iOS 11 release time: When exactly can you download the new iPhone software?

Don't all rush at once

Apple head of marketing Phil Schiller introduces the new iPhone X during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theatre on the Apple Park campus on September 12, 2017 in Cupertino, California (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Apple is about to bring a whole host of new features to your phone.

Update: iOS 11 has now dropped

iOS 11 is about to drop, and with it a range of new features, including augmented reality and a completely redesigned way of interacting with your iPad.

All we know for certain is that the update will be coming at some point today. But we can have a pretty good guess what time it'll be.

As a rule, Apple chooses to push out the update at 10am San Francisco time. That's 6pm in the UK, or 1am on Wednesday morning in Hong Kong – if that's all a little confusing, or you want to know your local time, here's exactly how long it is until the update is expected to go live:

If you're especially impatient, you should start refreshing your phone then. But if you can wait, it's a good idea to – because everyone wants to download the new software, Apple's servers often get overloaded, and downloading the update straight away can be a frustrating process of starting and then running into errors, before starting all over again.

To download the new software, head to the Settings app and choose "general". There, you'll see an option for "software update" – if you click that, your phone will contact the Apple servers and check whether the update has arrived yet.

As ever, it's worth backing up your phone from the Settings app before you start the download. And you should also check that none of your important apps are going to be broken by the update.