iOS 18.1.1: Apple Recommends New iPhone Update For All Users

Updated Nov. 20 to confirm that the bulk of the update is related to security fixes, and what those issues are.

Apple’s next iPhone update is here. Apple iOS 18.1.1 is aimed at sorting some recent issues with the software. Since it’s come just three weeks after the last release—which was the major iOS 18.1 with the debut of Apple Intelligence—this looks like it’s a tidying-up operation to fix smaller issues.

This has now been confirmed by Apple, which has revealed details of which security fixes are included in this new release. There are two specific security issues which have been addressed.

Apple says in a new support document that both of them may already have been used, saying, “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited on Intel-based Mac systems.”

For this reason, the update has arrived simultaneously for the Mac—Apple just released macOS Sequoia 15.1.1. It’s also available for iPad users in the form of iPadOS 18.1.1.

The first of the two fixes is for JavaScriptCore, and deals with “maliciously crafted web content” that could lead to arbitrary code execution. The second concerns WebKit, which is at the heart of the Safari browser. Apple says, “Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to a cross site scripting attack.”

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Fellow Forbes contributor Kate O’Flaherty has more details of the security aspects here.

I’ll be analyzing whether you should upgrade to the new release later today. Back to which iPhones are compatible and how to get it.

Which iPhones Can Run iOS 18.1.1?

Like other iOS 18 releases, this suits every iPhone from 2018 or later. That means every iPhone is compatible from the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max and iPhone Xr onwards. It also includes iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max and all models in the iPhone 12, iPhone 13 iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 series, plus iPhone SE second- and third-generation models.

How To Get It

It’s straightforward enough: open the Settings app, choose General, then Software Update. Next, click Download and Install, and let the software do its work. On my iPhone 16 Pro Max, it was a 411MB download and took less than five minutes to download and install. Note that your download size may vary.

What’s In The Release

This is a fixer-upper. There weren’t huge numbers of flaws in iOS 18.1, though some users were surprised by the need for a waitlist to be admitted to Apple Intelligence. Other issues were few and far between as I reported.

But more recently there have been other issues, such as one that is highly annoying: vanishing data in the Apple Notes app. Full details of what was called a “scary bug” can be found here. This was where you’d open the Notes app to find all your iCloud Notes missing, though thankfully the data hadn’t gone for good.

Apple only confirmed that the bug existed a few days ago, and it hasn’t specified that it’s fixed in the notes for this update, so my suspicion is the fix will come later and we’ll have to kick along with the workaround (details here) for now.

Apple specifies that this release is about security though there will be bugs being squished as well. More details as we have them.