First experiences on upgrading to Apple iOS 5

Installing iOS 5

I thought it might be a good idea to share my experience in downloading and installing iOS 5 on my apple devices.  Hopefully, you can avoid some of the challenges that I had and learn from my experience.  The first thing that you need to be prepared for is to WAIT.  This literally took me hours and no matter how efficient you are at it, you will not be able to avoid the long download times.  At least until Apple’s site calms down a little bit. Also, I should mention that I performed this update on 2 PC’s, a laptop,  iPad 2, iPhone 4, and iPhone 3Gs.

OK so here we go…

1. 1.       Install iTunes 10.5 first.  This one is pretty easy as all you have to do is open iTunes and it will ask you to update. Of course, if you have multiple computers (I had 3) this can be a little bit of a chore.  The update is between 70  and 80 MB so it is not horrible but with all the traffic at Apple right now it takes a lot longer than it should.  But don’t worry; you have not yet begun to wait!
2. 2.      Disable automatic sync on your iDevices.  Feel free to enable later, but it will be a pain as you go through this process. This can be done by going into preferences and selecting the box that says “prevent ipods, iphones, and ipads from syncing automatically”
3. 3.      Plug in iDevices and download iOS 5.  When you plug in the iPhone or iPad, the pop up will ask you if you want to update. At this point update and then on the next window select “Download Only”.  If you have multiple iDevices, keep in mind that the iOS download is a seperate download for each device.  i.e. I had to download iOS for my iPad2, iOS for my iPhone 4, and iOS for my iPhone 3Gs. Each of which is around 700MB. Joy.
4. 4.      WAIT FOREVER… Not kidding here.  Each of my three downloads took an average of 2 hours on high speed fiber optic.  I have read about 4 and 6 hour downloading nightmares.  The problem is that Apple’s bandwidth is
   getting crushed right now so it doesn’t matter how fast your connection is, there is just too much traffic on Apple’s side. [Prepare for shameless Chattanooga plug] Too bad Apple doesn’t have a datacenter here in Chattanooga.  1GB
   fiber could come in handy this week! Perhaps we should chat with them before the next big iOS update!
5. 5.      While you wait…Get your house in order.  The next few tasks can be done while you are waiting on the downloads to finish. 
6. 6.      Sync devices.  Please note that this is NOT UPDATE devices.  While the software is downloading, go ahead and sync your devices and get a good backup.  Just in case there are issues.
7. 7.      Decide how many Apple ID’s you will need.  If you are like me, then you have multiple users on one Apple ID.  It is convenient because then everyone in my family gets the benefits of purchases on iTunes.  Otherwise, you would have to buy multiple copies of a song for each user to have access. However, iCloud could cause challenges here because it is going to lump all the photos, notes, etc. in one place. Example, since my wife will allow our 4 year old to play with the camera on her phone, I will end up having 50 pictures of the west corner of our bedroom floor on my work phone.  This was one of the things I worried about with the new iOS and I was curious how this would be solved.  The solution is actually simple because the sign in for iCloud can be a different Apple ID than the sign in for iTunes.  So everyone can use the same Apple ID for iTunes purchases but can use their own Apple ID for iCloud syncing.  Your decision will be to decide if it makes sense for your house to have a separate Apple ID’s for iTunes and iCloud.
8. 8.      Go ahead and download iCloud desktop software for your PC/Mac.  You can go ahead and download/install iCloud desktop on your desktop machines while you are waiting on iOS to download.  BE CAREFUL that you DON’T RESTART the computer that is downloading the iOS update however!  Here is the link http://www.apple.com/icloud/get-started/
9. 9.      Decide what iCloud desktop components you would like to sync to iCloud. 
1. a.      Outlook options There are several options regarding Outlook contacts, calendars, tasks, etc.  For Exchange users, you will not need to worry about the Outlook part of iCloud desktop. Otherwise, sync as you see fit.
2. b.     Photo Stream On at least one desktop machine you will want to enable photos. Because iCloud and iDevices will only store a certain amount of photos and then delete as you reach that threshold (1,000 I think).  If you have a desktop machine in your iCloud chain, then it will download all the photos there where they will be safe from deletion (as long as you backup your Desktop that is).
3. c.      Thoughts on syncing bookmarks.  I think this is a great feature because I will bookmark a site on one device and then try to find it on another only to realize the bookmark is not there. However, after you enable this, you will probably get a big jumbled mess of bookmarks.  My advice is to go to a desktop machine afterward, arrange the bookmarks how you would like them and then let iCloud take care of the rest.
4. 10.   Clean up iDevices
1. a.      Copy all photos on device to new iCloud photo stream folder on Desktop.  While I do not own a Mac, I have a feeling that this step is only necessary for Windows machines.  On Windows, the default photo sync folder is Pictures\Photo Stream\My Photo Stream. Any photos that you would like to have on your iDevices you can copy to the \Uploads folder within \My Photo Stream. To copy those photos, click on “Computer” from the start menu and your device should be in that window.  Double click on your device, and then click through the two folders until you see your pics.  Select all, then copy and paste into your new iCloud folder.  (p.s. If I am not mistaken, those of you on XP will not be able to use iCloud desktop.  So for those of you still on XP, this is another reason to upgrade)
2. b.     Turn off sync on music, videos, photos, books, etc. in iTunes for your device.  It is important that you do this step after migrating all your photos to the iCloud folder.  The reason is because after you turn off photo sync, iTunes will ask you if you want to remove photos from your device.  IF you have copied them to the iCloud folder on your desktop, then select yes.  The goal here is to have as little data on your device as possible.  Many people have experienced bugs and crashes while doing the update and it seems the best solution is the less data on the device, the better.
3. c.      Thoughts on apps.  Now would be a good time to go through and remove any apps that you do not use. As a matter of fact, it might be a good idea to turn off sync on apps as well as the others.  I did not do this
   however, because I was afraid I might lose data that was specific to that particular app.  So I leave that to your judgment.
4. d.     Sync devices again.  Yes I know, I am syncing and backing up twice.  But trust me, you will have time.  Also, if you don’t sync here then none of the changes you just made will take effect.
5. 11.   Go to bed and sleep until the download is finished.   Did I mention that the download takes a long time?
6. 12.   Once download is complete, plug iDevice back in.  At this point, go ahead and perform the update
7. 13.   Ok now hurry up… and wait.  You guessed it; the install takes a long time too.  Although not nearly as long as the download.
8. 14.   Once the update is complete, go back and reconfigure your sync settings and sync. Now it is time to go back and check all the items you would like your device to have and re-sync.
9. 15.   Unplug your device and follow the onscreen instructions.  If you have gone through the steps above, you should be able to go ahead and log in to iCloud and turn on all the options. I chose not to backup to iCloud because you only have 5GB of storage on the free account and backups (especially a 64GB iPad) will eat up all your “real estate” and then some.  So for now, I am not in a post-PC world, since that’s still where my device backups are stored.
10. 16.   Congrats you know have iOS 5 and iCloud on your Device!!!
11. 17.   But wait… We are not quite done yet
1. a.      Of course, now all the apps you have will need to be updated
2. b.     If you have iWork suite.  If you have Pages, Numbers, and Keynote then you will need to open them after they update and configure iCloud options for them as well.
3. c.      I strongly recommend configuring iMessage in settings
4. d.     If you want to sync the Notes app, then you will have to create an “@me.com” email address. It is simple and can be done right from the iCloud settings menu on your device.  When you switch Notes sync to “on” it will prompt you to create the address.  Not sure why you have to do this but it is not too tedious.
5. e.      Check settings on other apps. As I was going through the settings menu, I came across a lot of handy features that have popped up since the update.  I suggest you do the same.

by Brandon Miller – H&D Corporation