Apple may make installing security updates on iOS easier soon

It looks like Apple is on its way to giving its users more freedom and flexibility in the way they update their iPhones and iPads, as, after years of forcing users to install the latest version of iOS to get all the security patches, the company is heading to change this approach soon.



In the internal code of the fourth iOS 14.5 beta update released yesterday for developers, the 9to5Mac website detected a reference indicating that Apple is working on a new way to provide security updates to iOS independently of feature updates and bugs, as well as a new option in this update on the iOS automatic update page in Settings, enables turning on and off the installation of security updates.


                            

Source: 9to5Mac

Additionally, the new code in iOS 14.5 also states that once you download a certain update such as a security update, you may need to delete it before you can install another available iOS update. It is difficult to explain what this might mean now because Apple has not said or revealed anything about this feature yet, but one of the possibilities according to the 9to5Mac is that Apple will continue to provide security updates to iOS 14 after the release of iOS 15 so that users can choose to stay on iOS 14 and take advantage of all available security updates without having to update to the new major version just like what the company is currently doing with macOS.


When a new version of macOS is released (Big Sur, for example), Apple offers separate security updates for Macs running an older version of macOS (such as Mojave or Catalina), so users can get the latest security patches and bug fixes without having to install the latest available version of macOS.


This feature may also be useful when a security vulnerability is discovered on the iPhone or iPad, as Apple may send a fix to this vulnerability in the form of a separate security update without the need for a new iOS release, as happened last week when the company released iOS 14.4.1 for iPhone and iPad users Just to fix an existing security breach in WebKit.


The presence of this new feature in the beta version does not mean that it will be present in the stable version of iOS 14.5 upon its launch, as Apple may postpone it until the next iOS 15 update, which the company is expected to reveal at some time in June, or for a future update when it is ready.