Why you need to install iOS 15.4 on your iPhone ASAP

Apple's release of iOS 15.4 earlier this week added some important features such as the ability of a face mask-wearing iPhone user to unlock his device using Face ID even without an Apple Watch present. The update also added a new gender-neutral American voice for Siri, and "Tap to Pay on iPhone." The latter allows an Apple iPhone to be used by merchants to accept payments from contactless credit and debit cards.

Some iPhone users might have decided not to download and install the update because they don't wear a mask, or care to use some of the new features including the new emoji. But if you do own an iPhone 6s or newer model, there are some serious security flaws that are addressed in what might be the last major update until iOS 16 arrives.

Apple's support page for iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 lists 39 separate Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) codes with each unique code representing a security issue on the iPhone or iPad. Some of these are serious vulnerabilities including one that could allow someone with physical access to your device to make changes to the carrier account information and settings from the lock screen.

Multiple issues are being patched for FaceTime with the update including one where users were sending audio and video on a FaceTime call without knowing about it. Among the most serious issues, a vulnerability found in iTunes could allow a malicious website to access information about the user and his/her device.

Several patches were disseminated for the iOS kernel including one to stop malicious apps from elevating privileges. The kernel is the core of an operating system like iOS and controls everything in the system. You might say it is the most important part of any OS and is the go-between that links the hardware to the operating system.

Another issue with the iOS kernel that is patched in iOS 15.4 could allow a bad actor to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack. A DoS essentially shuts down a device by sending information that causes it to crash, or overloads the device with traffic forcing it to shut down.

Other potential security threats include one that could allow a malicious app to read the settings of other apps. So if you want to make sure that your iPhone and iPad are more secure than they are at present, you really should take the time to download and install iOS 15.4 and iPad OS 15.4 ASAP. Go to Settings > General > Software Update.

We've already mentioned that the update is available to those packing the iPhone 6s or later. The iPadOS 15.4 update is offered to the iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 4 and later. We'd be remiss if we didn't point out that iOS 15.4 is also compatible with the iPod touch (7th generation).

So you see, it isn't always about the new features when it comes to an operating system update. And there is no information about whether Apple detected that any of these vulnerabilities  have been exploited. But that doesn't matter because the goal is to be one step ahead of the attackers which is why both Apple and Google make a huge deal out of security updates.

Yes, the security updates aren't as sexy as a huge feature drop and the nature of a security patch means that it isn't something that you are going to notice on the device. But when it comes down to it, these security patches are more important to users because if attackers exploit a software vulnerability on your phone or tablet, you could be left with nothing but an expensive paperweight.