Apple, which has been working on iOS 18 for a long time and revealed most of its features through beta testing, recently released both the iPhone 16 series and iOS 18. One of the new features introduced for iPhone models is the Recovery Mode that comes with iOS 18. Previously, the recovery mode required a computer or Mac, but now, only an iPhone will be sufficient. Here are the details…
The wireless recovery mode introduced with iOS 18 is currently available only for iPhone 16
As is well known, Apple has been working for a long time to provide users with a wireless recovery and phone reset feature. First introduced for Apple Watch with iOS 15.4 and watchOS 8.5, and later for Apple TV with iOS 17 and tvOS 17, Recovery Mode has finally been announced for the iPhone series.
The Recovery Mode feature in iOS 18 carries the same functionality as RecoveryOS, which is available on Apple Watch and Apple TV. For now, the feature is only available for the iPhone 16 series, and it’s unclear whether it will be extended to earlier models in the future.
Apple will use TSMC's 2nm chip technology in the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models. So, what does this mean?
If your iPhone 16 enters Recovery Mode for any reason, you will now be able to initiate a software refresh wirelessly using an iPhone or iPad, without needing a computer. When you bring the devices close to each other, the functioning device will download the new iOS software and send it to the problematic device in Recovery Mode.
It seems that while any iPhone running iOS 18 can rescue problematic models, only iPhone 16 models can be repaired wirelessly. If Apple is offering this feature thanks to specific hardware in the iPhone 16, it may not come to older models, but this isn’t confirmed yet.
What do you think about this? Have you ordered an iPhone 16? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
