14 DAY TRIAL // This week, Apple rolled out iOS 8.1.1, the latest firmware update for owners of an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. The release mostly fixes bugs and aims to improve users’ experience on old-generation devices.
However, according to a support document published by Apple hours after the launch of iOS 8.1.1, the update further packs some important security patches that everyone should apply with the first chance they get.
Stability and performance for old-gen devices
The terse changelog accompanying yesterday’s release said, “This release includes bug fixes, increased stability and performance improvements for iPad 2 and iPhone 4s. For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.”
At the time Apple posted the update, the security side of iOS 8.1.1 was not yet available. Now, it is (more on that below).
Superseding iOS 8.1
The new firmware is branched from iOS 8 and iOS 8.1 respectively, meaning that it supersedes both these updates and includes everything that Apple threw in there. For those who haven’t yet applied either one of these updates, the novelties include Apple Pay, new features and improvements for Photos and Messages, Wi-Fi performance enhancements, tons of fixes and tweaks, Accessibility updates, and more.
The software adds the ability for iPhone users to send and receive SMS and MMS text messages from their iPad and Mac, provides alerts when running low on space before shooting Time Lapse videos, enables HealthKit apps to access data in the background, improves stability and audio quality when using MFi (made for iPhone) Hearing Aids with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and more. The full changelog can be found below.
The security content of iOS 8.1.1
As noted earlier, this information was not available (at least not in this part of the world) at the time iOS 8.1.1 was rolling out to the masses. As of now, we have access to the security advisory tied to the 8.1.1 firmware, which states that Apple has addressed security issues – some more serious than others – in areas like CFNetwork, dyld, Kernel, Lock Screen, Sandbox Profiles, Spotlight, and WebKit.
One rather interesting patch is described as follows, “Impact: A person with physical access to the phone may be able to access photos in the Photo Library. Description: The Leave a Message option in FaceTime may have allowed viewing and sending photos from the device. This issue was addressed through improved state management.”
This issue reportedly affected all iDevice models starting with iPhone 4S, iPod touch fifth generation, and iPad 2.
Compatible devices & download links
iOS 8.1.1 is supported on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad second generation, iPad third generation, iPad fourth generation, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad mini, iPad mini 2, and iPad mini 3, and iPod touch fifth generation.
Readers can manually download the appropriate IPSW for their device from our website – download iOS 8.1.1 – or they can install the update through iTunes, as well as over the air (OTA) through the Settings menu on their iDevice. It is recommended that users perform a backup of their iDevice before installing iOS 8.1.1, just in case.
Jailbroken users should note that iOS 8.1.1 breaks compatibility with the Pangu jailbreak tool. Should they want to keep their jailbreak, iOS 8.1.1 is to be avoided. However, jailbreaks are to be avoided even more.
