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How do I upgrade my Apple iPhone to firmware 2.0?

I'm excited to add the many new capabilities and improvements to my beloved Apple iPhone, but have heard that the jump from 1.1.4 to 2.0 completely wipes your phone. Can you show me how to step through this firmware upgrade and reassure me that my contacts, photos, music, etc will all be there on the other side?


Dave's Answer:

The release of the second generation of iPhones has been an event of surprising excitement. I even have friends who camped out in front of the local Apple Store overnight to be able to say "I'm the first!" for the new 3G phone.

However, many of the benefits of the new phone, including notably the new system software and many upgraded applications, along with being able to access the new Apple iPhone Applications Store, are available to first generation iPhones with just a little upgrade...

Here's how it worked for me...

First up, the cheery message that there WAS an upgrade when I connected my phone to a Mac running iTunes 7.7 (yes, you need to upgrade iTunes first. If you haven't, just choose "Software Update..." from the Apple menu):

iphone 2.0 available

Well, heck yeah, I'll accept that upgrade!

iphone 2.0 download install

I choose "Download and Install" since I really want to have it happen, not just collect the software for later application. Now I get the first of a couple of warning messages:

iphone 2.0 download install backup

I'm good with that - I like that it automatically backs up everything and restores it all when done. If that works properly, this could be the least hassle upgrade ever.

Now it tells me that there's a download in progress:

iphone 2.0 downloading

Want more information? On the left side of iTunes, while there's a download in progress, you'll see "Downloads" under the store section. Click on it and you can see how far along you are and how big the update is:

iphone 2.0 downloading 2

Eventually it finishes up and it's time for the Dance of the Progress Bars...

iphone 2.0 backing up

and

iphone 2.0 extracting software

and a'one and a'two...

iphone 2.0 preparing restore

Not done yet...

iphone 2.0 restoring

Let's progress just a bit more...

iphone 2.0 verifying

And one more for luck...

iphone 2.0 restoring firmware

Finally, about 10-15 minutes later, we've completed the dance and get the delightful confirmation:

iphone 2.0 restored reboot

And that's where I hit the brick wall of too much popularity:

iphone 2.0 itunes store too busy

For reasons I don't fully understand, even though my phone is ostensibly fully updated to the 2.0 software and fully restored, there's one last visit to the iTunes Store that needs to happen for things to work, and the extraordinary popularity of this upgrade is clearly more than the Apple servers can handle.

End result? I have a temporarily (I hope!) dead iPhone that can only make emergency calls and is otherwise completely useless. I have tried for the last 45 minutes to complete this last step and just see this same error over and over again.

I'll stop my blog entry now so I can publish it and hopefully you'll have better luck, but you may just want to not be a bleeding-edge adopter like me. Losing my cellphone for the day is going to be a big drag, needless to say!

Update! After hours of failure, I got it to work. Here's how it finished up...

I unplugged and replugged-in the iPhone, and here's what I saw:

iphone 2 restoring backup 2

A bit more time passes, and...

iphone 2 restoring backup 3

That's what you want to see!

When the phone does resurface in iTunes, for just a minute you'll see that it's empty, but then the automatic restore kicks in:

iphone 2 restoring music

Finally, after some time passes, there's a new tab in town:

itunes 7.7 iphone 2 tabs

And under the Applications tab...

itunes 2 applications

Time to sync? Here's something new:

iphone 2 sync applications

Finally, finally, we've got an iPhone running version 2.0 firmware. Congratulations!

Wondering how to download applications in iTunes? Check out my tutorial: download applications from the Apple iPhone Apps Store. If you haven't been here before, this site also has a huge amount of iPhone help to peruse too.



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Comments

Can you update to Firmware 2 if you have an un-locked phone or will the software lock the phone again.

Thankyou

Neil

Posted by: neil at July 17, 2008 2:58 AM

seems scarry for me, what can i do if it wont recover after hours....

Posted by: Agus at November 18, 2008 9:55 PM

I tried to upgrade my jailbroken iphone (original) fro 1.1.4 to 2.0 and all i get is the emergency number thing. the itunes area says my sim card is not supported any longer? what now it is useless to me. any ideas i would sure appreciate it. My thanks for taking the time to help.

Posted by: william tarras at January 8, 2009 5:58 AM

i have to no for sure that i can update download new applications to the first apple iphone the 8gb is it possible that i can do that so i can keep my phone updated so i wont have to buy another one

Posted by: dontrell at March 17, 2009 12:34 PM

When i followed these steps, all i ended up with was an emergency call only situation and when i tried to connect to itunes, it said the sim was no longer supported. I presume this is what happened to you when you had your error message, but you failed to say how you fixed it. Please could you reply asap as the phone is/was my father's and i feel extremly bad about it - also, i fear the punishment may be severe.
Thanks - and PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Posted by: abc xyz at June 20, 2009 10:29 AM

abc xyz, you're right: I had a dead phone for a short period, I unplugged it and replugged it in, to have it resync and take the next step in the process. I have read in various places that Apple is having a hard time keeping up with the demand on iPhone updates and reauthorizations on the AT&T cellular network and that there can be delays of up to 48 hours right now (the weekend of June 20, 2009). I'd try every few hours and rest assured that it *will* work once they're not quite so busy.

Now, seems to me that if you're updating your Dad's phone without permission, you have another problem too. :-)

Posted by: Dave Taylor at June 20, 2009 6:58 PM

Is it possible to sync my applications on itunes on my iphone 1.1? Or I must to upgrade the firmware?

Posted by: Teodora at August 26, 2009 11:55 AM

Was trying to get some applications from itune store n it's telling me to get n account,but I am in Nigeria n cAn'tdoes dis mean I won't b able to get stuff?

Posted by: OlaMilekan at December 16, 2009 11:54 PM

I have just downloaded some applications, but when i go to sync my applications the applications tab is not up the top along with music, videos etc. Please help me?

Posted by: Nathan Guy at December 20, 2009 2:31 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup 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!











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