iPad Air 3 (128GB) won't update past iOS 12

My iPad Air 3 is stuck at iOS 12 while it’s compatible with iOS 18. It says it’s up to date in the settings. On iTunes, it says I can update it to iOS 18 but when I click on update it doesn’t work, even in DFU and recovery mode. It reboots and doesn’t work. It’s a 128gb second-hand iPad Air 3rd gen, the weird thing is that Apple didn’t officially sell a 128gb iPad Air 3, they only sold 64gb and 256gb, so I think my iPad has been modified with a custom hard disk or something. I also found out after removing the case that the aluminum back has some holes in it covered by stickers, rectangle holes where you can see the internal components.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPad Air 3, iOS 12

Posted on Feb 8, 2025 03:21 PM

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2 replies

Feb 9, 2025 02:23 PM in response to Servant of Cats

It could be but I don’t think it’s the case because it has a 10.5 screen while the first gen screen was 9.7, iTunes says it supports iOS 18.3 but when updating I get the same 3194 error and a lot of Apple apps are missing, like Apple Music and Apple podcast, and when I want to install them from the App Store, I can’t, there’s only a shortcut icon with an arrow that shows up but I can’t open it and the shortcut cannot be removed. I tried from different computers with different cables, same result, «The iPad could not be updated. An unknown error occurred. (3194)»

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iPad Air 3 (128GB) won't update past iOS 12

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