4_11B554a_Restore.ipsw. Windows users might need to use a utility like 7zip to extract the file.
• Open up iTunes and connect your iPhone or iPad. Go to the Summary tab.
• Hold down the Option key (OS X) or Shift (Windows) and click the Restore button. Locate the .ipsw file that you extracted.
• Sit back and pray that the update completes.

Bear in mind that if the upgrade process fails, you may have to enter DFU mode and restore your device from a backup. Most modern iDevices (iPhone 5, 5S, 5C, the iPad Air, iPad Mini) should have no problems at all, though.

iPhone: iOS 8

Enjoy iOS 8

If everything goes to plan, you should now be looking at iOS 8 on your iPhone or iPad! Hooray! For the most part, iOS 8 looks a lot like iOS 7 — but there are plenty of tweaks and new features that you’ll discover after a little poking around. To get you started, read our featured story about some of the better new features, and some of the hidden gems in iOS 8. After that, it’s a good idea to check out how iOS 8 compares to Google’s upcoming Android L.