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How do I upgrade my iPhone 3G to the latest software?

I just heard that there's a software update for the Apple iPhone 3G. I want it! But I'm confused: how do I update the software on my phone?

Dave's Answer:

The key thing to realize here is that you don't update the firmware (well, operating system, software, whatever you want to call it) on your phone, you update the mirrored firmware on your synchronized computer and then it automatically copies it onto the phone the next time you sync.

For example, here's how I did the update with my Mac...

I plugged in my 16GB iPhone 3G to my MacBook Air and instantly got this:

Okay, so click on "Download and Install" because, well, because life's an adventure and why not risk your phone going completely dead on you? :-)

Next screen shows this:

and, of course, the license that no-one reads (I mean, what does this say?):

Downloading happens next:

alt="itunes 2.0.1 iphone software update" border="0" width="556" height="84" />

and then it appears that nothing happens at all. In fact, once the download finishes up, iTunes starts doing work behind the scenes without showing you anything at all. Watch your iPhone screen instead: it does the world's slowest reboot (actually it's downloading a 249.2MB file onto your phone).

That's basically all there is. Just wait. And wait. And eventually you'll see:

And now the phone does succeed at rebooting and you're running Apple iPhone firmware 2.0.1 rather than the earlier 2.0 software!

How can you tell? Easy. On your phone click Settings --> General --> About and you should see:

Too much work? iTunes will show you your latest firmware version too:

Now, to go and experiment to see if it really has made things more stable...

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Categorized: Cell Phones and Mobile Phones , Mac OS X Help (Article 8421)
Tagged: apple iphone, apple itunes, firmware update, iphone 3g, iphone apps, itunes application store, sync
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Comments

how can i inter my name on the screen?

Posted by: adam at August 27, 2008 5:10 AM

is it possible to update shoftware version 2into my old 8gb iphone?

Posted by: adam at August 27, 2008 5:12 AM

Symantec tell me PC anywhere does not offer a version that will work on my iphone. Is there another way or program I can use to do the same thing?

Posted by: Jack Stephens at November 5, 2008 4:21 PM

while trying to download the games from itune store via downloading new version of itune (feat. genisis) as you have mentioned a formula for downloading new softwares from itune to iPhone. While doing that my iPhone got unfunctionable. Itunes states a message saying that the SIM I have inserted is not supported and have to use a SIM which comes along with iPhone but I didn't get any. Please, suggest me a kind solution for it.

thanking you,

ralph

Posted by: ralph at March 22, 2009 11:30 PM

I'm slightly confused.
What does the update include?
Is this update to get all the new stuff off the iPhone 3g S?

Posted by: Shann at June 10, 2009 7:47 AM

Shann, generally the software upgrades are to tweak features and capabilities and only occasionally to add new capabilities to the phone. The 3.0 release of the iPhone software will be different as there are a number of major changes and updates included, but that's not going to be available until June 19, 2009, from what I can glean from Apple, so it's still a week or two away.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at June 10, 2009 8:09 AM

i CANNOT DOWNLOAD ANY RINGTONES ON MY IPHONE

Posted by: Iris Teague at June 27, 2009 8:47 AM

Hi mate - my nameis Darren and I am a tech rock... I have a 3G Iphone that I purchased in Australia through one of our regular carriers (actually Virgin). I am currently traveling and I got international roaming but two days away my phone has locked up. When I plug it into my laptop (the same one I have at home) it won't turn on or synch. The iTunes page comes up and it says - "iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes". From my understanding of what this means if I do this I will loose all my contacts and photos and apps etc - is that true? If so is all my data saved somewhere on my laptop through iTunes from everyother time I synch'd it? Does that make sense? I know I'm probably pushing my luck but hopefully it is automatically saved somewhere for me to retrieve. If not can you please tell me how I can save this data once I reload it all for future reference! Thanks in advance for your assistance - you rock! Cheers, Darren from Australia

Posted by: Darren Grogan at August 31, 2009 3:09 AM

hello. I have an 8G iPhone 3G running a 2.1 firmware . My iPhone is unlocked and I'm using a different sim other than AT&T. I need to know if it is possible to update to 3.0 without getting the iPhone to lock. I manually installed the new firmware from a website; if it won't lock how can I update?

Thanks a lot

Posted by: Slim at September 2, 2009 5:16 AM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!