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Incorrect iOS Update Popups Hitting a Large Number of iPhone UPDATE

iPhones told to update despite no update actually available

Aug 31, 2018 07:09 GMT  ·  By
The update popup shows up every time devices are unlocked
   The update popup shows up every time devices are unlocked

UPDATE: Apple has released an iOS software update for the latest beta builds that corrects the issue, and all devices are being offered the fix as we speak. Users should install this update as soon as possible. Original story below. 

A growing number of iPhones and iPads are currently receiving an incorrect iOS update notification despite no update actually being available.

The prompt shows up every time the device is unlocked and reads “A new iOS update is now available. Please update from the iOS 12 beta.” Users need to manually close the popup every time, and a check for updates on an iPhone experiencing this issue returns no result.

By the looks of things, the messages started showing up on August 27, which coincidentally or not, is the same day when Apple shipped the last iOS 12 beta to users.

Guilherme Rambo suggests on Twitter that the problem is caused by a bug in the latest beta builds which incorrectly checks the iPhone for the build expiry date, therefore issuing update prompts.

“It looks like this method in Springboard does some date/time calculations to determine if the current build is about to expire, every time the cover sheet gets dismissed. For some reason, the latest builds of iOS 12 think they're about to expire,” he posted.

iOS 12 just around the corner

This certainly makes sense, at least in theory, and we can confirm that the bug exists not only in the most recent iOS 12 beta, but also in the latest beta of iOS 11.4.1. Devices are prompted to update despite no new version of iOS being available. Stable iOS versions don’t seem to be affected.

For the time being, there’s nothing we can do about this error, and Apple needs to ship a new iOS update to correct it. These are obviously the risks of running unreleased software, but it’s still worrying given the release of iOS 12 itself is just around the corner.

Apple will hold a press conference on September 12 to take the wraps off its new iPhone generation, and iOS 12 will be released shortly after the event to all supported devices.