Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 8, is live and available for download & installation now. All you have to do is go to Settings > General > Software Update to make it happen. But wait!
1) Make sure you back up your phone before updating.
This is really important and something most people ignore. Then you
start crying when the install freezes and suddenly you lost all of the
pictures of your cat with that cute little vest on. Forever. You'll
never see those pictures of Mr. Tinkle again. You don't know how your phone is going to act during the installation
and you don't know what kind of hidden glitches may be in the new operating system.
It's likely ok, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Always back up your
phone!
2) Don't put iOS 8 on your iPhone 4 / 4S.
The update is available for you, but don't do it. (Frankly, you shouldn't have installed iOS 7 either). The older phone just doesn't fill the hardware requirements
of the new OS and the performance suffers significantly because of
that.
If you like your 4S, keep it. But don't expect any changes coming
your way. It will be just like it is today - forever
3) Realize that install of iOS 8 needs 5.8GB of space.
Delete whatever music, videos, pictures, or applications you need to in order to make the switch.
If you're planning on buying the iPhone 6 tomorrow, you should keep this in mind as you make your selection of which version to purchase.
Those of you going the cheaper route and getting the 16GB model are
only going to have a little over 10GB of space available to play around with, which isn't a whole lot when all your photos, videos, and music are restored.
