Less than a month after iOS 18.2 delivered a huge swathe of new Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 16 series handsets plus the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, a much smaller update has arrived. There are no new features and no security fixes but the bug fixes included are likely to serve all the iPhones compatible with the latest iOS 18 software.
Note that I’ll be updating this post over the coming days and will make a final assessment on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
Who Is It For And How Do You Get It?
Apple iOS 18.2.1 is compatible with all iPhones that can run iOS 18. This means all iPhones from the iPhone XS onwards, including the second- and third-generation iPhone SE models.
What It’s About
Bug fixes are the key to this update and while there haven’t been overwhelming issues introduced in iOS 18.2, there were plenty of little quirks experienced by smaller numbers of users. Which ones have been addressed here, well, we just don’t know.
Apple iOS 18.2.1 Security
There’s almost certainly no need to install this update just for security purposes, which makes a change. Apple has not pointed to any security fixes at all and instead says that it recommends it for all users because of the “important bug fixes” it includes.
Initial Reactions
So far, there’s been a mixed response. Users who were suffering from visual lags when opening or closing apps, for instance, say it hasn’t gone away. One iPhone owner said that things are getting worse not better citing Bluetooth problems with auto-connections not happening. Another said that the RCS update which lets messages from Android users look better, say, isn’t working consistently (though this may be a carrier rather than an iPhone issue).
Apple iOS 18.2.1 Initial Verdict: Update
Despite the various issues some users have found, there’s a pattern which suggests that these are not new problems, rather ones from before that haven’t yet been fixed. As such, though there are certainly areas for concern, as no new big issues seem to have been introduced, updating seems the best advice. It may be that exactly which bugs have been squished will become evident in the next few days.
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