If you’ve been reluctant to upgrade to iOS 26 and are still running iOS 18 on your iPhone, there’s a special new release coming, Apple says. It means that anyone on an iPhone 11 through to iPhone 16 who’s still on the earlier software will be protected against one specific threat.
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“Apple is responding to the spread of a hacking tool by pushing out patches for older versions of iOS—and in the latest case, even for phones that have the capability to upgrade to its most recent version,” Wired reported.
The Liquid Glass Refuseniks
Some users have been cautious about upgrading to the latest iOS 26 because of concerns about the new Liquid Glass design — though uptake has been significantly more than previously suggested.
To persuade users to move to iOS 26, Apple stopped making iOS 18 releases compatible with the phones from iPhone 11 onwards some months ago.
The DarkSword Exploit Changes Everything
However, what’s known as the DarkSword exploit has made Apple take the exceptional, and almost unprecedented step of releasing a new iOS 18 update for every phone that can handle it, specifically those iPhone 11 or later handsets plus the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR.
“Tomorrow we are enabling the availability of an iOS 18 update for more devices so users with auto-update enabled can automatically receive important security protections,” an Apple spokesperson told Wired. “We encourage all users with supported devices to update to iOS 26 to receive our most advanced protections,” the statement went on.
An Unprecedented Warning
To announce an update in advance is very unlike Apple and shows the seriousness of the threat in the company’s view. Apple recently updated iOS 18 but only for those phones unable to upgrade to iOS 26.
This means users can update either to the latest iOS 18 or switch to iOS 26. This will be great news for those averse to Liquid Glass who will suddenly have software on their iPhone that’s bang up-to-date again. On balance though, the truth is they’re better off taking the plunge and installing iOS 26.
The update is expected to become available at around 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern and 6 p.m. U.K. time.
