There are many reasons you might put off updating your iPhone to the latest iOS. Maybe you’re out of space, or you worry the new operating system will slow down an older device. In any case, iOS 18.2 is not an update to waffle over, as it fixes a critical security bug in the Passwords app.
Apple’s iOS 18.2 Update Will Protect Your Phone From a Security Vulnerability
With iOS 18, Apple introduced the standalone Passwords app, a built-in manager for your login data. But after a security researcher found a vulnerability in the app’s communication with websites as part of its data organization, Apple went to work to make the fix. Now, a few months after the initial detection, Apple has released a patch with iOS 18.2.
However, Apple can only go so far—the company has delivered the update, but now it’s up to you to put it on your phone. To download the latest iOS update on your iPhone or iPad, navigate to Settings > General > Software Update and you should see iOS 18.2 and its description. Tap Update Now.
You can always toggle Automatic Updates on to make sure you never miss an update.
What’s the Big Deal, Anyway?
As Mysk states on X, the Passwords app was “using unencrypted HTTP to download icons for password entries,” meaning that the app was recklessly communicating with the internet. Essentially, every time the app reached out to a website to collect a visual icon to associate with a password entry, a malicious network could have intercepted the communication and sent back a faulty file.
While receiving the incorrect icon for YouTube or Instagram seems more annoying than dangerous, those files could contain malware, or a “malicious payload,” that would be delivered right to your phone.
You can do everything right when setting up a password manager and still end up vulnerable, it seems. While this may make you want to give up on password managers altogether, the iOS update is a relatively easy fix that may not actually require you to change your passwords. Plus, the iOS update also includes a pretty exciting Apple Intelligence upgrade, introducing features like Image Playground and new ChatGPT integration with Siri.
