Patch your iPhone and iPad: Apple security update stamps out active exploit

Urgent security patch also lands on Apple Watch

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If you use anApple Watch, iPhone or iPad, now’s the time to make sure you’ve gotthe latest OS updatedownloaded and applied, as the tech giant has just patched a critical security vulnerability.

In its statement oniOS and iPadOS(as well asWatchOS), Apple has confirmed that it is “aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited”. This means that the vulnerability may have already been discovered and exploited by hackers, hence the urgency of the security patch.

As mentioned in Apple’s patch notes, the exploit was found byGoogle’s Project Zero team and impacts WebKit – the browser engine that Apple used to buildSafari.

For iPhone and iPad users, this will bring the OS up to version 14.4.2 (ahead of the upcomingiOS 14.5 release), and the Apple Watch OS version to 7.3.3.

For most users, this update will land automatically, but if you check your device’s OS version and notice it doesn’t match the above, you should manually update your device to the latest version via Settings > General > Software Update.

Apple has provided a list of the compatible devices, which we’ll list below:

Whileonly a tiny percentage of security vulnerabilities are actually exploited, it’s good practice to apply security patches from tech companies as soon as they’re available so hackers never get the chance.

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