iOS 18.1.1: Apple And Security Agency Recommend New iPhone Update For All Users

Updated Nov. 21 to detail iOS 17.7.2 compatibility and confirm CISA recommends upgrading to the new software.

Apple’s next iPhone update is here. Apple iOS 18.1.1 and the companion update, iOS 17.7.2, are 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.

It's also available in another flavor, iOS 17.7.2. The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that iOS 18 is available for exactly the same list of iPhones as those which used iOS 17, that is, all iPhones from the 2018 class of iPhone Xr, iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Plus onwards.

This means that if you can run iOS 17 updates, you can run iOS 18 releases. So, why would Apple provide two versions for identical handsets?

Well, not everybody has decided they want to make the leap to iOS 18 yet, and are still on iOS 17. We’re still early in the cycle for the all-new iOS 18, and some users are cautious to bounce into the new version until they’re sure that teething problems are sorted.

However, this update is geared towards security, and Apple is eager to ensure that as many people as possible will have the latest software so they are protected from the security flaws addressed here. Hence the need for software which will apply to the established and now stable iOS 17 release.

In all likelihood, Apple will continue in this vein with parallel releases for a little while yet. Within a few months, however, it will stop this and the only way to get the latest security protections and bug fixes will be by moving to iOS 18.

Given that the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency has just made an intervention advising all users to upgrade to iOS 18.1.1 (or iOS 17.7.2) as soon as possible, it regards the security features here as important.

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.”

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.