iOS 10.3, 10.3.1 Won't Install iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c? Here's the Reason

Apple rolled out iOS 10.3 on March 27 with new features like Find My AirPods, New Apple File System, 3D Touch Weather in Maps App and more, and quickly released iOS 10.3.1 on April. Though it said that iOS 10.3 and iOS 10.3.1 supports all devices that are compatible with iOS 10 and includes iPhone 5 or later, iPad 2 or later, iPad mini 2 or later, iPad Pro range and the 6th generation iPod touch or later, you may have already noticed that you cannot install iOS 10.3 update on iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c. Below are one example.

“My sister’s 5c not showing the 10.3 update. The iPhone says that the 10.2.1 is the last update available. She has an iPhone 5c green 8 GB. She never installed any beta profile. Any help?”

A user from MacRumors Forums

And some people reported that a few hours after Apple released iOS 10.3, they can install the software update on iPhone 5 and 5c normally. But after, Apple pulled over-the-air iOS 10.3 update for iPhone 5/5c without giving any reason. And you won’t find the iOS 10.3 update on iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c under Settings > General > Software Update. Then how to install new update on iPhone 5 generation.

How to install iOS 10.3 Update on iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c

Though you cannot directly download and install iOS 10.3 on iPhone 5/5c over the air, you can still update iPhone 5/5c to iOS 10.3 via iTunes. Here are steps to make it:

Install the latest iTunes software (iTunes 12.6) on your computer and launch iTunes. Plug in your iPhone.
Click on the device icon and choose Summary > Check for Update.
Click Download and Update, enter your passcode if asked.

Apple may drop support for iPhone 5, 5c and iPad 4 with iOS 10.3.2

Actually, soon after the release of iOS 10.3 t, Apple released first iOS 10.3.2 beta to developers. The iOS 10.3.2 beta 1 only contains 64-bit iOS devices and seems to drop support for 32-bit iPhones and iPads, including iPhone 5, iPhone 6c and iPad 4.