A disabled iPhone 16 can be restored wirelessly using another iPhone
iOS 18 includes a new over-the-air data recovery feature designed to restore a dead iPhone 16 using another iPhone or iPad, according to a new report.
Right now, if you have a broken iPhone 15 or earlier model, you'll need to use a Mac or PC to restore the firmware , which is inconvenient as some people may not have the right cable on hand or may not even use a computer anymore.
Apple has made efforts over the years to remove the need to power up iOS devices using computers. For example, it's already possible to use an iPhone to wirelessly restore an Apple Watch or Apple TV. Now it looks like the same functionality is coming to the new iPhone 16 models.
Restore iPhone 16
9to5Mac reports that it has managed to simulate the iPhone 16 entering recovery mode in iOS 18, which allows users to simply place the iPhone 16 next to another iPhone or iPad to initiate an over-the-air firmware restore. The other device downloads the new iOS firmware and transfers it to the disabled device, eliminating the need to connect it to a computer.
While iOS 18 enables any compatible device to help restore a non-functional iPhone, wireless restore appears to be currently limited to iPhone 16 devices. Apple's latest devices come equipped with a dedicated recovery partition, capable of managing the entire restore process independently of the state of the main iOS partition.
Evidence that Apple was working on an over-the-air restore method for iPhones first surfaced in iOS 13.4. It’s unclear at this time whether Apple intends to add this feature to earlier iPhone models.
Read also: The official price of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro Max after the launch