14 DAY TRIAL // For one reason or another, Apple recently rolled out iOS 6.1.2 addressing a single Exchange bug, despite widespread reports of several other issues inherent to iOS 6. The company is known to be actively testing iOS 6.1.3 internally.
Last month, after corporate users began reporting serious issues with iOS 6 connectivity involving Microsoft’s Exchange service, Apple pushed out a software update to address said flaw.
However, several other issues had also been reported prior to the release of iOS 6.1.2, seemingly giving Apple enough time to address those bugs as well. Apple, however, didn’t.
The company apparently rushed out iOS 6.1.2 with the aforementioned Exchange bugfix without even attempting to address a widely reported security flaw involving the passcode lock.
The issue allows anyone with physical access to an iOS 6 device to peek inside Contacts, Photos and other areas of the phone, making this a serious security flaw which Apple should have made a priority in iOS 6.1.2.
Even the Exchange issue hasn’t been properly addressed, according to gottabemobile.com: “…while iOS 6.1.2 promised to fix the issue, we’ve talked to several Exchange users who claim that they are still experiencing severe battery drain and worse,” the blog reports.
Even more concerning, according to the same source iOS 6.1.2 suffers from a second security flaw that Apple needs to patch in iOS 6.1.3.
Although it’s not easy to reproduce, a new bug “accessed in similar fashion, turns the iPhone screen black and allows users to plug the phone in using a USB cord and view photos and contact information in iTunes without having to bypass the lockscreen passcode,” according to the report.
On February 22, developers were handed the latest iOS 6.1.3 beta. One developer who wished to remain anonymous informed us that Apple was preparing to roll out the public version of the software this week.
It now appears that the company is taking longer than expected to release the final bits to the general population.