How to install iOS 8 without having 5GB free

Since a few of my friends complained that they could not update their iphones to iOS 8 without deleting almost everything I decided to write this quick blog post on how you can do it without having 5GB free on your device.

The trick is to connect your iphone to a computer with iTunes installed. Then you can download the iOS 8 installer and do the update from there. You see, it is only the installer that requires 5GB of space. The system itself when installed takes about 1 GB, about the same as iOS 7.

I guess the installer gets more and more complex for every release, since it has to care for more settings and more devices every time to be backwards compatible.

Just connect the iPhone to your computer via an USB cable, start iTunes and press the “Check for update” button.

I still haven’t updated my iPhone. I usually wait a couple of weeks until the first bug fix-release is out. This saves me a lot of headache every time. I do the same with most operating systems and new phone models. Being an early adopter is fun, but I don’t understand people who do it with work equipment.

Anyway, good luck with your iOS 8 update. Let me know how it worked for you in the comments below.