iPadOS 18 is bricking some M4 iPad Pros — what you need to know

News
By published

iPadOS 18 doesn't seem to like the M4 iPad Pro

iPadOS 18
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Following a growing number of complaints from M4 iPad Pro users about iPadOS 18 bricking their tablets, Apple has stopped the rollout of this update to investigate and fix the issue.

It’s never a good time when one of the best tablets on the planet becomes a glorified paperweight, but the Cupertino crew are on the case — putting a halt on OS updates, which doesn’t allow people to install it.

What was happening?

iPad Pro M4

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

According to tcorey23 on Reddit, the iPad turned off during the iPadOS 18 update and no longer turned on. Even all of the reset options didn’t work, and when taking it to the Apple Store, the staff confirmed it was “completely bricked.”

As you can read in the comments under the post, this update problem is not affecting everyone, and the problem could lie in installing the iPadOS 17.7 update first before jumping straight to 18. 

In response, Apple provided a statement to MacRumors: “We have temporarily removed the ‌iPadOS 18‌ update for M4 ‌iPad Pro‌ models as we work to resolve an issue that is impacting a small number of devices."

Based on that statement, another reason could be that a specific batch of units may be impacted over others. These tablets aren’t just manufactured in one place — to keep up with demand, components are sourced from many different places and there could be a specific configuration of parts that may have triggered this issue.

When can we expect it back?

This is the big question mark right now, and we have reached out to Apple for comment on this. But if one thing is for sure, the team works fast whenever there is a bug like this. 

So I wouldn’t be surprised if we see iPadOS 18 back live within the week, but all we can do is wait and see.

More from Tom's Guide

TOPICS
Jason England
Jason England
Managing Editor — Computing

Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.