"Insufficient storage" error when trying to upgrade to iOS 26.2 on 32GB iPad only used for POS

[quilt-emp]

The title of this thread has been edited from the original: Issues with IOS 26.2 upgrade

Running into "insufficient storage" to perform the upgrade. On an 32GB iPad used for only PoS. Most recent IOS upgrade (26.2, 1/26/2026). 

[ryanwanner · Accepted solution]

Hello @quilt-emp !

Yeah, this last iOS update takes a ton of storage to load. I had to get creative with my phone to have enough space to make it happen.

You can check what apps are using the most space on your iPad by going to iOS Settings -> General -> iPad Storage. 

If Square is the culprit (my app takes 727.3 MB), you can always uninstall it for the update. Just make sure you have no pending transactions when you do. Your data and settings for the app will be in place when you reinstall. Once the update is done the temp files go away and you'll have space again.

I will say that 32GB is on the lower side of capacity nowadays, and there may not be a way for you to update the iOS anymore. It may be time to look at a newer tablet if you want to keep it fully updated (which I recommend).

Wish I had better news!

[quilt-emp]

Thanks for the suggestions. 

I spent most of last night trying to figure out if it is time for a HW upgrade or if deleting Square would do it. Deleting Square would still come up short. I found that the Health app, which is not used, is consuming about 300MB of unrecoverable data and docs storage. Similar figures for other iOS standard apps. There is no way to recover it short of wiping the system and rebuilding (which I have considered). All that for the iOS Liquid Glass look? 

This morning was a bit better in the search for solutions. Apparently Apple still intends to deliver iOS 18.x upgrades. For people in my situation. So hopefully iOS 26 remains a bit too resource hungry to install so it is easy to ignore it until the next 18.x upgrade comes along.

Sometime this year the old PoS pads will be replaced. Liquid Glass -- meh!

[Pier3]

Are not having this upgrade cause malfunction on printing?

My printer working on and off , after trying everything I think this is the reason why.