iOS 11.2.5 Public Beta 4 Out Now - Security Conscious Should Think Twice Before Downloading

It's been a hot minute and Apple has been cooking on the iOS 11 front. Earlier this week we saw the 11.2.2 patch drop with a crucial update for the Spectre bug (which means Apple still has 11.2.3 and 11.2.4 available to patch emergency bug fixes). Does this mean that the quickly-released iOS 11.2.5 Public Beta 4 has that same patch applied? Not necessarily.

Need to know how to get started testing Public Betas for Apple? Click here.

With the release of iOS 11.2.2, we know now that Apple has adopted a system where minor version numbers are held in reserve for breaking security risks that require immediate public releases. But development of that patch for all iOS users (minus, of course, beta testers) was super quick and there's no indication in the release notes for the beta that the in-progress beta patch for iOS 11.2.5 was updated to include the same code. It will be there eventually, certainly by the time we get a gold master of iOS 11.2.5. But for now, if the only thing that matters to you is a secure iPhone, then you should probably stick to the current major release of iOS 11.2.2.

So what do we get this time around? While Public Beta 3 gave us a fun new way to access news podcasts with Siri, there's nothing groundbreaking about the latest version of iOS 11.2.5. This is expected (we haven't seen anything new as of yet) and disappointing at the same time.

The trouble is timing. Apple has a lot of pressure on it at the moment to make battery-health indicators a part of iOS, not now, but yesterday and every release that feature is delayed brings more outcries that Cupertino is hiding things. But iOS 11.2.5 was never going to be the kind of release that included major feature updates. Bug fixes, for sure. Background stability work, definitely. But user-facing UI changes, especially one that lets you peer deep into the heart of your iPhone's hardware? That requires a bit more tweaking, certainly more than an already-in-process beta can afford it.

So where does that leave Apple? Well, they need to announce, and soon, in which release we will see the battery-health feature included. If they're smart, it will be iOS 11.3. Granted, there's no reason Apple couldn't push the feature out until iOS 12, launching later this year, but it would be at the expense of a mountain of bad press and lots of poor opinions on the behalf of investors and users alike. What looks bad is when they start announcing other features, like aggressive parental controls for iPhones, for future updates without first nailing down when their first fire will be put out.

If Apple is smart, they're already tweaking the base code in iOS 11.2.5 and seeing how to get a wrapper on this data as soon as possible (and if they did pull some major overtime hours and slip the battery feature into iOS 11.2.5 Public Beta 4, I'll let you know).

So, if you're willing to live in a slightly less secure future than planned, head over to Settings > General > Software Update and click the button!