Apple Releases iOS 15.0.2 to Fix These Critical Bugs

Even though we’re clearly on the march to the release of iOS 15.1 in the next few weeks, Apple has pushed out IOS 15.0.2 in the meantime, fixing some bugs that clearly can’t wait until the new major point release is ready.

iOS 15.1 is expected to be about a lot more than just bug fixes. The first few betas have already shown us the return of SharePlay, support for verifiable COVID-19 vaccination cards in Apple Wallet, and the promised additions of ProRes and more to the iPhone 13 Pro.

While iOS 15.1 is expected to address a few more bugs, iOS 15.0.2 has arrived today to do some important housecleaning right away.

Perhaps the biggest fix in this latest patch release is for a somewhat obscure bug that could delete photos saved from messages conversations under certain specific circumstances. To be clear, this wasn’t something that affected most users, as it only happened after deleting important conversation threads from Messages. Still, it was serious enough that it needed to be addressed right away. After all, potential data loss should never be taken lightly, no matter how few users it could affect.

iOS 15.0.2 also corrected another serious bug affecting CarPlay that would cause apps to freeze or shut down during audio playback. This one primarily appeared to most seriously impact iPhone 13 owners, but there were reports of similar by less pronounced effects on older iPhone models as well, going at least as far back as the iPhone XR.

While we’ll have to wait and see if iOS 15.0.2 does anything about some of the other bugs we’ve encountered, Apple does list a few additional fixes in this update:

• The new iPhone Leather Wallet with MagSafe may not connect to Find My
• One or more of your AirTags might not appear in the Find My Items tab
• Device restore or update may fail when using Finder or iTunes for iPhone 13 models

More Fixes

Some key Siri commands still appear to be missing in action. However, it’s likely the disappearance of these was coincidental with the release of iOS 15 rather than as a result of it, in which case it’s something Apple will hopefully fix on its back-end servers that power Siri.

There were also reports of degraded quality in Apple Maps’ Look Around imagery. Apple has addressed this in iOS 15.1 beta 3, although it’s unclear if it’s also fixed in iOS 15.0.2.

In addition to fixing some user-facing bugs, iOS 15.0.2 also patches a potentially serious security issue that may have been actively exploited, making it an even more important update.

The iOS 15.0.2 update is also accompanied by iPadOS 15.0.2, which addresses the same issues on the iPad side, including device, restore or update problems on the new sixth-generation iPad mini, which suggests this may actually be an A15-related problem.

Apple also released watchOS 8.0.1, which appears to be primarily addressing issues with the older Apple Watch Series 3. While users of this 2017 Apple Watch model encountered numerous problems with watchOS 7, it would seem that Apple is trying to be more proactive in making sure that watchOS 8 provides a better experience for Series 3 owners. In this case, the watchOS 8.0.1 fixes pertain to display software update progress more accurately and ensuring accessibility settings are showing up properly.