Oliver Haslam on September 20, 2021, 1:57 am

Fix iOS 15 Update Requested Stuck Issue On iPhone And iPad, Here’s How

Here’s how you can fix iOS 15 OTA Update Requested stuck issue on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch device.

Whenever Apple releases a big new iOS and iPadOS update, some people struggle to get it to complete. There are plenty of reasons why that could be, but one that pops up every time is the issue that sees devices suck at the “Update Requested” stage of the process. If that’s you, read on — there are a few things you can try.

Restart Your Device

Yes, sometimes just restarting your device can be enough to get things moving again. Give it a try and cross your fingers.

Try a Hard Reboot

If that doesn’t work, a hard reset may be needed. To do that, the steps depend on the iPhone in hand. Follow our guides for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 11 lineup here: Force Restart / Hard Reset iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, Here’s How. If you have an iPhone XS / XS Max / XR/ X / 8 / 8 Plus, head here: iPhone X Tips: How To Turn Off, Reboot, Hard Reset / Force Restart iPhone X. If you have an iPhone 7 / 7 Plus, follow the steps in our guide here: Hard Reboot / Restart iPhone 7 Or iPhone 7 Plus, Here’s How. Older iPhone users can check out our guide for instructions here: How To Hard Reboot / Restart Your iPhone, iPad Or iPod touch.

Update Via iTunes or Finder Instead

Plugging our iPhones and iPads into a computer definitely feels like something from the dark ages, but sometimes we just have to do it — especially when OTA updates aren’t playing ball. If you’re finding that doing an OTA update isn’t working for you, iTunes on a PC or Finder on your Mac might be a better option.

Wait It Out

These kinds of problems normally come down to a simple fact — too many people are trying to download the update at once, causing a backlog of requests. Try again in a few hours if you are having issues right now — it’ll likely work just fine once Apple’s servers aren’t quite so overloaded.

Hopefully, you won’t need to do any of these things and you’re already running iOS 15 happily. But if you do, these should get you all up and running eventually.