Apple is now enabling iPhones in recovery mode to be restored wirelessly if another iPhone or iPad is nearby.
The new iOS 18 operating system for the new iPhone 16 includes new tools that can restore the firmware to an iPhone stuck in Recovery Mode, without the need to plug into a PC or Mac. Essentially, the iOS 18 device contains the firmware required to jumpstart a bricked iPhone and bring it back to life.
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9to5Mac reports that any iPhone running iOS 18 can be used as the restorer, while (presently) you’ll need an iPhone 16 benefit as a restoree.
“The new phones are shipped with a special recovery partition that can manage the entire process regardless of whether the main iOS partition is booted,” the report says.
It’s not clear whether this expands to over iPhone models over time. It’s possible that there’s specific hardware within the iPhone 16 that aids this process.
However, it’s excellent news for iPhone owners who’ve previously had to take their devices in for repair, if they don’t have access to a Mac or PC to manually fix the issue.
As the report states, Apple has been working on this tool since 2020 and, in the meantime has made it possible for iPhones to wirelessly restore a bricked Apple Watch or Apple TV.
iOS 18 arrive on Monday with new icon customisation skills, a redesigned control centre, new privacy tools including the ability to lock apps behind Face ID, support for RCS messages, a Game Mode for iPhone and a revamped Photos app.
So far, the update has been smooth sailing for iPhone users, but if you have the iPad Pro M4 you might want to hold off on downloading the update for now. Reports are suggesting the update has bricked some owners’ devices.
