What’s New in iOS 16.6
Written by: Daniel Carmo, Agile Software Engineer, TribalScale
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With the release of iOS 16.5 our phones gained the ability to screen record from Siri, a new sports tab in the Apple News application, pride celebration wallpaper and watch band, and various bug fixes, which you can check out in my last blog. iOS 16.6 launched on July 24th, it doesn’t have a large feature base, but it has a much needed security patch and some ground work for iOS 17 in the near future.
Security Patches
iOS 16.6 brings some security patches that addresses 16 vulnerabilities in the system. It fixes bugs with the Apple Neural Engine, Find My, the kernel, WebKit and more.
You can check out Apple’s security documentation to see a full list of what was fixed. The main vulnerabilities of note that may have been actively exploited was in the kernel and was known to affect users in iOS 15.7.1 and earlier. It seems that it could also affect newer versions but attackers haven’t found the exploit yet.
This update is a must for iOS users as it patches many vulnerabilities that exist and some of which could be actively being used by attackers.
iMessage Contact Verification Groundwork
This update doesn’t give us iMessage Contact Verification, however it does make some changes behind the scenes of the device that we may be able to expect in the near future.
iMessage Contact Key Verification is expected to allow Apple device owners to verify the person they are messaging, instead of a malicious entity intercepting messages. When you are in a group conversation where other members have iMessage Contact Key Verification enabled, Apple will alert users if the cloud is ever breached and a conversation is vulnerable to an attack.
Conclusion
iOS 16.6 is a featureless update but it’s a major update in terms of our devices security. It also lays the groundwork for some of the features that we can expect in iOS 17. Keep an eye out for that official post of what will be in iOS 17 in the near future.
Daniel is a Senior Agile Software Engineer with experience on a variety of platforms in both development and design. He also enjoys collaborative projects with clients, leading developer projects, and mentoring junior and intermediate developers on everything from code quality to programming knowledge. When he’s not coding, his hobbies include baking, running agility with his dog, raising chickens, and gaming.
TribalScale is a global innovation firm that helps enterprises adapt and thrive in the digital era. We transform teams and processes, build best-in-class digital products, and create disruptive startups. Learn more about us on our website. Connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook!
