It was important news last September: Apple did not make iOS 15 a mandatory update. One of the improvements of iOS 15 was that there was no need to update to this version, but still stay protected with the latest security updates. But now the cards seem to have been shaken differently, an analysis shows.
‘No more security updates for iOS 14, iOS 15 now mandatory’
Apple has since With the arrival of iOS 15, a separate security update for iOS 14 was released once, namely iOS 14.8.1. This update is for anyone with devices that can also run iOS 15, but who for some reason don't want to make the switch to iOS 15 yet. The update included some of the same security improvements as the co-released iOS 15.1 update. But now it appears that since the arrival of iOS 15.2, iOS 14.8.1 is no longer offered at all.
Apple no longer shows iOS 14.8.1. Screenshots from Github.
On a device that is still running on iOS 14 (at least iOS 14.5), you should actually be offered two updates: iOS 15.2.1 and iOS 14.8.1. But since the arrival of iOS 15.2, this has changed. You can only update to iOS 15.2.1 and therefore no longer stay on iOS 14. Moreover, Apple has not released an iOS 14 update for a while, while many security improvements have been made in iOS 15.2.
It is not yet clear whether Apple has plans to offer a new security update of iOS 14 at a later date. It could be that Apple is simply offering only iOS 15.2.1 for now, because there is no newer version with enhanced security than iOS 14.8.1.
iOS 15 figures are behind
The reason for this apparent change of direction is not clear. The fact is that the installation figures of iOS 15 are considerably behind compared to iOS 14 a year ago. The latest figures from Apple show that 63% of all devices run on iOS 15. For models introduced in the past four years, that is 72%. In December 2020, three months after the release of iOS 14, these figures were 72% and 81% respectively. This could be a reason for Apple to stop releasing updates for iOS 14, in order to increase the percentage of iOS 15 users. But it also works the other way around: the fact that the numbers are now lower may also have to do with the fact that iOS 15 was not mandatory until recently.
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