Quick Summary
To restore an iPhone using Recovery Mode you need to connect it to a computer. But with iOS 18, you can do it wirelessly via an iPhone or iPad – provided your phone is the iPhone 16.
One of the iPhone features you hope you'll never need to use is Recovery Mode, which is the nuclear option for errant iPhones: it enables you to erase your phone and install a fresh copy of iOS, which is sometimes necessary if your iPhone is freezing or doesn't seem to be recognised by your computer any more. But there's one key problem with Recovery Mode: you need a computer to use it – and if you don't have access to one, that meant a trip to an Apple Store or third party repairer. Or at least, it did before the iPhone 16.
