Malcolm Owen
Apple's first software releases of 2025 have arrived, with updates for iOS and iPadOS 18.2.1 serving as bug-fix releases.
Following the holidays, Monday served as the first opportunity for Apple to release updates for its operating systems. For this incarnation, it turned out to be for iOS and iPadOS.
The updates for iOS 18.2.1 and iPadOS 18.2.1 both have build number 22C161.
They arrive just under a month after Apple released iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 to the public on December 11. That release included graphical changes such as Image Playground for Apple Intelligence, as well as Genmoji, and for iPhone 16 users, Visual Intelligence, among other features.
The 18.2.1 update is not a feature release version, and is much smaller in scope. Apple's release notes simply inform users that it consists of bug fixes that all users should install.
There do not seem to be updates available for the Apple Watch, macOS, Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, nor HomePod at this time.
To manually install the update, users must open Settings then select General, followed by Software Update. If the update is available, select it and follow the prompts.
It may not be the only build Apple offers this week. It is expected to reach the second build of the current developer beta program, which includes iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3.
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5 Comments
The iPadOS update seems to have bricked my iPadPro 4th gen.
yeah, not touching this one yet. No description of what it 'fixes'.
I'm going in!
These bugfix point releases are almost always better than the software they're updating.
It's really the feature releases where more bugs are introduced including regressions.
In some cases, I will wait for the point release. For example if I'm running 2.8.9 of a software and major upgrade 3.0 comes out, I might actually wait for 3.0.1 or 3.0.2 before updating because I know the latter will have fewer bugs than the original vanilla 3.0 release.
Apple has proven for decades that they behave the same way as other software vendors. Their point releases have fewer bugs than the software they are fixing. It doesn't matter if they don't address all of the bugs any given person is experiencing. It's still better to get rid of bugs, even if you don't encounter them in your normal usage to date. That's common sense although some people have little of that...
If you are already running iOS 18.2, there is really no logical reason to withhold installing 18.2.1. You can always wait a day or two to see if there's some sort of clusterflick from installing but the message boards are pretty empty of complaints this time around.
No problems updating my devices. It would be nice if all updates from all software vendors came with more descriptive release notes. The term "bug fix" is too vague and nonsensical if you really think (too much) about it. I didn't know my bugs were broken and needed fixing. Is my device actually a little bug farm and some of the resident bugs needed repairs? I know the history behind the term "bug" so I guess we'll keep going along with the terminology long after its meaning no longer applies. It's kinder and gentler than the terms "screw up" or "mistake." Just keep blaming the bugs.