Apple patches pesky text bug with updates to Mac and mobile devices

By Mike Wuerthele

Apple issued a surprise round of operating system updates across most of its devices on Thursday, with a rare bug causing periodic duplication of text now fixed.

iOS 17

The patch notes for all the releases are sparse, saying only that they contain general bug fixes. The iOS and iPadOS notes detail a specific fix for user-entered text that may unexpectedly duplicate or overlap while typing.

The iOS and iPadOS updated hold build 21D61. This is incremented from the iOS 17.3 build, which was 21D50.

MacOS 14.3.1 now has build number 23D60, and watchOS holds build number 21S651.

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There do not appear to be any new features across the updates, as is common with a sub-point update. Aside from the return of collaborative playlists for Apple Music, Apple's main inclusion in iOS 17.3 was Stolen Device Protection.

Over-the-air updates are available for all compatible devices.

To update devices to iOS 17.3.1 or iPadOS 17.3.1 manually, users must open the Settings app, then select General, then Software Update. If the update is available for the device, tap it and follow the on-screen instructions to install it.

To update to macOS Sonoma 14.3.1, open the System Settings app, select General, then Software Update. If the update is available, click update now and follow the on-screen instructions.

AppleInsider will update this post if more fixes are discovered.