Now it’s time for iTunes to take over control of the iPad: Google it if you’re curious, it’s pretty slick stuff) Verify it’s correct (through what’s called a checksum algorithm. Meanwhile, in the iTunes window you can see that things are indeed progressing, though it took me about five minutes to download this iOS firmware update: Click on “Update” and then check out what Apple’s sharing with us in terms of what’s in this particular update:

To back up my purchases I’m going to share with you a little iTunes secret: You can Ctrl-Click on your iPad entry in iTunes and find that there are some interesting menu items that aren’t part of the usual interaction (this holds true for iPhones and iPods too, btw!):Ĭhose “Transfer Purchases” and after a moment or two you’re left kinda back where we started:Ĭlick on “Update” and now we can proceed… It shouldn’t matter since a firmware update doesn’t wipe the iPad clean, but let’s assume that the Apple folk know what they’re talking about and back up my purchased apps. I choose “Download and Install” and find out that, uh oh, there’s some stuff on the iPad that I haven’t copied onto my computer. When I hook up my iPad to my MacBook Pro and pop into iTunes, the system already knows that there’s an update available and lets me know: You’ll see all sorts of useful information:Īs you can see, I start out this update process with iPad system version 3.2. If so, here’s how things should proceed with an iPad firmware update…įirst off, to see what version of the iPad system you’re running, on the Apple iPad, tap on Settings -> General -> About.

I’ve had mine a while so I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think you can proceed very far with an iPad initially without hooking it up to a computer, so probably you already have a Windows machine or Mac OS X system that is the “master” system.

You’re right that if you’re running, say, 3.2 and want to update to iPad operating system 3.2.1, you’re stuck if you don’t hook it up and sync it with a Mac or PC. The “App Store” on the iPad updates applications on the device, but cannot update the device itself. That’s an interesting question because you highlight something that can be a bit tricky for iPad owners if they don’t frequently connect their iPad to a computer: the only way you can update the iPad firmware is to hook it up to your computer and actually let your computer do the work.

How do you update itunes on a imac