Apple releases critical security update for iPhones and iPads

Apple’s iOS 16.4.1 and iPadOS 16.4.1 updates have rolled out with important security fixes.

With each iOS and iPadOS update, Apple fixes bugs, adds features, and introduces many different kinds of changes. Sometimes, though, important security updates come with new versions of iOS and iPadOS that fix security flaws leaving you vulnerable, and this is the case for iOS 16.4.1 and iPadOS 16.4.1 which were released on 7 April 2023.

According to a post from Apple, the latest versions of iOS and iPadOS fix critical vulnerabilities with IOSurfaceAccelerator and WebKit. Apple’s tight-lipped on details, but the company notes that these vulnerabilities have the capacity to execute malicious code with even kernel-level privileges, which could be catastrophic. Apple goes on to say that the company is aware of reports that these vulnerabilities have already been exploited, too.

Essentially, that means if you aren’t updating your devices, you’re leaving yourself open to the possibility of being hacked, losing data, or even someone accessing your private, personal information. Of course, this is unlikely, and it’s unclear exactly what an exploit targeting these vulnerabilities would do or how it would work, but suffice it to say that you probably don’t want to find out.

Apple products are generally known for their excellent security and are usually great at protecting user data and privacy, too, but that only holds true if you’re keeping your Apple product up-to-date, as bad actors are constantly evolving and updating malicious code to try and overcome Apple’s defenses. Luckily, the engineers over at Apple are almost always a step ahead of these kinds of attacks.

As always, though, these updates are free of charge and you can download them now from the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, which we’d recommend doing as soon as is convenient, just to be safe.