iOS 16.1.2 Optimizes Crash Detection, Improves Wireless Carrier Compatibility

Originally published at: iOS 16.1.2 Optimizes Crash Detection, Improves Wireless Carrier Compatibility - TidBITS

The latest version of iOS promises to improve compatibility with wireless carriers and do better at detecting crashes. But, we ask, did you need TidBITS to tell you that?

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Was this article useful?
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I find these software update announcements very helpful. My iOS software updates never show up on my iPhone until maybe a week later, if then. Oh, if I go looking for them they’re listed, but I don’t go looking for them unless I hear they exist in the first place. A kind of Catch 22. Same thing with the App Store updates, which always seem to be shown to me days after the listing states they were actually released.

So yes, especially for zero-day exploit remediation updates, these announcements are very helpful.

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I didn’t need TidBITS to tell me what the update does…but I do like the short articles you write about such updates since I send them to my mother to forestall her inevitable question, “Should I install now or wait?”

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I don’t get prompt notification of updates on my iPhones, but these updates are widely reported in the blogs and websites, so TibBits notifications aren’t necessary. And, this was posted several days after the update release, so I wonder how informative it was.

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Not everybody. At least not yet. My phone is running 16.1.1. I have not yet gotten the notification and badge that a new update is available.

But when I click on Software Update, there it is. And now the badge has appeared.

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I voted yes. I live under a rock and don’t have the update on my phone yet.

Diane

Right, one of the things that Josh did was trawl the net looking for news items like this so we could be faster in our coverage. I have no desire to continue that—I find the vast majority of news an unnecessary distraction from, well, everything. (In the case of OS updates, I think I see how to automate being notified of new ones in a timely fashion, since Apple doesn’t always notify right away.) And news coverage that appears in lots of other places is one of the main things I want TidBITS to do less of in the future, particularly when I don’t feel that we have anything substantive to add beyond what Apple says.

The question of update notifications is an interesting one. Clearly, Apple spaces out how quickly people are notified of new updates, presumably to spread out the load on the update servers. But I would imagine that Apple could also change that schedule to ensure that security updates that block zero-day vulnerabilities are distributed more quickly. And even with such important security updates, the likelihood of any regular person having a problem because they didn’t update for a week or two seems vanishingly small.

In other words, although we could likely post an article before you’d get an automatic notification, is that important? Apple presumably doesn’t think so or it would change the update schedule or mechanism to ensure faster distribution.

@mcohen’s situation with his mother is a different story. It’s unfortunate that some updates have caused problems such that many people are leery about installing them. So perhaps there is value in saying that I see no reason not to update, even when that advice is based more on a gut feeling or on a search within the security notes to see if any of the fixes are for expoits in the wild.

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I almost never update until Tidbits says it’s okay to do so. While I occasionally read other sources of Apple info, here is where I come for the definitive info. A brief statement like the first part of this article is more than sufficient without being a waste of your time to write it and my time to read it.

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Yes, I did need TidBITS to tell me that. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known about it until, in this case, my devices started nagging me about it.

I realize that some of the news TidBITS publishes is also available elsewhere, but I don’t look elsewhere because I find the news I need to know focused and curated in TidBITS.

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I answered Yes, but I would add that trying to discern the why and wherefores of Apple’s updates is a task I wouldn’t wish on anyone. If you prefer to keep these posts short and sweet, Adam, I’m right with you. :fist:

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I find these short articles about OS updates extremely useful. I absolutely rely on TidBITS to find out about software updates and much more. You do a fantastic job of helping me keep current with all things Apple (and other tech, as well). It’s why I have been a member/contributor for 5+ years, and will continue to be as long as TidBITS exists.

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It might be worth running a poll separate to this news item. The folks who read these updates are more likely to see this and therefore vote yes, and that may not be representative of the larger tidbits audience.

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I like getting the announcements and always check these comments to see if anyone else has something to say about the update. It’s very convenient to get a reality check regarding the risk of updating from knowledge people.

So, it’s good to read your article, but what I value is the stub it creates for others to comment.

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Yes, I expect you to pass on info like this with any insights you may have, because who else is going to do it? It may seem trivial to you, but I believe most of us find it reassuring.

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+1 for update notices. TidBITS is a reliable source among sites filled with rumor reports, concept videos, scaremongering, how-tos (for things I never do), sales pitches, and “who wants to buy what” polls. I’ve whittled my Apple news sources down to a minimum, and when I finally get sick of the hype and take it down to just one, it will be you.

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It is useful to see the notification of upgrades/updates like this…but they may not all need a full page of coverage. Maybe just a 1-liner to acknowledge the event. Something like NMUG recently did with the News Bites section of their web page…to clean up their messaging board.

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I would find them useful if you had extra information compared to Apple’s terse (to say the least) so-called “release notes”. But if you do not have any such to report, I don’t need the TidBITS notification.

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I also had not received any notification about the update. I don’t let iOS install them automatically, but I like to know when they arrive. When I received your announcement and checked, sure enough the update was waiting on my iPhone 13 Pro. I appreciate the update announcements and hope you’ll continue to provide this service!

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Once I am out beyond the second decimal point on a version, the update seems unworthy on being urgent news. If this would have been 16.2 rather than 16.1.2 I would really appreciate hearing about it from TidBITS immediately. We never seem to hear from Apple in a timely manner.