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M4 iPad Pro Owners, Stop Looking for iPadOS 18. Apple Had to Pull It.

By Laura Tucker
Apple M4 Ipad Pro Ipados 18 Featured

For iPhone and iPad owners, there can’t be days that are much more exciting than the magical day in September when the new versions of iOS and iPadOS are released. Imagine the horror when that day comes along, and the update isn’t being offered for your device. That’s what happened to M4 iPad Pro owners.

Not Every M4 iPad Pro

I guiltily write about this topic as I’m punching it out on an M4 iPad Pro with the public beta version of iPadOS 18. I’ve never had a problem with it – in fact, fewer problems than I’ve ever had with a public beta of iPadOS or iOS. I’m actually surprised to hear there were issues.

According to reports from users posted in multiple locations, after installing the full release of iPadOS 18, just released on Monday, M4 iPad Pros weren’t turning back on. The update bricked the devices. No other iPads appear to be affected, and the update has not been pulled altogether – only for the M4 iPad Pros.

Apple M4 Ipad Pro Ipados 18 Public Beta

Users are at a loss. Just about everyone has been there at one point. I installed an update to a two-month old iPhone one time that bricked it. I had to run to the Apple Store for help in sorting it out. I don’t have a computer anymore and just have my iPad and iPhone, so I can’t use the option to resurrect a device from a connection to a computer.

But reportedly, even that wasn’t helping the M4 iPad Pro users. One user reported taking it to the Apple Store and being told they had to send the iPad Pro out to the Apple engineers before providing a replacement, even though the user has Apple Care.

Could Apple Intelligence Be at Fault?

It’s known that there have been many problems with Apple Intelligence, the new AI feature that Apple is adding to iPadOS, iOS, and macOS. While it sounded amazing when Apple introduced it at WWDC 2024, it’s frustratingly going to be quite some time before it’s all ready.

While there are some great features that have been added to the public betas, such as dark mode for the home screen, tinting the app icons, hidden apps, a new Control Center, new options for Messages, a completely redesigned Photos app, and the ability to hide distractions – like ads – on Safari, it doesn’t have any Apple Intelligence features yet, much to my chagrin.

Good to know: learn why one Make Tech Easier writer made the switch from Safari to Chrome.

Apple M4 Ipad Pro Ipados 18 Apple Intelligence

While the developer betas have a smattering of the new Apple Intelligence features, it still doesn’t have the ones that really matter, such as AI-created images, the ability to create Genmoji, writing tools, a more personal Siri experience, an organized Mail app, and an integrated ChatGPT. I did order the new iPhone 16, and all users that are shipped the new handsets will be able to upgrade right away to iOS 18.1 with some of the Apple Intelligence features, assumably the ones from the developer beta. I am thrilled!

Some of these features won’t be available until the fall, and others won’t be available until possibly sometime next year. Once again, that’s frustrating. While some people questioned whether Apple Intelligence is behind the update bricking M4 iPad Pros, it’s not ready yet for the public betas, so it would seem the features wouldn’t be in the official release either.

However, that still leaves the question of why the iPadOS 18 update is bricking M4 iPad Pros, to the point that Apple had to pull it. How could it be happening with this first release but not known to happen to the public betas testers? It’s puzzling, to say the least.

If you’d like to make surfing on Safari even safer, check out our review of SafaShield.

Image credit: Apple. Screenshot by Laura Tucker.

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Laura Tucker
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.

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