I'm in a bit of a pickle with my iPhone 15, which has 128GB of storage but is almost full (about 125GB used). I need to update to iOS 26 to use my Apple Watch and fix a maps bug that's taking up 11GB, but iOS 26 requires 17GB for installation. I've spoken with Apple Support, and they've advised me to back up my data to a temporary iCloud backup, then erase all content and settings on my phone before setting it up again with iOS 26. I'm a bit anxious and want to make sure that after I erase everything and set up the phone again, I can successfully restore all my info from that temporary backup. Also, will the iOS 26 install correctly even with my current storage limitations? Thanks for any help!
1 Answer
It sounds like you're going through a tough situation! First things first, double-check that your backup actually completed successfully. You can do this by looking in your phone's settings—it should show the backup status. Also, consider connecting your iPhone to a computer to attempt the update. Just make sure you don't have a corrupt firmware file; you might need to download the firmware again if that's an issue.
I ran into the same issue when trying to update. My advice is to try a different computer if you can. You might avoid the corrupt file issue. But make sure to backup again before anything!