The Apple iOS 5 is out for the public, and the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad users can update their devices to the latest OS which has multiple of changes and the new features. The update can be done either by downloading the iOS 5 and installing it manually through the iTunes, or else by directly doing the same through iTunes where connecting the device would prompt the users about the latest update available.

Here is how you can update the iOS device through iTunes. First of all, you need to be on the latest version of the iTunes software, i.e. the iTunes 10.5 version. Once you have the latest version of the iTunes in your computer or Mac, you need to connect the iOS device which you have (iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch):

Once you connect the device to the computer using the USB cable, you get a notification on the iTunes about the software update available. As we connected an iPad, it said that the iOS 5.0 version is available, and we can either download it and update, or just download the new version for now.

Once you click on Download and Update, a warning message comes that all the data would be removed if we update the iPad to the latest 5.0 version. You need to confirm that and hit “Update”.

Once the warning is confirmed and you hit Update, it would take you to the iTunes download section where the download of the iOS 5.0 starts and you would see the remaining time left for the download to complete. Just like the previous version of the iOS, this too is a large file but a little larger with 700MB in size.

Once the download is completed, the downloaded file is processed and at the same time, the device is backed up by the iTunes program, and then the software downloaded is extracted and the iPad software is restored.

Once the above steps are completed, you would see a message saying that the iPad has been restored to the Factory settings, and would restart now. You need to keep the iPad connected to the computer as it is.

Then the iPad software is verified and restored after the iPad restarts, for the final process of installation of the iOS 5 in the device.

After the verification of the software, the restoring of the iPad from the backup would be done. The backup is one which was taken prior to the installation of the iOS 5 in the iOS device. The same backup is restored, but you would see a totally new iPad interface with no apps if you are doing so from a different computer than the one you always used to sync the iPad with.

After the backup, the iPad restarts once again to finish the process and it would restart and then appear in the iTunes, with the new version 5.0 being shown in the details.

Here is the screen that would be shown in the iTunes after the update is done. It shows the 5.0 version for the software of the device, and that’s the iOS 5 which you just installed. Warning: Do not update using this method if you are using a jailbroken or unlocked iPhone or iPad. The device would get locked again due to the official version of the iOS being good for the devices which are not unlocked, and are running on the home network which they bought the device with.