How do I upgrade old iPad to iOS 18 for cloning from iPhone 12 Max?

chapi0351 wrote:

So is there anyway to copy my apps from my iPhone 18.2.1 to my iPad? Lightning cable? Since the iPad is 16.7.1

Apps are re-downloaded from the app store (from your previous purchases), and are not directly copied around.

Backups cannot be copied from newer iOS to older iOS or older iPadOS.

Apps using iCloud to store app-related data and settings, or apps using app-specific servers, will usually work across a range of iOS or iPadOS versions, when iCloud is enabled for the particular apps involved, or when the apps are configured to connect to the app-specific servers. Details on how the apps store local data varies by the particular app.

But you ask about backup restorations and about migrations, and those only happen from same to same, or older to newer. Not from newer to older.

chapi0351 wrote:

it is a 5th generation on 16.7.10 and it says it is up to date

And that is correct. That iPad cannot update past 16.7.10. It is the most up to date version it can run. It lacks the hardware, RAM and CPU for anything newer.

While you cannot copy the apps, you should be able to download them to the iPad from the App Store directly from your Purchased history.

click here ➜ Redownload apps and games from Apple - Apple Support

What iPad model / generation is it exactly? Is it compatible with iOS 18?

To update, you will need complete the setup without the backup from the iPhone, go to Settings ➜ General ➜ Software Update, and update it. Then restore it to factory settings and set not up again, this time choosing the backup of the iPhone.

click here ➜ Restore an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that needs a newer version of iOS or iPadOS - Apple Support

The fifth generation iPad, released by Apple in 2017, cannot use an iPadOS version greater than 16.X. Using that iOS 18 backup on this iPad is not possible.

The target of a migration or the target of a backup restoration must be running the same or newer version than the source of the migration or backup.

And there is no means to downgrade a released version of iOS or iPadOS to an earlier version.

If your iPad model is too old, it cannot use iPadOS 18 and the iCloud backup cannot be restored to it.

iPad models compatible with iPadOS 18 - Apple Support