Apple has released a small new update for iPhones that patches potentially dangerous issues.
The update brings “important bug fixes and security updates” for the iPhone, according to Apple’s official release notes.
The changes include a fix for a problem that could lead iPhone 16 and 16 Pro devices frozen, since the touch screen would not respond. It also fixes a problem where the camera might freeze when recording videos.
As well as those more obvious changes, however, Apple’s newest update also brings important security changes.
That includes one problem that let an app gather audio shortly before the microphone is actually activated.
But perhaps the most worrying is a security bug that would let saved passwords be read out by VoiceOver. That is an accessibility feature that reads out information from the screen to help people with visual impairment use their device – but the bug meant that anyone using it might run the risk of having their password heard.
Experts noted that the actual risk from such a bug may be low, given attackers would have to be near enough to hear and then note down the password itself. But “any vulnerability exposing passwords is serious and concerning for users”, one said.
“Whilst we’ve yet to see these vulnerabilities being exploited in real attacks, it’s important that users update their Apple devices to iOS 18.0.1,” said Suzan Sakarya, senior manager for EMEIA security strategy at software company Jamf. “Keeping up to date with the latest patches is one of the most effective ways to safeguard devices against attackers.”
The new update also finally brings iOS 18 to apple’s highest-end and most recent iPads. While that major update was first released on 16 September, it was almost immediately pulled from tablets using Apple’s new M4 chip.
That followed reports that the update had caused devices to freeze and left them unusable. As such, Apple said that it had “temporarily removed” the update “to resolve an issue that is impacting a small number of devices”.
Now, however, it is back, and those iPads and other new tablets should be able to download and run iOS 18.0.1.