Odd Apple iPhone update

[DNSB]

I connected my iPhone to transfer some ebooks to it. I was informed the firmware can be updated to 17.4.1 which I found a bit strange since I had updated my iPhone to 17.4.1 when it became available. Looking around the Internet, I found a couple of sites that mentioned this update. See Apple released a new version of iOS 17.4.1, but no one knows what changed as an example. My iPad does not seem to be receiving a similar update.

[kyteflyer]

Same here. And given that I also have devices on iOS15 which were not supposed to get updates at this stage, but got 2… I assumed it was some horrific bug which Apple did not want to discuss or publicise which was being fixed.

[DNSB]

And that is what leaves me unhappy with the whole deal. I've had both Android and iDevice updates that don't have any information of exactly what the update does or why it was released. I know they may be worried about that group that does not update so do not want to publicize a security issue. I even dug through the CVE database but didn't find much that would appear to have triggered 17.4.1 take 2.

[tomsem]

I don't really have an issue with this. Presumably it is fixing something critical for some users and devices, or it could wait for the next update. Many users will not have even updated to the previous update of the same version and won't even notice anything.

[John F]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I don't really have an issue with this. Presumably it is fixing something critical for some users and devices, or it could wait for the next update. Many users will not have even updated to the previous update of the same version and won't even notice anything.

I don't know... seems like standard practice to bump up the version number for any release (that an end user sees).

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by John F

I don't know... seems like standard practice to bump up the version number for any release (that an end user sees).

I think this is pretty much what Apple always does, except apparently in this case. I did not observe it myself, so I'm taking the original post at face value. I have not seen it reported elsewhere, e.g. at MacRumors forums.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by tomsem

... I'm taking the original post at face value. I have not seen it reported elsewhere, e.g. at MacRumors forums.

Macworld also reported it: https://www.macworld.com/article/228...-download.html

... Apple has pushed out a new 21E237 build of iOS/iPadOS 17.4.1, one number higher than the previous version (21E236). It doesn’t appear to have been delivered over the air, but you can download the IPSW files on a Mac and install them using the Finder.

The fact that Apple didn’t deliver it to users means it’s unlikely to have any fixes of note.

ETA:

Also Macrumors: https://www.macrumors.com/2024/03/27...-build-number/

And 9to5Mac: https://9to5mac.com/2024/03/27/revised-build-ios-17-4-1

[Cootey]

Thanks for the links, odamizu. It’s odd to have a retroactive update for an old release, but there are people, like me, who have been burned by jumping too far ahead in the update path and like to update one step at a time from the beginning. I suppose I’m thankful that Apple went back and fixed things instead of blowing it off, but it would be nice if they were more transparent.