iOS 7 Release - Will You Upgrade?

iOS 7 comes out tomorrow, Wednesday, September 18! If you're like me (and both Sam and Julia who have iPhones), you'll be waking up early tomorrow to download it (actually, don't worry about waking up early, it likely won't be out until around noon). It's almost like Christmas arriving early! To start the download, go to Settings -> General -> Software Update. This should give you a button to download and update the software.

But although with all the excitement around "the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone", there are a few reasons some of you may want to wait before upgrading.

The first reason is stability. Apple and third party developers have been testing the heck out of the new software for months, but even still, until it gets into the hands of millions of users, it's likely some things have been missed. Most likely they will be small issues, but there could be something major lurking. Or it could be with an app that you're very dependent on. In the past, Apple has done a point release within a couple of weeks of a new iOS version, so you may want to wait until that occurs.

© Apple

Even if the operating system is stable, some apps may have problems. Not only has the user interface changed dramatically, a lot of the components "under the covers" have also changed, and not all apps have been updated for the new version. Some of these apps may work poorly, and with all the UI changes they may look horrible. App developers have been working on early-release versions of iOS 7 to be ready for the release but some may not be there yet.

The iOS 7 UI will look dramatically different than iOS 6. The bright colors, flat look and thin typography seem to be a polarizing event, with people either loving it or hating it. All the features and functions will still be there, they just might be in different locations. Actions that used to be launched by clicking a button may now be launched by text. If you are not fond of change, it may take time to get used to the new look.

Another issue - if you do upgrade and then either run into issues, or just don't like the new look, you may not be able to go back to iOS 6. The last I checked, Apple had not provided a way to downgrade. So once you upgrade, you better plan on sticking with it.

Remember, if you have an iPhone 3GS or earlier, you won't be able to upgrade to iOS 7. The same goes for the original iPad plus all iPods except for the latest 5th generation. In addition, it's possible the new operating system won't perform well on older devices like the iPhone 4 and iPad 2. If you have one of these devices you may want to wait at least a few days and see if there are any reports of problems.

If, after all these warnings, you boldly move ahead and upgrade to iOS 7, you'll definitely want to make sure you've backed up your phone to either iCloud or your computer. You can check the status of backups on your phone by going to Settings -> iCloud -> Storage & Backup. This screen will tell you if you're backing up to iCloud or your computer, and when your last backup was performed. You will also need free space on your device, probably around 2-3GB. You can check your disk usage by going to Settings -> General -> Usage.

After that last point, this next one may sound strange, but once you do that final backup you might want to shut backups off for a couple of days. There is a very small risk that after upgrading some app or data gets corrupted. If that data gets backed up, you might find yourself without a good backup to restore. The risk of shutting off backups is that you forget to re-enable them, so I recommend setting yourself a reminder.

With all that said, whether you like iOS 7 or not, there's not a lot you can do about it. Apple is very good at "encouraging" people to upgrade to the latest and greatest. But you have some control over when you upgrade. I'd love to hear if you're upgrading immediately or if you're going to wait. And once you do upgrade, what do you think of the new operating system? Sound off in the comments below!