So, who else recently got offered an iOS 18 update on their iPhone that was already running iOS 18? I did, and I installed the update, after which I saw the “Hello" welcome screen again and then got prompted to enable Stolen Device Protection. Weird.
(And, no, I never ran any of the iOS 18 betas.)
@siracusa iOS 18 release last week was build 22A3354.
My iPhone 16 Pro came with the earlier 22A3351. After direct-transfer migration, I was not prompted to update iOS. Stolen Device Protection was off and I wasn't prompted (it was enabled on the old phone).
After updating to iOS 22A3354, I got a brief “applying account settings” screen and the SDP prompt like you did.
@multigreg yeah, I had the exact same experience as this. I assume this is a consequence of their increased use of surface shipping: late iOS beta updates released while our phones were on boats.
Feels like the version numbering didn’t have to be quite so clumsy though. Upgrading from 18.0 to 18.0 is kinda 🤨
@AggroBoy Shipping can take many weeks. So either they used air freight for the first batch a few days ahead of launch, or they used surface shipping and those new machines to wirelessly update iOS on the phones inside their boxes.
In both cases, they would have needed a bit of time for logistics and had to install a build of iOS prior to the RC.
What annoys me is that iOS didn't check for an available update, either after Quick Start or the end of the migration process.
@AggroBoy I just realised that it’s unlikely that they have the wireless machines installed in all Apple Stores, so they must have used air cargo and an earlier build, just like in previous years.
The machines are to update to 18.1 and later for phones that were shipped beforehand
John Siracusa
multigreg
Will Goring