When Apple first unveiled iOS 15 and iPad OS 15, the company announced that the upgrade wouldn’t be compulsory for people who wanted to stay with iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, respectively. The new operating systems would still be offered to compatible devices, but iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 would keep getting security updates for those who chose not to install the newer OS.
Andrew Cunningham for Ars Technica:
But last week, 9to5Mac and others noticed that the iOS 14.8.1 update had stopped being offered to phones running iOS 14. The only upgrade option was for the latest version of iOS 15, currently 15.2.1. We’ve confirmed with Apple that this isn’t an error; iOS 14 is no longer being updated, and anyone who wants the latest security updates will also need to accept the other changes in iOS 15.
Apple told Ars that it always intended the iOS 14 security update option to be temporary…
That does make a certain kind of sense, but the company never actually made it explicit before now. The features page for iOS 15 merely says that users can “continue on iOS 14 and still get important security updates,” with no mention of any sort of time limit. It’s also not consistent with how Apple handles macOS, where the two previous versions of the OS continue to receive security updates in (albeit imperfect) lockstep with the latest macOS version.
MacDailyNews Take: In other words, looks like Apple’s surveillance scheme involving the installation of backdoors to scan users’ photo libraries, ostensibly for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), but which could easily be bastardized to scan for political images, words, etc., it about to launch – whether Apple tells users about it or tries to surreptitiously slip it into coming updates.
Keep vigilant! We certainly will.
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