iOS 18.4.1 Surprise iPhone Update With Urgent Fixes Just Days Away, Report Says
It had been thought that the next release would be iOS 18.5, but it seems there'll be an update before then: iOS 18.4.1. This means it will have urgent fixes in it as otherwise Apple would just release them in iOS 18.5. Here's what we know.
It's barely a week since the last iPhone update, iOS 18.4, landed on Monday, March 31. 'Apple employees are testing iOS 18.4.1 for iPhones, according to the MacRumors visitor logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. The software update will likely be released in a week or two, if not sooner,' according to Joe Rossignol at MacRumors.
When Rossignol says this has been 'a reliable indicator,' he's not wrong. When these details start percolating up, the software release duly follows.
Since this is a minor number update (that is, it's iOS 18.4.1 instead of iOS 18.4 or iOS 18.5), we can expect that it's here to fix things, rather than add new features, which will surely land with iOS 18.5.
It's hard to speculate exactly what these might be, as Apple keeps security fixes quiet until the release is out, and there were over 60 of those in iOS 18.4.
But there were also little annoyances that appeared with that recent update, such as a curious situation where deleted apps would resurrect themselves and reappear on the iPhone. Or the reports that iOS 18.4 was causing CarPlay to disconnect, for instance.
It's pretty much certain that Apple is working on fixes for those issues, though it's not clear whether they will be repaired in iOS 18.4.1.
Just as likely is that the update will address problems that haven't yet surfaced in public.
Apple seems to be sticking to its preferred release dates of Monday or Tuesday — there don't seem to be emergency issues which could push this to a different day — and I believe the release will be one of three dates.
These are Monday, April 14, Tuesday, April 15 or Tuesday, April 22. It is unlikely to be Monday, April 21 as that's Easter Monday.
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