Apple iOS 13.1 is here and it brings a whole bunch of fixes for the serious problems in iOS 13. But don’t get too excited. Apple has issued a serious new warning to millions of iPhone and iPad users.
In an official security post, Apple confirms that both iOS 13.1 and its new iPadOS 13.1 have a flaw which enables third-party keyboards to attain “full access” to your iPhones and iPads “even if you haven’t approved this access.” This is raising certain concern among many Apple users.
Apple states that the problem doesn’t affect its official iOS keyboard, but the company does admit that the exploit is public and it has yet to find a fix. The company does promise that “an upcoming software update will fix an issue” but it gave no details of when this update will arrive.
There is no doubt that many can expect malicious iOS keyboards to try and make the most out of this while they still can.
Because the official iOS keyboard was so limited (until iOS 13), third party keyboards have been very popular. If you would like to see which, if any, third party keyboards you have installed on your iPhones and iPads go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards. If there is any doubt, uninstall them until Apple’s fix arrives.
This is a major hassle for new owners of the iPhone 11 (guide), iPhone 11 Pro (guide) and iPhone 11 Pro Max (guide) because they ship with iOS 13 so there is no option to avoid it.
Expect an iOS 13.1.1 minor point update to be just the first of several updates Apple releases over the next 4-8 weeks. If you haven’t already, you should steer clear of iOS 13 until these further updates arrive.
Do you think this flay is going to have an impact on Apple as a company?