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Apple for the first time used its own CDN to deliver iOS 8 upgrade

Research firm Deepfield reports that Apple has for the first time relied on its own content delivery network for the distribution of iOS 8 to users (via WSJ):

“Until today, Apple used Akamai and other CDNs to deliver a large portion of their network traffic to consumers. Akamai is a content delivery network or CDN, so when your iOS device asked the network to download a new version, Akamai is the company that has the tens of thousands of servers around the world that would send you that update. Not so this time.”

Back in July reports noted that Apple’s new content delivery network was live and started delivering downloads of OS X. At the time, Apple was still relying on third-party partners for delivering iTunes, iTunes Radio and App Store downloads. Those third parties also helped out with iOS 8 this week for downloads, according to Deepfield. However, Apple reportedly “mostly used its own network of servers for the job, at least in North America.”

Apple has been experiencing a slower rate of adoption for iOS 8 compared to last year’s iOS release over the first 24 hours, according to reports from several companies tracking installs. Many users reported delays in being able to download or install the update, but it’s unclear if Apple’s switch to its own content delivery network caused any hiccups on Apple’s end.

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Comments

  1. dcj001 - 10 years ago

    “Apple used Akamai and other CDNs to deliver a large portion of their network traffic to consumers”

    So, Jordan. You are saying that this happened today. On the second day that iOS 8 has been available. Right?

    • dcj001 - 10 years ago

      The above quote should have been:

      “Until today, Apple used Akamai and other CDNs to deliver a large portion of their network traffic to consumers”

      • Jordan Kahn - 10 years ago

        That quote is actually from Deepfield (I’ve updated to reflect that), and their report was first published yesterday.

  2. hmurchison - 10 years ago

    So that explains why the update was so slow.

  3. Taste_of_Apple - 10 years ago

    I was able to download it pretty quickly on one of my iPhone 5s’. On my friends device it took all night. Results may vary.

  4. vincenthyeo - 10 years ago

    Apple CDN was much slower compared to others, my iTunes downloads was quick but iOS 8 download speed was terrible.

  5. Greg Brown (@gk_brown) - 10 years ago

    I still haven’t been able to download it on one of my iPads. It estimates 15h to download and then eventually fails.

  6. taoprophet420 - 10 years ago

    The adopt rate is most likely off because of customers having to delete space on their devices to do the OTA update. Why does the OTA require so much free space and installing via iTunes does not? Really does t see why this time the update rehired so much space. Hope the October update goes much smoother and does not require so much free hard drive space.

    • mpias3785 - 10 years ago

      “Why does the OTA require so much free space and installing via iTunes does not?”

      An OTA update requires space for the downloaded compressed file, room for the uncompressed installer and whatever space is required by any temporary files. If the update is done through iTunes, all this happens on the computer’s hard drive and not on the iPhone.

      I got this straight from Apple Tech support and tested it myself. OTA updates can be useful in a pinch, but connecting the device to a computer and performing the update through iTunes is the recommended method.

      • taoprophet420 - 10 years ago

        All the other OTA updates have been smooth and easy for me. iTunes updates have t been an option for me since they stopped supporting PowerPC models.

        I been holding out for iMac.

      • Clint (@Claustin26) - 10 years ago

        other OTA updates are smaller delta updates. iOS 8 OTA is the entire OS.

  7. philboogie - 10 years ago

    Anyone tried downgrading to iOS7? Or a link to an article saying this can or cannot be done? I really want to test drive first. Thanks

  8. liquidnonsense - 10 years ago

    And so far it appears to be a massive flop. Download speeds have not remained this slow, for so long after the intial release, for a long time. It’s been nearly two days since the release, all my attempts to download yesterday failed, and this afternoon’s download attempt still has 22 hours remaining.

    • gregzx - 10 years ago

      Have you changed your DNS settings? There were a few hiccups the first time I tried, but certainly not near as long as what you’re experiencing.

    • mpias3785 - 10 years ago

      Where do you live and are you trying to do this OTA?

    • WaveMedia (@WaveMedia) - 10 years ago

      It was slow for me for the first few hours of trying. Then I stopped and tried again and downloaded the full thing in about 5 mins.

  9. Jon Cavallary - 10 years ago

    Someone needs to get fired for the hiccup with the keynote, and someone needs to get fired for trying to house this update by themselves. 24 hour updates through iTunes is ridiculous. Ill be here until next week trying to restore my iPad since I’m jailbroken and can’t do a clean install. I want heads to roll!

  10. Kuya Lu Viray (@mltviray) - 10 years ago

    I think my iPad 2 slowed down after upgrading it to iOS 8. Something that never happened when I upgraded the same time last year to iOS 7.

    Safari became slower too, and very laggy. Overall performance is not that great, unlike when I upgraded last year. I think for those who are using iPad 2, they should wait for a more stable release.

    • philboogie - 10 years ago

      If you wish to downgrade I suggest you do that today. Expect Apple to stop signing iOS7 tomorrow.

  11. icatsoftware - 10 years ago

    thats why it was a compete shit. it took me 11hours to download the update on my mac! utter and complete shit. Steve come back pleasse

    • techman993 - 10 years ago

      when did you try to update? it all depends on how much traffic the servers are getting.

    • WaveMedia (@WaveMedia) - 10 years ago

      Try again now. I tried from around 6PM UK time and it was going slow as hell for a few hours. I was going to leave it over night but stopped it and retried on the off chance it’d be quicker, and it was. I’m not sure if they threw more servers into the mix or people just gave up but when I tried again it took like 5 mins to download, another 8 for the iPad version.

  12. Have tried to upgrade both my iPhone and iPad — anywhere between 15-32 hours estimated download time. I’ll try again next week and see if its any better.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.