iOS 12 release time: When the new iPhone update arrives and how to download it

It might be worth waiting a few hours, though

Apple's latest iPhone software update is about to arrive.

Just a few days after the company revealed its brand new iPhone Xs, Xs Max and Xr, it's giving everyone else a load of new iPhone features on their old handset too. The new version of iOS brings a whole host of features, arguably deeper than the upgrades in the new hardware.

It said during that phone announcement that the new phone would arrive today, on 17 September. That means there's just hours until it drops.

The update almost always arrives at roughly 10am in Apple's local pacific time. That's 1pm Eastern, or 6pm UK time. Or, more simply, it's whatever time it will be when this clock reaches the end of its countdown:

When it does come out, you can get hold of the new update by heading to the Settings app and clicking the option for "General". There you'll find the software update menu, and clicking that should start the process.

This will be the last time that you'll have to do this manually. After iOS 12 arrives, you'll get the option for auto-updates, which will do what it says and install the software overnight.

But you might want to hold off on getting it for a while, if you can. Usually, Apple's servers are a little overwhelmed with the update and it can take a long time – or not come at all, leaving you sat there refreshing and restarting the download until it comes.

Waiting a few hours or until the next day will make the process a lot simpler. Obviously you'll have to wait a lot longer but that wait will be more pleasurable, rather than the wait for it to download to your phone.

If you do leave it – or, indeed, if you're not bothered in the first place – Apple will nudge you after a few days about the fact that update has arrived. If you try and ignore those nudges they'll get more insistent, and it is certainly a good idea to upgrade eventually because it brings important security improvements as well as feature upgrades.