Apple has paused the rollout of iPadOS 18 to M4 iPad Pro models, the most expensive iPad the company sells, after users complained that the update was causing their devices to stop working. Apple acknowledged the issue in a statement to Engadget, saying, “We have temporarily removed the iPadOS 18 update for M4 iPad Pro models to resolve an issue affecting a small number of devices.”
The issue first surfaced on Reddit, where a number of M4 iPad Pro users reported that their iPads had become unusable after attempting to install the latest version of iPadOS. “At one point during the update my iPad shut off and has not turned on since,” a user named tcorey23 posted on Reddit. “I took it to an Apple Store, who confirmed it was completely broken, but told me they’d need to send it to an engineer before they would give me a replacement, even though I have Apple Care.”
Another Reddit user, Lisegot, wrote that they took their broken M4 iPad Pro to an Apple Store, but they didn’t have a replacement in stock and would have to wait five to seven days for a working iPad. “No one specifically apologized, and they even hinted they didn’t know if the update was to blame,” they wrote.
Software bugs that render an iPad unusable are rare: ArsTechnica, which first reported the incident, noted that an iPad typically goes into recovery mode if a software update goes wrong.
If you have an M4 iPad Pro, Apple won’t offer iPadOS 18 until the issue is fixed, and it’s unclear when that will happen.
