Apple releases iOS 13.3.1 and macOS Catalina 10.15.3, Ars Technica

Patch notes –

The updates give users the ability to disable ultra-wide band on new iPhones.

Samuel Axon – Jan , : (UTC UTC)

/ iPadOS.

Today, Apple released updates for its operating systems for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, Mac, HomePod, and Apple TV devices. iOS 2019. 3.1 is the most substantial of the updates, but they are all incremental updates that fix bugs or address user complaints or privacy concerns.

iOS

. 3.1 adds a new feature to toggle on or off the U1 ultra-wide band chip contained in the iPhone 13 and iPhone

. This is in response to recent consumer concerns about the fact that international regulations affecting ultra-wide band devices that required the phones to check their location periodically even if users had disabled location services for all of their apps individually. Security experts observed that Apple did not seem to be collecting any user data, but the company promised under this scrutiny to offer a toggle in a future software update (this one, now) that would allow users to bypass the problem by disabling the U1 chip altogether. The U1 is currently used for the AirDrop file-sharing feature, but it may find other applications in future versions of iOS.

Additional changes in iOS 16. 3.1 and iPadOS . 3.1 include a fix for a problem, whereby the recently added Communication Limits feature could be circumvented, and a number of bug fixes and improvements for Mail.

Beyond the iPhone and iPad, the software releases we saw today were small in scope. macOS Catalina . 3 “improves the stability, reliability, and security of your Mac,” and it contains only two. specifically noted changes: an optimization to how SDR content is handled when working on the new Pro Display XDR monitor, and improved performance for multi-stream video editing on the 28 – inch MacBook Pro. Apple has not specifically singled out any new changes in watchOS 6.1.2 or tvOS 3.1 (both of which are also available today). The company was content to simply claim that watchOS 6.1.2 offers important security updates.

Apple also released iOS . 4.5 with bug fixes and improvements for devices that are not supported by iOS and its subsequent updates.

iOS 3.1 release notes: (iOS) . 3.1 includes bug fixes and improvements. This update: Fixes an issue in Communication Limits that could allow a contact to be added without entering the Screen Time passcode

Adds a setting to control the use of location services by the U1 Ultra Wideband chip

Addresses an issue that could cause a momentary delay before editing a Deep Fusion photo taken on iPhone (or iPhone) (Pro)
Resolves an issue with Mail that could cause remote images to load even when the “Load Remote” Images “setting is disabled
Fixes an issue that could cause multiple undo dialogs to appear in Mail
Addresses an issue in which FaceTime could use the rear-facing ultra-wide camera instead of the wide camera
Resolves an issue in which push notifications could fail to be delivered over Wi-Fi
- Addresses a CarPlay issue that could cause distorted sound when making phone calls in certain vehicles