Short answer: yes, update — but on your schedule, not overnight on every phone at once. Turn off Automatically Install under Settings → General → Software Update → Automatic Updates, update one test phone first, let it run for a day or two, then roll the rest in batches. The same goes for the TikTok, Instagram and YouTube apps and for macOS on the host.
Why not just leave iPhones on an old iOS?
Staying behind has costs:
- Security fixes. Apple says keeping software up to date is one of the most important things you can do for your device's security (Apple Support, checked 17 September 2026).
- App support. The social apps drop support for older iOS versions over time. A phone that can't update the app eventually can't post.
- Tooling. Xcode and automation tools move forward too.
And updating everything at once has a different cost: when an update moves a button or changes a permission prompt, every phone breaks on the same night.
Turn off automatic installs
Apple's steps: Settings → General → Software Update → Automatic Updates. Apple describes two options:
| Option | What Apple says it does | Farm setting |
|---|---|---|
| Automatically Install | Downloads and installs overnight while charging on Wi-Fi | Off |
| Automatically Download | Downloads in the background to install later | Your choice |
Farm phones are always charging and on Wi-Fi overnight, which is exactly when automatic installs happen — and exactly when your runs are going. Turn it off and schedule updates yourself.
Do the same for apps: Settings → App Store → App Updates off, and update the social apps by hand on the same staged plan.
A staged update policy
| Stage | Which phones | Wait before next stage | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0. Read | None | — | Release notes; any reports from others |
| 1. Canary | One test phone | 1–2 days | Posts confirm, warm-ups finish, no new prompts |
| 2. First batch | About a quarter of the rack | 1 day | Same checks, plus reconnects |
| 3. Rest | Remaining phones | — | Same |
| Hold | Any phone that failed | Until fixed | Evidence from the stopped run |
The wait times are suggestions, not measurements. Shorten them for security fixes; lengthen them for major versions.
Practical rules:
- One change at a time. Don't update iOS and the TikTok app on the same day. If something breaks, you want to know which one did it.
- Update in a quiet window. An iOS update restarts the phone and ends any run in progress.
- Re-check after the restart: Developer Mode still on, runner reachable, Auto-Lock still Never, Low Power Mode off. See Developer Mode.
- Record versions in your inventory sheet.
- Keep the models close. A rack of the same model updates the same way — see which iPhone to buy.
Major versions
Treat a major iOS release (a new number) more carefully than a point release. Check that your Xcode version supports it before you update any phone, since the runner is installed from Xcode. Keep at least one phone on the old version until the canary has run cleanly.
With Farmero
Farmero finds controls on screen by what they are rather than by coordinates, and when an update changes a screen so it can't tell where it is, it stops and saves evidence instead of tapping blind. That makes the canary phone useful: a stopped run with a screenshot tells you what changed. Farmero needs iOS 17 or newer. The per-phone setup is in the Mac setup guide.
FAQ
Should I update iOS on my phone farm?
Yes, but staged: one test phone first, then batches. Leaving phones on old iOS eventually costs you security fixes and app support.
How do I stop iPhones updating overnight?
Settings → General → Software Update → Automatic Updates, then turn off Automatically Install.
Do I need to re-sign the runner after an iOS update?
Not normally, but check the phone is reachable and Developer Mode is still on after the restart.
Should I update the TikTok and Instagram apps automatically?
No. Update them by hand on the same staged plan, and not on the same day as an iOS update.