If the iOS 10 over-the-air (OTA) update has bricked your iPhone or iPad, then you’re not alone. I hit the issue as well on my iPhone 6s Plus, and it seemed like it was going to be very long day as trying to restore the device using iTunes also didn’t work.

While trying to iOS 10 OTA update on my iPhone 6s Plus, I was greeted with the Connect to iTunes screen. However, when I tried to restore the device using iTunes, it failed as well. But after multiple attempts, I was able to successfully restore and update my iPhone to iOS 10. Apple has acknowledged that they had an issue briefly during the software update process, and has confirmed that the issue has now been fixed.

Here’s How to Fix the Issue Where iOS 10 Soft Bricked Your iPhone or iPad

Step 1: Before you plug in your iOS device. take a moment to make sure you are using the latest version of iTunes (i.e. iTunes 12.5.1 or higher which supports iOS 10). Click on iTunes in the menu bar and then click  on “Check for updates.” 

Step 2: Connect your bricked iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your computer.

Step 3: iTunes will detect your iOS device is in Recovery Mode, and you will get a prompt informing you that “Your iPhone cannot be updated, you must restore it to factory settings. Click on the Restore button to continue.

Step 4: You will then get a prompt asking you if you’re sure you want to restore your iPhone or iPad to factory settings. In our case, we don’t have an option, but to click on “Restore and Update” button to proceed.

Step 5: iTunes will now download the iOS 10 firmware file, extract the software to restore and update your iPhone or iPad with iOS 10.

Please note that I got quite a few errors such as error code -18, 1671 during the restoration process in Step 4 and Step 5. I would recommend you to keep trying, as I was able to restore my iPhone 6s Plus after a few attempts. It could be due to the load on Apple’s servers to the surge in traffic.

As always, let me know how it goes.