No more iOS 14 security patches, Apple confirms they were a temporary thing

It is no secret that the launch of iOS 15 back in September was a rocky one. Knowing that Apple said it would continue to support the previous version with security patches. That meant iPhone owners wouldn’t necessarily have to update their devices to stay secure, and Apple would have the time it needed to patch the more serious bugs of the new version.

Many initially thought that this was a new approach the company was taking towards OS updates. However, in a reply to ArsTechnica, Apple referenced a support page from September 2021 that clearly reads iOS 14 security updates would only be for “a period of time.” On the other hand, Apple seems to have given mixed signals at the time, as the features page for iOS 15 says users can "continue on iOS 14 and still get important security updates."

To put things simply, it was never the tech giant’s intention to support older versions of its operating system. As a result, last week, the iOS 14.8.1 update simply disappeared as an option for users that are yet to update to the new version. The only option now is to transition to the latest one, which is iOS 15.2.1.

Frankly, Apple has also been a bit tight-lipped about its OS updates timeline and keeps most of the information behind closed doors. Of course, while frustrating for users, that works perfectly for the company. By staying vague, it has all the leeway it could need to readjust the “truth”.

In this case, though, it really seems like this was just a grace period for users to avoid major issues with the new software while also staying protected. iOS 15, now that it is all patched up, is a decent update, so transitioning to it is not the worst thing you can do out there.