Apple has just released an emergency software update to keep its users safe. This release doesn’t add any new features, but rather plugs a critical security flaw that may have already been exploited in the wild.
iOS 18.1.1, iPadOS 18.1.1, macOS 15.1.1, and visionOS 2.1.1 are all available now to rectify the issue.
Although Apple is purposely vague with its security patches to avoid tipping off bad actors to specific exploits, we do know this latest issue is a “zero-day exploit” affecting WebKit, which is potentially quite dangerous.
This kind of issue can be exploited by hackers, so although it’s unlikely that you’ll personally be targeted, updating quickly to fix these security holes is a smart move. It’s known to have already been used to target older Intel-based Macs, but there’s nothing to say other Apple devices aren’t also at risk.
If you haven’t updated to iOS 18.1 at all yet, it’s a pretty big one for anyone owning a device capable of running Apple Intelligence! This latest update packs all the same AI features, plus the aforementioned bug fix.
Sadly, this update doesn’t seem to address the Photos editing bug we recently reported on. Hopefully that will be fixed in Apple’s next release.
Note that even with Automatic Updates switched on in Settings, it’s often faster to manually trigger the update process. Go to Settings > General > Software Update to check for the latest version of iOS.