Apple delayed the release of iPadOS 14.7 and iOS 14.7. Both updates are now available. Users of both are advised to update immediately as the new versions patch a variety of high severity security flaws and offer an impressive array of enhancements.
According to the release notes, the update includes the following improvements:
- Apple’s “MagSafe Battery Pack” supports iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.
- Apple Card Family adds the option to combine credit limits and share one co-owned account with an existing Apple Card user.
- The home app adds the ability to manage timers on HomePod.
- Air quality information is now available in Weather and Maps for Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, South Korea and Spain.
- The podcasts library allows you to choose to see all shows or only followed shows.
- Share playlist menu option missing in Apple Music.
- Dolby Atmos and Apple Music lossless audio playback may unexpectedly stop.
- The battery service message that may have disappeared after reboot on some iPhone 11 models is restored.
- Braille displays could show invalid information while composing Mail messages.
Apple has addressed more than two dozen bugs with this update. The largest and most severe of these is a fix for the Wi-Fi bug. This bug was initially discovered by independent security researcher Carl Schou. The bug made it possible to permanently disable the WiFi capabilities of any iOS device which makes it a serious issue indeed.
The update is well worth getting for the WiFi bugfix alone but several of the items mentioned in the release notes are high value additions. If you have machines running iOS in your office then you will want to install this one as soon as possible in order to minimize your risk of exposure.