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Apple Releases iOS 8.1.1, It's An Essential Update

This article is more than 9 years old.

Roll up, roll up, iOS 8.1.1 is now available for download and iPhone and iPad owners should rush to get it.

From the release notes the update sounds incremental. Apple simply states “This release includes bug fixes, increased stability and performance improvements for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S." but it doesn’t tell the full story.

Don’t believe the x.x.1 moniker, Apple has high hopes for this release. The beta was seeded more than two weeks ago with developers. This is not only meticulous for what sounds like a small update, but it is also the first time Apple has ever seeded a beta iOS patch in its history.

Make no mistake, this is the patch Apple hopes will fix all the WiFi, battery life and Bluetooth problems in iOS 8. It is also the patch to bring the older iPhone 4S and iPad 2 models back to life after their performance was badly impacted in upgrading to iOS 8.

Read more: iPhone 6 And iPhone 6 Plus vs iPhone 5S And iPhone 5: Should You Upgrade?

The early signs are Apple might just have nailed it. In the long running iOS 8 Support Thread on Apple Support Communities, affected users are reporting positive outcomes.

“Well its early days yet to tell for sure and I don't want to tempt fate, but so far for me it seems way faster now on 8.1.1,” said dtcb67. “Games are also now way more responsive and seem as they were on iOS7 so far. I will see if the wifi remains stable and has the range issues later, but thought I'd post to let you guys know, for me at least so far it seems to be a big improvement.”

This viewpoint was echoed by user DezM who said “It has worked well for me without issues. Just update it”

Read more: iOS 8: The Best Keyboard Replacements

There are two dissenting voices in the thread, but they don’t make it clear whether they have yet updated to iOS 8.1.1 or are still using iOS 8.1. Either way, for the significant number of users affected by iOS 8 bugs - notably older iPhones - iOS 8.1.1 looks like it just might finally fix their woes.

As such what appears to be the most innocuous iOS 8 release to date actually looks set to become one of the most important .

If you haven't been prompted to download iOS 8.1.1 already, open your device and go to: Settings>General>Software Update. You must have at least 50% battery capacity before it will install.

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