Apple
Apple has temporarily paused the rollout of the iPadOS 18 update for M4 iPad Pros. The company has stopped signing the update for these iPads, meaning it will no longer be offered to users when they check, and Apple’s servers will not activate the update if it’s installed through other means.
Apple confirmed to Ars that it had “temporarily removed” the update to “address an issue impacting a small number of devices.”
The update has reportedly “broken” the devices of some M4 iPad Pro users; anecdotal reports from Reddit and MacRumors forum users suggest that some users installed the update without any issues, while others ended up with unresponsive devices. Apple is apparently offering hardware replacements to affected users, which points to a fairly serious bug: devices can typically be put into recovery mode (or DFU mode) as a last resort in the event of a software update gone wrong.
Some people affected by the issue reported that they first installed the iPadOS 17.7 update, and then attempted to install iPadOS 18.0. The 17.7 update is primarily intended as a security update for people who aren't yet ready to upgrade to a brand new version of iPadOS. Additionally, the upgrade path from 17.7 to 18.0 may not have been tested as thoroughly as the upgrade from 17.6 to 18.0.
In any case, M4 iPad Pro owners who haven’t yet upgraded will have to wait until Apple releases a new version of the iPadOS 18 update that doesn’t have the issues, or until Apple determines that the defective iPads are suffering from a hardware problem rather than a software issue.
The iPadOS 17.7 update is still being signed for these iPads, which users should install if they want the latest security patches while they wait for Apple to fix the iPadOS 18 issues. Apple is also continuing to sign the iPadOS 18.0 update for other iPads, including the M2 iPad Air.
This article has been updated with a statement from Apple.
