ForbesiOS 18.7.3 Release Date: Mystery Of iPhone Update Still MissingBy David Phelan<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cSome users are seeing a warning that future updates will be automatically downloaded and installed, with the option toggled on automatically if the Continue button is tapped. There’s a subtle \u2018Only Download Automatically\u2019 option that does not opt you into automatic updates if you’re paying attention, but it’s easy to miss,\u201d it went on.<\/p>\n
Many people already have automatic downloads turned on, and in that case there\u2019s no message when the new software is installed. <\/p>\n
Why this matters is that people might not want to download and install updates as soon as they go live, preferring to wait and see what the reactions of other users are, in case there are reports of problems arising. <\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve installed iOS 26, the simplest and perhaps safest action is to check. Just open Settings, go to Software Updates and you\u2019ll see a panel marked Automatic Updates. If this says On, then at the next update, it will be downloaded and installed automatically. <\/p>\n
Click the panel and on the next screen tap the switch marked Automatically Install. When it grays out, you\u2019ll see an option below marked Automatically Install.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another entry on the page which specifies System Settings and the words Automatically Install. Below this is an explanation: \u201cSystem files improve iPhone functionality without changing the software version. iPhone may reserve storage space to ensure updates can be installed.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can choose whether to have this option on or off. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth saying that having automatic updates turned on doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that your iPhone will be updated the second the software is released. It takes a little time for the update to reach you. <\/p>\n
So, if you\u2019re the kind of person who likes their iPhone to be updated straight away, you may find that even with the setting turned on for both download and update that you are updating manually because you\u2019ve thought of it before the phone has got round to it. <\/p>\n
And this is not an issue to do with the thorny issue of when you switch from iOS 18 to iOS 26: this unexpected change seems to be restricted to iOS 26. In other words, Apple has not made this change to force people to go to iOS 26. Though that doesn\u2019t mean such a change won\u2019t happen at a later stage. <\/p>\n
When iOS 26.2 launched, Apple also released iOS 18.7.3, so users who want to avoid iOS 26 for longer can stick with that. The problem is that for many users, iOS 18.7.3 isn\u2019t showing up just yet. I think it could be here soon, perhaps on Tuesday, Dec. 16, but the only way to find out right now is to look at the update settings \u2014 or check back here, I\u2019ll be reporting on when it\u2019s finally generally available. <\/p>\n
There are other changes in iOS 26.2 and it\u2019s not just this one which is subtle and unexpected. For instance, in Accessibility and Audio & Visual, there\u2019s a new way to receive alerts in a visual manner. Previously this setting was called LED Flash for Alerts, because it enabled the rear LED to tell you there was an notification. It\u2019s now just called Flash for Alerts because it adds an extra way to see these. You can now make the iPhone display flash when an alert comes in, which is handy if the phone is lying face up. A third setting allows you to flash the LED and the screen at the same time. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a new setting in the Emergency SOS section of Settings. When you\u2019re making an emergency call by pressing and holding the side button and either volume button, you can also choose to call quietly instead of the countdown and alarm that sounds during emergency calls. There are plenty of situations where this could be preferable. Like the unrequested change above, this is something Apple did not promote as part of the changes in iOS 26.2.<\/p>\n
ForbesApple iOS 26.2 New iPhone Software: Should You Upgrade?By David Phelan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated Dec. 16 with further details of unrequested changes in iOS 26.2. Apple released the latest iPhone update,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[517,10183,153901,4536,1366,165,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-352827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-apple","9":"tag-ios-26","10":"tag-ios-26-2","11":"tag-iphone","12":"tag-iphone-17","13":"tag-mobile","14":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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