Yesterday, iOS 18.3.1 for iPhone abandoned, and although the latest updates have been filled with new features – many Apple Intelligence – it seems to be mainly a security update.
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And it’s important.
IOS 18.3.1 contains a fairly serious security update.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / ZDNET
Quite serious, but niche
The version notes are vague, stating that the update contains “significant bug corrections and safety updates and is recommended for all users”.
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However, a little excavation in Apple’s safety documents sheds more light on the update. He approaches a bug that uses “an extremely sophisticated attack” to “deactivate the limited USB mode on a locked device”. This is clearly a physical attack, requiring practical access to the iPhone, so it is unlikely to have an impact on the majority of users.
According to Apple, there is evidence that this problem can have been exploited “against specific targeted individuals”.
So, even if it is quite serious, it is also very niche.
Behind the scenes adjustments
As for any change in large user interface, you are not lucky. These X.3.1 updates are almost exclusively behind the scenes. These changes will probably be saved for iOS 18.4.
If you are someone who does not want or does not need Apple Intelligence – I found that I get better battery life with it – you may want to check that this update will not did not ride it. I heard a few people who said that Apple Intelligence had been reactivated after the update.
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For those who use Apple Intelligence and love the functionality of summary notifications, note that you still cannot summarize the notifications related to the information. It is deactivated for specific information applications, and even deactivation and reactivity of the functionality to display the screen that allows you to choose the operation of the summary does not solve this.
You still cannot summarize news notifications in iOS 18.3.1.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / ZDNET
IOS 18.3 bugs resolution
As for the other Bugs iOS 18.3, iOS 18.3.1 May – or not – bring relief. For example, the camera bug where the trigger would be insensitive seems to have been corrected. However, a keyboard bug where stickers do not work properly and many of them seem empty persisted.
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On the performance front, nothing has changed. I ran geekbench before and after installing the update and I saw no difference, which is in accordance with what I expected. Although it is too early to say, I do not expect much change in the life of the battery, unless Apple has crushed bugs under the hood.
You have the update to do
The iPados 18.3.1 (and iPados 17.7.5 for older devices), macOS 15.3.1 (as well as macOS 14.7.4 and 13.7.4 for macOS, and visionos 2.3.
So you have a lot of update to do!
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If you wait for iOS 18.4 to land – and it should be a big one, by deploying an improved SIRI – you will have to wait a while. We do not expect it before April.
