The iPhone 16 prepares for a portless smartphone future

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Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority

• Like Apple Watches and TVs, users can now recover a bricked iPhone 16 wirelessly using another iPhone.
• Older iPhone models still require a Mac or Windows PC for operating system recovery when bricked.
• Thanks to this implementation, Apple can now realistically release an iPhone without a USB port.

For a while now, Apple has let watchOS and tvOS users restore their bricked devices wirelessly using a nearby iPhone. This spares them the need to visit an Apple Store for operating system recovery, as Apple Watches and TVs don’t offer USB ports to connect them to a computer. With the iPhone 16, the Cupertino firm is now expanding wireless OS recovery support to its smartphones, allowing eligible users to recover their bricked devices using another iPhone or iPad.

As the folks at 9to5Mac discovered, iPhones and iPads running iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 can wirelessly recover bricked iPhone 16 units. While any iDevice running the latest OS version can assist with the wireless recovery, only 2024 iPhone models can be revived using this method.




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