So I've been looking forward to iOS 5 ever since Apple announced it back in the summer. It had several features that I dearly wanted: like Notification Center, location aware reminders, system wide Twitter integration, and more. Plus who doesn't like the newest and the best? Finally, after months of waiting, Apple announced on October 4th that iOS 5 would be available on October 12th.
I'm no Apple fanboy, but I do like my iPhone and so I couldn't wait to get home and start the upgrade process. I plugged my phone in and fired it up...and go an error...something about not being able to connect to the Sync Server. "That's talking about iCloud" I thought. "I don't care about that really, so ignore it". My phone started backing up and left the room. I came back 20 minutes later to see that the download for iOS 5 had started and was going to take, WHAT? 10 hours?!
Oh well, I was at home, and I had work to do. So I left it alone and got to work. Before bed I checked and the time remaining had at least gone down...now it was only at 5 hours remaining. Sigh. Off to bed. My youngest son woke me up in the middle of the night, so after I got him settled I went downstairs to check on the download. "Download done! Success! I thought!" Now I just needed to wait until it was actually installed. Back to bed, and up at 6:15 with my son (thanks Mason).
When I got up, I took my son into the office with me and checked...it showed that my phone was being formatted. "That's a good sign right?" Change a diaper. Check on the iPhone. Feed Mason breakfast. Check on the iPhone. Finally it was done...but it appeared as if my lovely iPhone, with all my apps and contacts, and media, was set to a blank, default state. Slide to unlock. I saw "Restore iPhone. Yes!". Click and the restore process started.
Feed the other two rugrats that were hungry. Check on the iPhone. Eat breakfast on my own. Check on the iPhone (are you sensing a pattern here?). Finally it was done. I unplugged my iPhone and slide to unlock. It was glorious, I heard angels singing and birds chirping.
Okay...I didn't get any of that. The first thing I noticed was a few new icons (Reminders, Newstand), and some missing icons. LOTS of missing icons in fact. Several of my most used apps were gone. Cam+? Missing. Bewjeweled 2? Missing! Words With Friends, Tiny Tower, and about 15 or 20 other apps all gone! I didn't have time to deal with this! I swiped down from the status bar to make sure that my precious Notification Center worked and my daughter and I were out the door and off to school. (I know right? I'm such a good Dad!).
So as it stands right now, I'm less than thrilled with iOS 5 and the upgrade process. I can't find where I'm supposed to set up Twitter integration with the OS; I can't use arbitrary addresses with location reminders; the Notification bar is meh (maybe that'll change once I get all my apps back). At least I have a functional phone running the most "advanced OS on the planet" right? Right? Sigh.
UPDATE So it looks like it was somehow my fault. I found out during the day today that I had somehow entered the incorrect Apple ID for my phone. So it restored some apps but not others. Anyway, when I got home I changed the Apple ID, restored the phone and got all my apps back. So problem appears to be solved. Now if Apple will just let me enter an arbitrary address for location reminders we'll be in good shape!
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Have you heard any tips on how to avoid losing your stuff? I really want to upgrade soon, but I'm sort of waiting for the dust to settle so I don't end up doing something I'll regret.
Tyson Cadenhead - October 13, 2011 08:23 am
Sorry you had such a problem with your update. I was able to update both of my iPhone 4 devices and iPad 2 device without any problems. The download for each took about 30 minutes, and the actual upgrade progress took about that long as well on each device. In all cases it restored all of my data with the exception of my sync settings for my pictures, which was easy to fix. Apps, videos, podcasts, etc was all there. You'll find the Twitter integration under Settings -> Twitter, right under "Mail, Contacts, Calendars"
Troy Murray - October 13, 2011 08:42 am
I've been on the beta for quite a while, so I didn't have the issues that everyone else is experiencing. One thing I did notice, when iTunes _said_ my phone was done restoring I would hit the Home button and the circling arrow was running in the top left of the status bar. If I unlocked my phone _before_ that stopped. I would lose apps. It wouldn't sync them properly, or have them in their correct place. If I let that run fully, then everything was restored properly. So, I know you've already been through an ordeal, but I would try re-restoring from your last backup and making sure it's fully synced (no circling arrows) before unplugging and unlocking it.
Kennon Bickhart - October 13, 2011 08:53 am
The upgrade process was different than previous ones. Biggest is that once you install it then has to sync the apps, music, etc. back on, but doesn't keep you locked and syncing as before. I was able to play around with the phone while it was still loading over the apps in the background. One of the features is background syncing so the phone is more usable while syncing.
BradmanGA - October 13, 2011 08:57 am
I upgraded my ipad and all my apps and their settings are still there and all my icons. I am not on lion yet so I was worried. I updated to iTunes 10.5 then plugged in the ipad and synched all my apps since I had never done that then ran the update. It took quite awhile but it all seemed to work great.
Jeff - October 13, 2011 09:34 am
Back when I had an iPhone I would wait a week or so before upgrading. That seemed to help the Apple servers die down and not be so busy. I've heard several stories of people not being able to upgrade because Apple servers were down. Is the version of iOS 5 you installed the final public version or a beta? It just seems to have more issues than ever before. Glad I can skip the headache and go cuddle my Android device.
Aaron West - October 13, 2011 01:25 pm
Hey Andy, Sounds like you've got a good balance between fatherhood and work :) My last android upgrade took about 1/2 hour, but that's android. If you love your Iphone I guess it's worth the wait. Just checked out your article about Iphone app development... Got to do one myself soon. Keep the good articles coming.
Joel Caton - October 15, 2011 02:48 pm