Apple today released iOS 17.6.1 and iPadOS 17.6.1, minor updates to the iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 operating system updates that came out last year. Apple is making iOS 17.6.1 and iPadOS 17.6.1 available a week after the launch of iOS 17.6 and iPadOS 17.6.
iOS 17.6.1 and iPadOS 17.6.1 can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released an iOS 16.7.10 update for devices that are unable to be upgraded to iOS 17.
According to Apple's release notes, the iOS 17.6.1 update addresses an issue that could prevent the enabling or disabling of Advanced Data Protection.
This update includes important bug fixes and addresses an issue that prevents enabling or disabling Advanced Data Protection.
The Advanced Data Protection bug impacted a small number of users. Those who tried to turn Advanced Data Protection on and weren't able to get it enabled saw an error message and it was clear it wasn't active. Affected users who tried to turn it off saw it disabled in the interface, though it was actually still active for iCloud data.
Both of those bugs have been fixed in the update. iPhone users who had the bug that prevented Advanced Data Protection from properly turning off will see a notification that asks them to confirm the decision to turn the feature off after installing iOS 17.6.1. Apple says that the few users who experienced this bug had an expected level of security or more, in the situation where ADP did not turn off as expected.
