iPadOS 18 recently landed alongside iOS 18, adding all sorts of tweaks, improvements, and new features to Apple's tablets, but if you have one of Apple's latest iPads, you won't be able to download it right now.
iPadOS 18 was initially available for the 11-inch iPad Pro (2024) and 13-inch iPad Pro (2024), but several users found that the update bricked their devices, preventing them from turning on and prompting Apple to send out replacement iPads.
It's unclear exactly how many users have been affected by this, but there are threads on Reddit and elsewhere reporting the issue, and it's proven widespread enough that Apple has temporarily blocked iPad Pro (2024) users from downloading the update.
In a statement to MacRumors, Apple said: “We have temporarily removed the iPadOS 18 update for M4 iPad Pro models while we work to resolve an issue affecting a small number of devices.”
A challenging chipset?
It's not clear then why this is happening, but Apple's mention of the M4 chipset and the fact that the issue is only present on iPad Pros with that chipset suggests that the M4 chip could somehow be to blame.
Don't worry if you've already updated your iPad. If iPadOS 18 was going to render it unusable, it looks like it would do so during the update process, so if you've already updated successfully, your iPad should be fine. However, if yours bricked during the update, it's worth getting in touch with Apple, because it looks like Apple might have to replace it.
Other iPad models should be able to safely download iPadOS 18, so if you're using an older unit, there's no need to wait. As for users of M4-powered iPad Pros who haven't yet updated, we don't know when Apple will fix this issue and make iPadOS 18 available again, but we imagine the company is working to do so as soon as possible.
In any case, the wait should be worth it, as iPadOS 18 lets you more freely customize the Home screen, adds a calculator app, lets you customize the colors of apps and widgets, lets you lock and hide apps, redesigns the Photos app, and more.
