5 Things to Know About the iOS 15.8.1 Update [u]

Apple’s pushed a new iOS 15.8.1 update to iPhone and the software brings under-the-hood improvements to iPhone users stuck on the operating system.

The iOS 15.8.1 update is compatible with older iPhone models that didn’t make the move to iOS 16. The list includes the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone SE.

iOS 15.8.1 is a point update and, like many of its predecessors, it improves security. It doesn’t have any known bug fixes or outward facing features on board.

With that in mind, we want to take you through everything you need to know about iOS 15.8.1 for iPhone.

In this guide we’ll take you through iOS 15.8.1’s changes, the current state of its performance, problems plaguing the operating system, the iOS 15 jailbreak status, and more.

We’ll start with some thoughts about iOS 15.8.1’s performance.

iOS 15.8.1 Review

iOS 15.8.1 requires a small chunk of space on your iPhone. Unless you’re running low on space, you won’t have to make room.

That being said, if you’ve fallen behind on software updates, it could be much larger. In some cases, iOS 15.8.1 could require several gigabytes of space.

The installation should take 15 minutes or less to complete. It took three minutes to download and eight minutes to install on an iPhone 7 that was previously running iOS 15.8.

We’ve been using the iOS 15.8 update on an iPhone 7 for several days now and we haven’t run any major problems with the software thus far.

iOS 15.8.1 Battery Life & Connectivity

• Battery life is stable, we haven’t noticed abnormal drain
• Wi-Fi connectivity is fast and reliable
• Bluetooth is working normally
• GPS and cellular data are stable

App Performance

• Third-party apps including Slack, Gmail, Chrome, and Spotify are all working fine
• First party apps like Safari and Podcasts are also working properly

Speed

• iOS 15.8.1 feels pretty snappy, we haven’t run into major UI lag (yet)

If your iPhone’s struggling on iOS 15.8, or an older version of iOS 15, you might want to install iOS 15.8.1 on your device today.

If you need help making a decision, you’ll want to check out our reasons to, and not to, install the software.

iOS 15.8.1 Problems

We haven’t run into any performance issues or debilitating bugs yet, but iOS 15.8.1 is causing problems for some iPhone users.

The current list of iOS 15 problems includes abnormal battery drain, busted Wi-Fi, broken Bluetooth, issues with Touch ID, and problems with various first and third-party apps.

If you run into a problem on iOS 15.8.1, take a look at our list of fixes for the most common iOS 15 problems.

We’ve also released some tips that could help you improve your phone’s performance and tips that could help you fix bad iOS 15 battery life.

Apple recently stopped signing on iOS 15.8 which means you can’t move your iPhone’s software back to the previous version of iOS 15 if iOS 15.8.1 starts causing issues. You can’t downgrade to anything older than iOS 15.8 either.

For more about the downgrade process, check out our guide.

iOS 15.8.1 Features

Apple no longer pushes new features to iOS 15 users. The most recent versions of iOS 15 have all patched up security issues and that’s precisely what iOS 15.8.1 brings to the table.

The official change log notes that the update brings important security fixes to iPhone users and you can learn more over on Apple’s security site.

iOS 15.8.1 Jailbreak

Developers have released a jailbreak tool that’s compatible with older versions of iOS, but it only works with select iPhone models and select versions of iOS.

We haven’t seen a jailbreak for iOS 15.8.1 yet and it’s unclear when, or even if, we will. Keep an eye out as we push away from the software’s release.

What’s Next

It’s unclear if iOS 15.8.1 will be the final version of iOS 15. Apple could choose to push additional versions of iOS 15 in 2024, but that hasn’t been confirmed.

Apple won’t push additional iOS 15 upgrades to iPhone 8 and newer going forward. That being said, we could still see new iOS 15 software for the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone SE in the future.

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