Rapid Security Responses Become Background Security Improvements
Mykola Grymalyuk (PDF, via Mr. Macintosh):
The talk was a look into Apple’s Rapid Security Response system unveiled back at WWDC2022, discussing the design and challenges of the system.
But Apple seemingly abandoned the system a year after its introduction.
With iOS 26.1 beta 1, which was released to beta testers on Monday, the company is rebuilding how Rapid Security Responses work. According to code discovered in the beta by Macworld, the system will soon be called Background Security Improvements. The feature doesn’t seem to be available to users running the beta, but its existence in the code suggests it’s coming soon.
Essentially, the new system serves the same purpose: to deliver quick and urgent security patches that do not require a new version of iOS, which takes longer to develop. But there’s a key difference between Rapid Security Responses and the new Background Security Improvements: The new Background Security Improvements will be installed silently on the device without needing to manually update. Previously, users had to download Rapid Security Responses through the Settings app just like any other iOS update.
Previously:
- macOS 14.1.2
- How Software Update Works in Ventura
- Rapid Security Response Version Numbers
- Rapid Security Response
Update (2025-09-24): Buccia:
Rapid Security Response was used only once and it broke many websites due to parenthesis in the OS version included in the User-Agent header.
2 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
The title of this article reads like a headline in the Ministry of Truth newspaper.
I wonder if the rebranding will help it actually do something now.
Apple creates an overly complicated, locked down, bloated, user hostile method of installing system updates ostensibly for security but in reality to prevent users from using their own devices however they like. And then they have to invent an overly complicated system on top of that to make it possible to install a regular small security update.
Here's an idea: just have the software be, you know, normal software. Patch binaries. Update libraries. Do the sort of thing that Linux does effortlessly, and macOS *used* to be able to do. And also let us modify our god damned phones. And install older systems for when the new one you release is garbage. And so long as I'm wishing for unicorns and fairies, how about bringing back a physical button or two.
