This is the biggest change to iPhone updates in years.
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As smartphone users, we live in interesting times. Apple warns sophisticated spyware developers are a major threat to its devices just as Google hardens Android, bringing the two ecosystems closer than ever. But Apple’s next update widens the gap again.
Google is completely changing its approach to Android security updates. No more monthly bulletins with a mix of security fixes and minor updates. Instead we will get a quarterly update with all minor add-ons, with critical fixes issued between times.
But Apple is also changing its approach, and its radical move should be seen as a direct response to the intensifying threat landscape. With iOS 26.1, the iPhone-maker will change its little known and less used Rapid Security Responses. The new Background Security Improvements will enable instant, silent, background fixes for critical issues.
This underpins Apple’s competitive differentiation when it comes to the efficiency of its upgrade process. In the last 3 weeks, we have seen iOS 26 and then iOS 26.0.1 roll out to all iPhones wherever they might be. Android can’t match that — only Pixel comes close, where Google has the same hardware/software lock as Apple.
Per 9to5Mac, you can expect iOS 26.1 to hit your iPhone late this month. “It’s in beta testing now, but a public launch isn’t far off.” The website looks back over the last three years, where iOS 18.1, iOS 17.1 and iOS 16.1 were all released in the last week of October.
The website says “Monday, October 27 seems the best candidate for release day, but it could always be a little earlier or later.” The beta program is right on track.
Apple has successfully deployed two global OS rollouts since September 15, and has even provided options for users to update iPhones even if they’re yet to move from iOS 18 to iOS 26. But when it comes to emergency fixes, it could still improve.
That’s the thinking with the new silent update option. MacWorld suggests Background Security Improvements “will be installed silently on the device without needing to manually update. Previously, users had to download Rapid Security Responses through the Settings app just like any other iOS update.”
The hope is this new process is used much more than its predecessor. If that’s the case, it will become a radical change to the way security updates are pushed out to a billion-plus devices all at once. Something others will need to match.
