iOS 15 & watchOS 8 now let you install them with almost no available space

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Iphone Se 2020 Software Update
Iphone Se 2020 Software Update (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple has made changes to iOS 15 and watchOS 8 that will allow them to be installed on devices with less free space than before.
  • Devices with less than 500MB of space will now still allow the updates to be performed.

Apple's latest iOS 15 and watchOS 8 betas include a change that will allow updates to be installed on devices with less than 500MB of free space. The move means those with devices without globs of available storage will now also be able to perform updates without the need to first delete apps and data to make space.

The move was mentioned in the latest release notes and was first spied by the folks at 9to5Mac. The change resolves an issue that people have been complaining about of late, specifically on Apple Watches with a limited amount of storage in the first place. People using Apple Watch Series 3, in particular, have suffered from a lack of free available space for some time now, causing them to have to do a complete device restore just to perform a software update.

That, at least for now, appears to be fixed in this latest beta release.

Software UpdateResolved in watchOS 8/iOS 15 beta 3: You can now update your device using Software Update if less than 500 MB of storage is available. (78474912)

Apple continues to put the iOS 15 and watchOS 8 betas through their paces ahead of an expected September launch alongside new iPhones.

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Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.