The iPad mini 7 borrows a useful recovery trick from the iPhone 16

No computer needed

· TechRadar

News By David Nield published 24 October 2024

Apple's newest iPad (Image credit: Future)
  • The iPad mini 7 comes with a handy RecoveryOS partition
  • It can be restored with any iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 device
  • There's no word yet on whether older tablets will get it

We've just awarded four-and-a-half stars out of five to Apple's newest tablet in our iPad mini 7 (2024) review, and we're even more enamored with the device after hearing it's borrowing a very handy recovery trick from the iPhone 16 series.

As spotted by 9to5Mac, the iPad mini 7 – like the iPhone 16 before it – comes with a special RecoveryOS partition. That means it can be restored and reset wirelessly with another iPhone or iPad, so there's no need to hook it up to a Windows or macOS computer.

When the feature was discovered on the iPhone 16 – the first iPhone to get the functionality – it wasn't clear whether or not it required the latest A18 chip to work. Now we know it'll operate fine with the A17 Pro chip inside the iPad mini 7 too.

Hopefully, it's a feature you're never going to need. However, should your iPad freeze up completely and become unresponsive, this does make the recovery process significantly easier if you've got another Apple phone or tablet to hand. It could also save you a trip to a repair shop or the Apple Store.

Recovery time

The iPhone 16 has the same recovery trick (Image credit: Apple)

For now, the four iPhone 16 handsets and the iPad mini 7 are the only devices that can be restored wirelessly, because they have the dedicated RecoveryOS partition on board. However, the actual restoring can be done from any device running iOS 18 or iPadOS 18, so you've got more options there.

It's not clear whether older devices are going to get this feature via a software update, though at this stage it seems unlikely. With iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 having been recently pushed out to devices, Apple has made no mention of this capability.

You can, though, restore several other Apple devices without plugging them into a computer – specifically the Apple Watch and the Apple TV 4K. It looks as though we're going to get it on all iPhones and iPads going forward, as well.

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