iOS 18 is packed with new features, but not everyone wants to upgrade right away. The problem is, conventional tech advice says that you should update your devices regularly, because these upgrades deliver important patches that protect your device and its data from security holes. If you’re the cautious type who likes to wait a few extra days, weeks, or months before updating to the latest version of iOS, there’s good news: You can hang on to iOS 17 for a while longer and keep your iPhone safe from security holes.
iOS 18 – Check this out if you plan to update!
With iOS 18 just around the corner, Apple has been seeding the iOS 17.7 release candidate (RC) to developers and public beta testers, first discovered by 9to5Mac. The RC is a version of iOS that’s one step away from being released to the public: as long as no one finds any bugs or glitches in the RC, Apple will seed the exact same update to the public when it’s ready.
Why release a new version of iOS 17 when iOS 18 is just around the corner? This 17.7 update includes the security patches that will be coming in the upcoming iOS 18 update, but without any new features. This way, you can avoid updating your iPhone to a brand-new version of iOS, while still protecting your device from security vulnerabilities. We won’t know which security holes Apple has actually patched until the release notes are published, likely sometime on Monday.
Keep in mind that iOS 17 won’t be supported forever, and you’ll be required to update to iOS 18 at some point in the near future. (Apple typically reserves these security updates for iPhones that are too old to run the newest operating system.) By then, however, app developers should have ironed out most of the bugs and issues with iOS 18, and hopefully Apple will have done the same for older iPhones.
