{"id":208662,"date":"2026-01-31T18:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/31\/apple-quietly-updates-decade-old-iphones-to-keep-imessage-alive-while-leaving-newer-models-oddly-without-the-patch\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T18:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:55:08","slug":"apple-quietly-updates-decade-old-iphones-to-keep-imessage-alive-while-leaving-newer-models-oddly-without-the-patch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/31\/apple-quietly-updates-decade-old-iphones-to-keep-imessage-alive-while-leaving-newer-models-oddly-without-the-patch\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple quietly updates decade-old iPhones to keep iMessage alive while leaving newer models oddly without the patch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/apple-just-patched-some-versions-of-ios-that-are-over-a-decade-old-so-it-might-want-to-hold-on-to-that-good-old-iphone-for-a-bit\">Apple quietly updates decade-old iPhones to keep iMessage alive while leaving newer models oddly without the patch<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/apple-just-patched-some-versions-of-ios-that-are-over-a-decade-old-so-it-might-want-to-hold-on-to-that-good-old-iphone-for-a-bit\">https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/apple-just-patched-some-versions-of-ios-that-are-over-a-decade-old-so-it-might-want-to-hold-on-to-that-good-old-iphone-for-a-bit<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-01-31 18:05:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.techradar.com\">www.techradar.com<\/a><\/p>\n<ul id=\"9a541df8-adaa-4508-9353-8cea6d8e6901\">\n<li><strong>Apple refreshes certificates to maintain iMessage, FaceTime, and account functionality past 2027<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Updates do not include new features or traditional security fixes<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>iOS 16 updates did not renew certificates, leaving some users uncertain<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"6e73c24b-1133-4598-9983-ac4130f7d51d\">Apple has unexpectedly released updates for some versions of iOS which are more than 10 years old, including iOS 12 and iOS 15.<\/p>\n<p>These updates do not add new features or fix security flaws in the traditional sense, instead, they update the security certificates that allow iMessage, FaceTime, and Apple account sign-ins to continue functioning past January 2027.<\/p>\n<p id=\"6e73c24b-1133-4598-9983-ac4130f7d51d-2\">A similar update was also released for iOS 18.7.4, which is unsurprising given that iOS 18 is still actively maintained on devices such as the iPhone XS and iPhone XR &#8211; however, Apple\u2019s patching seems to have a gap. iOS 16 received a recent update, but it does not mention certificate renewal, and no equivalent patch exists for devices stuck on iOS 17.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-article-heading block pb-3 !text-base font-bold uppercase sm:text-sm text-[#333]\"><br \/>\nYou may like<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"more-recent-iphones-did-not-get-the-update-3\">More recent iPhones did not get the update<\/h2>\n<p id=\"cd2c02fb-d1e2-4575-bef2-e58e65bd58c0\">This inconsistency leaves users of older devices uncertain about how long their iPhones and iPads can remain operational with basic services intact.<\/p>\n<p>Devices running iOS versions from 12 through 16 are increasingly impractical as general-purpose smartphones or tablets.<\/p>\n<p>Many of these handsets include only 1 or 2GB of RAM, and their outdated Safari browsers lack features and security protections required to navigate the modern web safely.<\/p>\n<p>Third-party apps also stop supporting these versions shortly after release, which further limits usability, yet some old devices continue to find secondary roles, such as simple messaging phones or single-purpose gadgets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!<\/p>\n<p>A device like the iPhone 5S can serve a limited function for years after mainstream support ends.<\/p>\n<p>Apple has a history of extending security updates for older hardware, typically for one or two years after&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/apple-just-patched-some-versions-of-ios-that-are-over-a-decade-old-so-it-might-want-to-hold-on-to-that-good-old-iphone-for-a-bit\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple quietly updates decade-old iPhones to keep iMessage alive while leaving newer models oddly without&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/fyZLGzq79D8KmpBGYxonuA-2054-80.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[69,150,130,73,95,57,61],"class_list":["post-208662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone","tag-ios","tag-ios-15","tag-ios-16","tag-ios-17","tag-ios-18","tag-security","tag-security-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208662"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208662"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208664,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208662\/revisions\/208664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}