Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Iphone IOS Operating Systems Security Apple

Apple Gives Some Older iPhones OS Updates, Going Back To iPhone 5S (appleinsider.com) 45

Posted by BeauHD from the neat-to-see dept.
Apple has provided iOS 12.5.7, macOS 11.7.3, and other updates for older devices that can't be updated to the latest releases. AppleInsider reports: The new updates are for users still using older devices and operating systems and address similar bugs and security patches available in the recent iOS 16.3 and macOS Ventura releases. The security patch notes list at least 14 different systems affected by security issues that have been patched. The new update versions are: iOS 12.5.7, iOS 15.7.3, iPadOS 15.7.3, macOS Big Sur 11.7.3, and macOS Monterey 12.6.3.

Users may note the skipped iOS versions between iOS 12 and iOS 15. Those are due to where devices were cut off from updating. Every device that could run iOS 13 could run iOS 15, so Apple doesn't update every version. The oldest device supported by iOS 12.5.7, for example, is the iPhone 5s, which was released in September 2013. The oldest Macs supported by macOS Big Sur are the 2013 MacBook Air, Mac Pro, and MacBook Pro. Anyone capable of updating these new updates to the older operating systems should do so as soon as possible. The update addresses known security issues that could put the user at risk.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Apple Gives Some Older iPhones OS Updates, Going Back To iPhone 5S More

Apple Gives Some Older iPhones OS Updates, Going Back To iPhone 5S

Comments Filter:

  • 10 year old released device getting security updat (Score:5, Insightful)

    by saloomy ( 2817221 ) on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @05:43PM (#63237368)
    Apple dominates in this area.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Not really, Google does this too. It's just that the updates are delivered in a different way, via the Play Store.

      Google separated out most of the OS into components that can be updated individually. Just because your device doesn't get core OS updates, doesn't mean that those components are not updated. If you look in the list of apps on your device in the settings, you will find a lot of them that you didn't install, mostly with Google in the name.

      Another advantage of doing it that way is that anyone can

    • Meanwhile Google is still wondering what an update is because, like all Google things, they lost interest in Android about 5 minutes after releasing it.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • I have an iPhone 7+ from 2016 and I can't justify getting a new one because this one works good and still gets updates.

    • Agreed. I just upgraded to a new iPhone, but my daughter now has my iPhone 7. If she didn't need a phone, I'd still be using it without any problems; it works great still.

  • This is fantastic (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @05:48PM (#63237388)

    It's support like this why I always say you should always recommend Apple devices to non-technical people you know. Because they will still be getting security updates from Apple for many years... it also means it's still very practical to keep using pretty old Apple devices so people do not have to buy the latest expensive phone to get something very usable.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • https://dortania.github.io/Ope... [github.io]

    A buddy of mine gave me a mid-2012 Macbook Air, citing the fact that it stopped getting OSX builds at Catalina. Opencore means the thing is presently running Ventura, which is super helpful. It doesn't win any benchmarks by a long shot, but if you've got a slightly-older Macbook, OpenCore is amazing.

  • I had a 5S and saw no need to upgrade it (my wife was on an ancient 3GS she refused to part with), but we ended up getting new phones last year when AT&T got rid of their 3G network. We were told that our phones would no longer work and truth be told, they were acting a bit weird (texts and calls sometimes wouldn't go through for reason). If this is true, then what use is a 5S anymore other than for offline purposes?

    • what use is a 5S anymore other than for offline purposes?

      A lot of people hand older devices like that down to kids for use as non-cellular devices - so you'd still want security updates if they were used for browsing, which they can be.

      • I actually still use mine for taking pictures off a CRT because the camera doesn't catch the retrace like the HD one in my 12 does.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by stripes ( 3681 )
      Some 5S models operate in some LTE bands, so your 5S might not have been useful to you, but a different 5S might have been.

      For example A1457 does LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20: 2100, 1900, 1800, 850, 2600, 900 MHz, 800 DD).
      A1533 does LTE on Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25: 2100, 1900, 1800, AWS, 850, 900, 700c, 700b, 800 MHz, 800 DD

      & there are 2 or 3 other 5S models that do LTE. There are 2 models that don't do LTE at all.

  • Wow, the bug [github.com] is quite subtle. Not hard to see why this was missed. Says something about our tools.

    speculateRealNumber does a doubleEqual compare, which filters out double values which are not NaN. NaN values will fall through to the `intCase` block. In the `intCase` block, the isNotInt32() check there was given a proven type that wrongly filters out ~SpecFullDouble.

  • ...unlike Android, Apple devices still patched for more than three years after release date.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • ...they would have promised 10 years or more of updates 10 years ago. They deliberately didn't...

        Great idea! Google should beat them at their own game and promise that every Android device introduced from here on out will receive security patches for 10 years or more versus the two (generally yearly) version upgrades and two years of security patches they recommend (but not require) now. I'll roll the dice on the longevity of an Apple device versus Google's (weak and SAD) recommendations.

      • Seriously. WTF. What other company can inspire this kind of madness?

        Most *people* can't inspire this kind of double think in others if they try. Apple has a hold over this person like an abusive ex. They aren't a person man, they aren't out to get you, this isn't worth it.

        They support their devices for what, twice as long as any of their competitors, to uhm, trick you. Do you really not stop to think how completely crazy that sounds?

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • sadly, I was weeks from passing on my old 5S to someone that had a use for the FLIR back that was on it. (and that's not compatible with my new 13) And so I cleared it out, and oh look there's an update. ran the update.

    Now the flir app launches, I get one frame of the IR image, and it crashes. And there's pretty much NO way to recover it. (I can't undo the software update that is causing the app to crash) The version of the app that's compatible with the back isn't on the store anymore anyway, which is

    • See if you can report this to Apple Support, or the FLIR back manufacturer for an app update.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by v1 ( 525388 )

        FLIR can't publish an update for my version of IOS (it's too old for the store to allow it) and my phone cant be upgraded further. So the gap cannot be crossed, by any means, even if both of them wanted to help.

Slashdot Top Deals

Life is a game. Money is how we keep score. -- Ted Turner

Close