Apple recently launched iOS 13.1 and, as expected, it came with a lot of fixes for the problems iPhone and iPad users experienced. But that’s not all it came with.
Apple’s new iOS 13.1 also comes with a serious bug. It comes as no surprise as new software updates need to be updated severally to fix all the issues it comes with.
The tech giant confirmed the problem by issuing a serious new warning to millions of iPhone and iPad users.
In an official security post, Apple confirmed that both iOS 13.1 and the new iPadOS 13.1 have a bug — a minor flaw. It enables third-party keyboards to attain “full access” to your iPhones and iPads “even if you haven’t approved this access”. Sounds scary, doesn’t it!
Apple states that the bug doesn’t affect its official iOS keyboard.
However, it admits that the exploit is public and it has yet to find a fix. The company promises that “an upcoming software update will fix an issue”. Nevertheless, it gave no details of when this update will arrive. So you can expect malicious iOS keyboards will try and make the most out of this while they still can. It’s important to protect yourself and your data until a fix is found.
Until iOS 13 came around, the official iOS keyboard was so limited. Due to this, third party keyboards have been very popular. To find out which third-party keyboards you have installed on your iPhones and iPads go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards. If you are in doubt, uninstall them until Apple’s fix arrives. Otherwise, use them at your own risk.
Apple just added swipe typing to its keyboard in iOS 13, you would be wise sticking to it for now.
All of which is a shame, especially for new owners of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. The new Apple phones ship with iOS 13 so there is no option to avoid it. For others using older iPhones, this is not the time to upgrade. If you already have you have not only opened themselves up to this but a multitude of other issues.
Over the next 4-8 weeks, we expect that Apple will release an iOS 13.1.1 minor point update and more. Until these updates come through, we advise that you steer clear of iOS 13.