Here’s When to Expect the iOS 11.1 Release Date

Unless Apple’s cooking up a surprise iOS 11 update for next month we’ll probably see the iOS 11.1 release date land sometime in late October.

Apple’s working quickly to upgrade its new iOS 11 operating system. Earlier this week, the company released its first bug fix update (iOS 11.0.1) and yesterday it confirmed a new iOS 11.1 update with a launch in beta for developers and those in the free Beta Software Program.

The iOS 11.1 update will be the company’s first milestone upgrade which means it should come with more than bug fixes and security patches. The first iOS 11.1 beta features some notable tweaks, but the first version is lacking the star power we usually get from the first x.x beta release.

That said, while the first iOS 11.1 beta failed to bring some of iOS 11’s missing features, it looks like iOS 11.1 will probably come with at least one of those features.

The company’s Apple Watch 1 page says Apple Pay Cash will be coming to the wearable in “late October.” The footnote doesn’t explicitly say “iOS 11.1,” but there’s a very good chance the company will use its first milestone iOS 11 update to deliver a feature that was originally supposed to be on board the first version of iOS 11. (Note: The reference has since been scrubbed and now it simply says “fall.”)

Milestone releases and maintenance updates typically go through a month of testing before they’re released to the public so the timing of the iOS 11.1 beta release makes sense. The timing also lines up with the company’s iPhone X launch. iPhone X pre-orders kick off on October 27th ahead of a release on November 3rd.

Apple will likely release multiple iOS 11.1 betas before the official release, but there’s no guarantee the company will put Apple Pay Cash into beta ahead of launch. The company could simply choose to release it inside the final version of iOS 11.1 or even another version of its mobile operating system.

Apple Pay Cash looks like it will launch in late October and it will be joined by 50+ new emoji characters for the iOS 11 keyboard.

Apple’s promised to deliver new emoji characters to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users in the upcoming iOS 11.1 beta 2. If everything goes well in testing these emojis will make it into the final iOS 11.1 release.

The company’s also delayed Messages in iCloud storage and says it plans to bring back the popular 3D Touch app switcher gesture in a future iOS 11 update.

For now, iPhone and iPad users must contend with iOS 11.0.2, a small bug fix update that delivers fixes for Exchange problems but also brings some problems of its own.

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