Why you should install iOS 16 even if you don’t care about new features

iOS 16 fixes a critical security flaw. Even if you don’t need new features, update your device.

There are many reasons to update your iPhone to iOS 16. You can customize the lock screen to do what you want, edit and cancel iMessages, and even find the battery percentage indicator in the icon bar. While these new features and other changes deserve an update, ultimately nothing is more important than the latest security update.

iOS 16 fixes critical security flaw

It offers a large number of different and varied flaw fixes. The latest updates for iPhone and iPad fix at least 11 flaws, while the latest for Mac fixes 8 for macOS Monterey and 10 for macOS Big Sur.

Usually security vulnerabilities are of course a problem, but not always a very severe one, because only Apple and third parties are aware of them, or at least know how they can be exploited. While it’s important to update quickly, it’s often not always a matter of life or death, so to speak. However, one of the flaws fixed in this update is the zero-day flaw that attackers are already exploiting. As Apple explains, the company “is aware of a report indicating that this vulnerability may have been actively exploited. If true, it means that someone somewhere knows how to use this vulnerability against you, potentially exposing your iPhone

The vulnerability in question is identified as CVE-2022-32917 and allows someone to execute code with kernel access. In other words, an attacker can execute code of their choice on your device and take full control of it. This situation means that it is important to update your devices as soon as possible.

Which Apple devices receive security updates?

Simply put, everyone. Apple has released updates for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, although these devices are not compatible with the latest software updates. For example, for iPhones that are not eligible for iOS 16, there is iOS 15.7 with the same security patches as the latest iOS 16 update. Security updates from tvOS and watchOS include a fix for this vulnerability, or even if those devices are just affected.

In any case, you can find the update changelog below by device:

• iOS 16
• iOS 15.7
• iPadOS 15.7
• macOS Monterey 12.6
• macOS Big Sur 11.7
• tvOS 16 (details later)
• watchOS 9 (details later)