Apple is about to issue a new iPhone update, iOS 17.6.1, according to a new report in MacRumors.
Updated August 7 with information about the contents of iOS 17.6.1 following its arrival.
Apple has just issued a new iPhone update, iOS 17.6.1. The sudden release of iOS 17.6.1 may come as a surprise to many iPhone users, who thought that Apple’s iOS 17.6 would be the last upgrade before it launches iOS 18 next month.
But yesterday, MacRumors reported the update was coming, citing a reliable leaker and said it could “independently confirm that Apple is internally testing an iOS 17.6.1 update, which is present in our analytics logs.”
So what’s in the iOS 17.6.1 update?
What’s In iOS 17.6.1?
According to the release notes, iOS 17.6.1 contains several bug fixes, including an issue “that prevents enabling or disabling Apple’s Advanced Data Protection feature.”
Advanced Data Protection is an iCloud security feature that ensures your data is protected by the gold standard of encryption, end-to-end encryption, which means no one—including Apple—can access your data.
According to Apple, an issue in iCloud prevented a small number of users from successfully turning Advanced Data Protection for iCloud on or off.
Users who attempted to turn ADP on and failed could tell there was a problem due to an error in the UI that accurately reflected the issue.
Meanwhile, people who tried to turn ADP off would have seen it disabled in the UI while it was still active on their iCloud data. After updating, they will see a notification that takes them to Settings and asks to confirm their choice to turn ADP off, according to Apple.
In other words, this fix in iOS 17.6.1 is for a fairly minor bug—the few users impacted by this issue were left with as much or more security than they thought.
Apple’s iOS 17.6.1 could also squash some bugs that have been plaguing iPhone users since upgrading to the latest version. Some people say they’ve been having network issues since upgrading to iOS 17.6, so hopefully this is fixed with iOS 17.6.1.
Apple has released iOS 17.6.1, fixing an issue with Advanced Data Protection.
iOS 17.6.1—A Security Update?
It’s also possible that iOS 17.6.1 comes with security fixes for your iPhone and this could include patches for issues already being used in real life attacks. At the time of writing, there are no CVE entries mentioned on Apple’s support page. However, that doesn’t mean iOS 17.6.1 contains no fixes.
With iOS 18 coming next month, Apple needs to make sure iPhone users are as up to date as possible with patches, because many will wait a while to upgrade their devices to a big software update.
Apple will continue to update iOS 17 with security fixes well after the launch of iOS 18, but make no mistake—you will still be more secure updating to iOS 18 because Apple provides the newest version with a more comprehensive list of fixes.
iOS 17.6.1—1 Last Update?
So will iOS 17.6.1 be the last iPhone upgrade before Apple launches iOS 18 in September? Never say never, of course, but it is possible—unless a major security hole appears such as one that could enable spyware to target iPhones.
Apple’s latest iPhone upgrade fixes important bugs and could include security updates, so it’s good idea to update to iOS 17.6.1 now. Go to your Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to iOS 17.6.1 as soon as you can.