- Apple is sending iOS alerts to older phones
- You must apply the latest updates to stay protected
- This affects iOS 13 to iOS 17.2.1
Earlier this month, Apple took the rare step of issuing a public safety warning to users running outdated versions of iOS on their iPhones, and how the company has gone further, sending alerts to the lock screens of vulnerable devices.
As spotted by MacRumors, the alert comes labeled as a “critical software” update and urges users to patch their phones to protect against “attacks targeting outdated iOS software, including the version on your iPhone.”
The attacks Apple is referring to here include fraudulent and compromising web links created through the Coruna and DarkSword exploit kits. As the official support document says, following one of these links could put your device at risk.
Article continues below.
The exploits can work on phones running iOS 13 up to iOS 17.2.1, and equivalent versions of iPadOS are also affected. Apple has been delivering patches to protect against these attacks, which you should install if you haven’t already.
How to stay protected
The solution for this is simple: update your phone via General > Software Update in Settings. All iOS versions from iOS 15 onwards are now protected against these threats and will block access to any malicious links that have been identified.
If you are still on iOS 13 or iOS 14, you should update to at least iOS 15 as soon as possible. iOS 15 is compatible with phones since the iPhone 6S, released in 2015, so only on very old iPhones will you still have a problem.
For those of you using anything older than 2015, it might be time to consider investing in a new iPhone; Otherwise, they will be quite exposed to these problems. There are no solutions for those really old software versions.
Apple says that if you can’t update your iPhone for any reason, you can consider enabling Lock Mode. This is a super secure iOS setting that adds extra protections, but it’s only available on iOS 16 and later.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
