iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5
Juli Clover (iOS/iPadOS release notes, security, enterprise, no developer):
iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 are on the smaller side, featuring a limited number of new features. There’s an update to Screen Time that lets parents know when a Screen Time passcode is used on a child’s device, and there is support for carrier-provided satellite features on iPhone 13 models.
According to Apple’s security support document for iOS 18.5, there’s a fix for a vulnerability with the C1 modem. Apple says that it addressed a baseband security flaw that could allow an attacker “in a privileged network position” to intercept network traffic. Basically, a hacker that had access to cellular network infrastructure could potentially exploit the vulnerability for surveillance or to employ a man-in-the-middle attack.
Would really like being able to talk to that Apple engineer who clearly believes that every minor iOS update is a good opportunity to nag iPhone users who have NOT signed up for Apple Pay with a red badge that it takes a very special (and stupid) UI dance to get rid of.
Previously:
Update (2025-05-16): Eric Slivka:
Apple has stopped signing the iPadOS 17.7.7 update that was released earlier this week for devices unable to run versions of iPadOS 18, meaning that users will not be able to install the update even if they see it available in Software Update.
[…]
The company has not provided a reason for unsigning the update, but there are a number of reports on the MacRumors forums, Reddit, and elsewhere from users who have experienced issues logging into apps after updating their devices.
Update (2025-06-06): Joe Rossignol:
A growing number of iPhone users are seeing a blank screen in the Mail app, according to comments posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, Apple Support Community, and other online discussion platforms. Affected users are unable to view any emails in their inboxes, and the app can also become glitchy and unresponsive.
The issue does not appear to be tied to any specific iPhone model, and the underlying cause is unknown. Most if not all affected users said their iPhones were running iOS 18.5, but it is unclear why online discussion about this issue only started to gain traction within the past few days, given that the update was released more than three weeks ago.
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As usual it's the engineer that gets blamed, but I guarantee you no one actually writing code decided that this would be a good time to nag the user again. You can ultimately thank Tim and Craig for that.
Also the patch for the C1 gets me thinking. For a long time, the baseband has quietly been a good target of sophisticated attack. It would be interesting to know what security issues it both solves and creates by moving away from what presumably is a very standardized Qualcomm install base.
> that Apple engineer who clearly believes that every minor iOS update is a good opportunity to nag iPhone users
Same with the dang Siri. Every single minor iOS update triggers that (intentionally disabled) Siri thing setup, from the beginning.
"As usual it's the engineer that gets blamed"
Yeah, I can guarantee that no engineer made this decision.
I’m curious if this update also reactivates automatics downloads like 18.4? That was super shady and very Microsoft-y
Old news by now and probably not a lot of people impacted in the first place, but iPadOS 17.7.8 fixed all the problems of 17.7.7 (I looked for a more recent news article but this mentioning 17.7.7 seems to be it). For me with an old iPad Pro 12.9" 2nd gen which can't be upgraded to 18, the most important problem was that NetNewsWire could no longer get feed updates. I had only tried force-quitting the app, not deleting & reinstalling, because I hoped a quick iPadOS fix would be incoming, and it did after a week. https://mastodon.social/@ednl/114538713078159646
