Updated Sept. 29 with more details of what’s expected in the new update, problems which have arisen for some users and when it will arrive.
Apple has had a busy time of it with its iPhone software releases. Not only did it put the big new iOS 18 update on general release on Monday, Sept. 16, it also sent a gentle update to all iPhone 16 series handsets as soon as the phones went on sale on Sept. 20—full details of that here. And now, another update is on its way already. More details have already been reported of what’s coming and when along with informed guesses about what the release will address. .
Several issues have been reported already—I’ve covered some of the major ones in my recent Should You Upgrade? post which I write each time there’s a new release. But there are others which may not be so common. For instance, there have been wi-fi and cellular connectivity issues reported, as spotted by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDnet.
Then there have been problems with Siri misbehaving. Don’t’ worry, it’s not the machines rising up just yet but there have been instances of Siri ignoring requests or answering incorrectly. Well, Siri’s usually only got things wrong before when it’s misheard, which is always frustrating and leads people to shout at their iPhones. At least Siri has the wit to defend itself with a sassy reply.
Other rare issues that have caught Kingsley-Hughes’ attention include what he calls “Photo app weirdness.”
Beyond that, there have been occasions where the Control Center “is impossible or difficult to access, cannot be customized, or generally buggy.” Some people have also found they had screen rotation issues, or problems putting apps into folders. And connectivity issues with AirPrint have been reported.
I don’t want to alarm you and I still think it’s worth upgrading to iOS 18—I haven’t personally come across any of the above issues. It’s the ones we’ll come to now which are more concerning.
As mentioned below, it’s thought that the next release will be “a minor update,” according to MacRumors in its most recent report. Building on the site’s initial comments, it has now confirmed it expects the update to be released by the end of next week, that is by Friday, Oct. 4—though I’m still hoping it will be earlier in the week, as discussed below.
The report claims that along with security fixes, which seem sure to be included, there are three issues which could be addressed.
These are a touchscreen issue on the iPhone where the display is not responsive to all inputs, a bigger problem with iMessage when users share Watch faces, leading to repeated crashes, and a related problem in iPadOS which has led to the most recent iPad Pro models becoming useless. I’ve discussed these issues in more detail below, but it’s worth noting that we’re in a strange position of expecting two updates in the coming weeks: iOS 18.0.1 in a matter of days and followed later in October by iOS 18.1 which delivers the first Apple Intelligence features.
For now, though, the next update will be a smallish one, it seems, designed to sort issues that have arisen with iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. So, iOS 18.0.1 is in early stages of testing, according to Joe Rossignol at MacRumors, whose analytics have spotted it.
Although it’s expected to be a minor update, it’s though that the touchscreen issue found on some iPhone 16 and older models could be addressed as part of the purpose.
That’s a minor bug, but annoying if you get it. Full details are here and I had trouble recreating it, but essentially it involves the touchscreen failing to respond to a second touch when your finger or thumb is already pressed on the edge of the display.
There have been other issues reported, such as one in Messages when someone shares a Watch face with you in an iPhone Message. If you reply to the thread, it can lead to the iPhone crashing repeatedly, both for the sender and recipient of the message.
There have also been problems affecting iPad Pro models with the M4 processor on board, where updating to the latest software caused the tablet to be bricked. I wasn’t able to recreate this issue but it led to Apple pulling the update for the latest iPad Pros, and it’s not available again yet.
Apple iOS 18.0.1 Release Date
We know that Apple has said that the next big update, iOS 18.1, will arrive in October and iOS 18.0.1 must land before then, obviously. MacRumors reckons, and I agree, that it will be with us before the end of next week at the latest, that is, before Friday, Oct. 4. My best guess is Tuesday, Oct. 1 or Wednesday, Oct. 2.
I’ll update this as soon as there’s any more information.
