Apple

4 Reasons Not to Install iOS 13.7 & 11 Reasons You Should

Published

5 years ago

09/09/2020

Apple’s iOS 13.7 update is a small milestone release, but it could have a huge impact on your iPhone’s performance. While some of you should install Apple’s new firmware right now, others are better off waiting for a few hours or a few more days before moving to the firmware.

Unlike most milestone updates, iOS 13.7 brings a very short list of changes to compatible iPhone models. It carries new features and under-the-hood improvements.

The iOS 13.7 update requires a fairly small download. It should be a little over 100 MB for iPhone owners moving devices from iOS 13.6.1 to iOS 13.7.

The iOS 13.7 download will be larger for those of you moving up from older versions of iOS. That’s because the features and fixes from the updates you skipped are baked into your upgrade.

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Those of you dealing with issues on iOS 12, iOS 13.0, iOS 13.1, iOS 13.1.1, iOS 13.1.2, iOS 13.1.3, iOS 13.2, iOS 13.2.2, iOS 13.2.3, iOS 13.3, iOS 13.3.1, iOS 13.4, iOS 13.4.1, iOS 13.5, iOS 13.5.1, iOS 13.6, or iOS 13.6.1 could see a huge turnaround after installing iOS 13.7. We’re already hearing about positive changes. That said, we’re also hearing about various bugs and performance problems.

If you run into trouble, note that you can no longer downgrade to the previous version of iOS 13. Apple has stopped signing on iOS 13.6.1 and older versions of iOS.

That means those of you moving up from iOS 13.6.1, iOS 13.6, iOS 13.5.1, iOS 13.5, iOS 13.4.1, iOS 13.4, iOS 13.3.1, iOS 13.3, iOS 13.2.3, iOS 13.2.2, iOS 13.2, iOS 13.1.3, iOS 13.1.2, iOS 13.1.1, iOS 13.1, iOS 13.0, and older need to approach iOS 13.7 with caution. Once you move your phone to iOS 13.7, there’s no going back.

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If you’re currently debating a move to iOS 13.7, allow us to walk you through the best reasons to install the software today and the best reasons to hang around on whatever version of iOS your device is currently running for a little bit longer.

Install iOS 13.7 for Better Security

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If security is important to you, think about installing the iOS 13.7 update.

iOS 13.7 doesn't have any known security patches on board. That said, if you skipped iOS 13.6 or an older version of iOS, you'll get security patches with your upgrade.

iOS 13.6 had more than 20 patches for security issues on board which made it an extremely important update. If you skipped iOS 13.6, you get the patches with iOS 13.7.

If you want to learn more about iOS 13.6's security patches, head on over to Apple's security site for more information.

If you skipped iOS 13.5.1, you get its security patch with your upgrade to iOS 13.7. You can read more about it on Apple's website. The patch is for an exploit used by jailbreak developers.

If you skipped iOS 13.5, iOS 13.7 brings iOS 13.5's 41 new security patches with it. Apple's posted the details on its website and you can dig into the particulars if you're interested.

Among them, patches for the company's Mail app, Wi-Fi, AirDrop, Bluetooth, FaceTime, Messages, and Notifications.

If you skipped the iOS 13.4 update, you'll get iOS 13.4's 28 security patches with your upgrade. You can read about all of them on Apple's website right here.

iOS 13.4 also brought several improvements to Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention. Apple's John Wilander outlined them in a blog post and it's worth checking out.

Reports have outlined a vulnerability in Wi-Fi chips made by Broadcom and Cypress Semiconductor that left billions of devices susceptible to attack.

Dubbed Kr00k, the vulnerability allows nearby attackers to decrypt sensitive information that's relayed over-the-air.

Fortunately, it looks like the issue was patched up with the release of iOS 13.2, an update that arrived all the way back in October.

So if you're running a really old version of iOS 13, you'll really want to move your device up to the newest version of iOS 13.

If you skipped iOS 13.3.1, you get its patches with iOS 13.7.

The iOS 13.3.1 update included 21 new security patches that will help protect your device from harm. The company's outlined those patches in detail if you want to dig in.

If you skipped iOS 13.3, you get its patches with iOS 13.7. iOS 13.3 brought 12 new security patches to the iPhone and you can read about each one over on Apple's security page.

The iOS 13.3 update also added support for NFC, USB, and Lightning FIDO2-compliant security keys in the Safari browser.

If you missed iOS 13.2, it had 16 new security patches on board. You can read about all of them on Apple's website right here.

iOS 13.1.1 brought a security patch for a third-party keyboard issue to your iPhone. If you're interested in the particulars, you can read about them over on Apple's website.

If you passed on installing iOS 13.1, you get an additional patch with your iOS 13.7 update. You can learn more right here.

If you're moving up from iOS 12, you'll get iOS 13.0's nine security patches with your upgrade to iOS 13.7. Read about those here.

If you skipped iOS 12.4.1 or any older versions of iOS 12, you'll get their security patches with your iOS 13.7 update.

iOS 12.4.1 only had one patch on board, but Apple's iOS 12.4 update brought 19 security patches to the iPhone. If you're interested in the specifics, you can read about them on right here.

In addition to those patches, iOS 13 itself comes with some security and privacy upgrades including improved anti-tracking features in Safari and the ability to get rid of location metadata in your photos.

You also now have the ability to block apps from using Bluetooth and the ability to allow apps to access your location just once.

iOS 13 will also send you reminders about applications that track your data.