5 Things to Know About the iOS 13.1.1 Update

Apple’s released a new iOS 13.1.1 update for iPhone and the new firmware brings bug fixes and security patches to iPhone users.

iOS 13.1.1 serves as the first maintenance upgrade for the company’s new operating system. It’s much smaller than the iOS 13.1 update that Apple released earlier this month.

If your phone is currently running iOS 13.1, you get the shortest list of changes and the smallest download size. If you’re moving up from iOS 12.4.1 or another version of iOS 12, your iOS 13.1.1 update will be more substantial because the changes from the updates you skipped are baked in.

With that in mind, we want to guide you through the most important things to know, right now, about Apple’s iOS 13.1.1 update for iPhone.

Our guide goes over the iOS 13.1.1 update’s performance, iOS 13.1.1 problems, places to look for feedback about iOS 13.1.1’s performance, the iOS 13.1.1 jailbreak, and more.

We’ll start with our quick impressions of iOS 13.1.1’s performance.

iOS 13.1.1 Reviews

iOS 13.1.1 is much smaller than iOS 13.1 which means the download is much smaller.

If you’re moving your iPhone up from iOS 13.1, you’re looking at a 100MB download. The iOS 13.1.1 update is a 114.9MB download for the iPhone X.

If you’re currently running iOS 12 or iOS 13.0, you’ll see a larger download size because, again, your iOS 13.1.1 update brings the features and fixes from the updates you missed.

If you’re already on iOS 13.1, the iOS 13.1.1 installation could take less than 10 minutes to complete. It took about seven minutes to install on the iPhone X.

For more on the iOS 13.1 download and installation, take a look at our guide.

We’ve been using the iOS 13.1.1 update on the iPhone for a short time and here’s what we’ve found:

Connectivity

• Battery life is stable.
• Wi-Fi connectivity is fast and reliable.
• Bluetooth is working normally.
• GPS and cellular data are both stable.

Apps

• Third-party apps including Netflix, Dark Sky, Twitter, Slack, Asana, Gmail, Chrome, and Spotify are all working normally.
• First party apps like Safari, Podcasts, and Calendar are also working fine.

Speed

• iOS 13.1.1 feels as fast as iOS 13.1, iOS 13.0 and iOS 12.

If you’re struggling with bugs or performance issues on iOS 13.1, 13.0, or another version of iOS, you might want to install iOS 13.1.1 right now. It could stabilize your device’s performance.

If you need help making a decision, check out our reasons to, and not to, install the iOS 13.1.1 update on your iPhone right now.

We’re in the process of publishing our iOS 13.1.1 reviews for the iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 7, iPhone 6s, and iPhone SE so check those out for additional feedback.

iOS 13.1.1 Problems

iOS 13.1.1 fixes several glaring issues, but it’s also causing problems for some iPhone owners. Some of these issues are brand new and others have carried over from iOS 13.1, iOS 13.0, and iOS 12.

The current list of iOS 13.1.1 problems includes installation issues, issues with Touch ID and Face ID, issues with first and third-party apps, UI lag, random reboots, and more.

If you run into an issue on iOS 13.1.1 take a look at our list of fixes for the most common iOS 13 problems. We’ve also released tips to help improve iOS 13 performance and tips to help improve battery life.

If you can’t handle iOS 13.1.1’s performance on your phone, you can try downgrading it to an older version of iOS.

Apple is signing on iOS 13.1, iOS 13.0 and iOS 12.4.1 which means you can use a loophole to downgrade your phone. These options will only be available for a short time so if you want to move your phone off iOS 13.1.1, you’ll need to move quickly.

Unfortunately, you can’t downgrade to anything older than iOS 12.4.1. Apple’s closed up the downgrade path to older versions of iOS 12.

iOS 13.1.1 Update: What’s New

Unlike iOS 13.1, the iOS 13.1.1 update doesn’t bring any new features. Instead, it’s focused on improving the operating system with security patches and bug fixes.

iOS 13.1.1 brings a fix for a third-party keyboard issue Apple revealed earlier this week. You can read about the security patch on Apple’s website.

In addition, iOS 13.1.1 also brings the following changes:

• Fixes issues that could prevent iPhone restoring from backup.
• Addresses an issue that could cause battery to drain more quickly.
• Fixes an issue that could impact recognition of Siri requests on iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.
• Resolves a problem where Safari search suggestions may re-enable after turning them off.
• Addresses an issue that could cause Reminders to sync slowly.

If you are dealing with any of these issues, you should update right now.

iOS 13 Jailbreak

If you still jailbreak your iPhone, make sure you avoid iOS 13.1.1. The only way you can jailbreak a device right now is if it’s running iOS 12.

Jailbreak developers have teased iOS 13 jailbreak tools, but don’t expect them to release a tool that’s compatible with iOS 13.0, iOS 13.1, or iOS 13.1.1 in the near future.

For now, you must remain on iOS 12 if you want to jailbreak your iPhone.

What’s Next

Apple hasn’t confirmed the next version of iOS 13, but we expect the company to roll out a new beta soon.

To celebrate World Emoji Day, Apple previewed the emoji characters coming to compatible iPhone models in the fall.

The Unicode 12 update includes a new smiley face for yawning, a one-piece swimsuit, waffle, falafel, butter and garlic, and new animals like the sloth, flamingo, orangutan and skunk.

We expect Apple to bring them to the iPhone inside a x.x milestone software update, probably iOS 13.2, sometime before the end of the year.

Keep an eye out for the iOS 13.2 beta as we push away from the iOS 13.1.1 release.

Install iOS 13.7 for Better Security

> 1 / 15

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.

> 1 / 15