Fix Software Update is Required to Connect to Your iOS Device

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Software update required

If you don’t frequently connect your iOS device to your Mac, you may not notice an issue until you do. This happens when you need to transfer something or when you want to run recovery software like to recover deleted Instagram photos on the iPhone.

You may notice that your device is charging on and off after plugging it in. Your iPhone may also be appearing and disappearing in iTunes randomly. The climax of these issues is when you get a popup message about the software update. What should you do next?

Steps to fix software update is required to connect to your iOS device

Follow these steps to fix the issue:

Run the update

The obvious first step is to update the software on your iOS device. The process of updating your device is pretty straightforward. You click on the notification that says ‘update your iOS.’ Click ‘Install’ to start the update.

To update your Mac, open App Store and go to ‘updates.’ When your devices are updated to the latest version, you will no longer have to deal with the notification of a software update is required to connect to your iPhone iOS 12.

Read: Fix iPhone stuck on updating iCloud settings

If update can’t be installed

Everything doesn’t run as smoothly as you would expect. At times you might get the message, ‘installation failed – Can’t install the software because it is not currently available from the software update server.’ If this is the case, you will still not be able to recover deleted Instagram photos on the iPhone. Don’t panic.

The issue may be because your iPhone is in developer beta or in a public beta software state. You cannot simply update your iPhone if you are using beta software. All in all, there is a way on how to fix software update required to connect the iOS device problem.

If the message says iPhone needs a software update to connect to the computer with USB, you will have to install iOS beta. To do so, you have to install XCode beta on the Mac.

Below are the steps you need to take:

  • Download XCode from the App Store. It is free. This is an integrated development environment designed for Mac apps and iOS developers. Alternatively, you can get the XCode beta version from developer.apple.com/download. You will be required to enter your Apple ID
  • Download the latest XCode beta from the list.
  • Un-compress the large XIP file that was downloaded to get the application files.
  • Close iTunes to avoid issues after installation
  • Locate the ‘XCode-beta’ app after extraction and double click on it to start the installation.
  • After the installation, you will see the message ‘Welcome to XCode’ window on the Mac. This indicates success.
  • Quite XCode and open iTunes. You can now connect your iOS device and perform the tasks that you want without any problem.

These are the steps you need to take to remove the ‘software update is required to connect to your iOS device. Even after being able to recover deleted Instagram photos on the iPhone, it is highly recommended to keep the XCode installed. You might need it at some point in time. You can, however, uninstall it once you get a stable release of the installed beta version.

Read: Fix update unavailable with this Apple ID