iOS 17.6: Why This Could Be Apple's Last Update Before iOS 18

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Apple released iOS 17.6 on Monday, the same day it released the second public beta for iOS 18 and the first developer beta of iOS 18.1. The tech giant wrote in the update's release notes that it's recommended for all users, since it provides important bug fixes and security updates. 

Read more: An Expert's Guide to the Features in the iOS 18 Beta

To download the update, go to Settings > General > Software Update, tap Update Now and follow the onscreen prompts.

Here's what you should know about the latest software update. 

What's in iOS 17.6?

After using the update during its beta phase, there's not much new, from what I can tell. According to 9to5Mac, if you subscribe to MLS Season Pass you now have access to the Catch Up feature on your iPhone. This feature shows you a series of clips of a match if you start watching it after it's started.

Otherwise, there are a few minor wording changes on a couple menus, but this update is focused on patches and bug fixes. That's not that surprising, for a few reasons.

The first is that everything that Apple announced would be in iOS 17 has already been released. When the tech giant announced iOS 17 in 2023, it said it would bring a lot of features to your iPhone, like StandBy mode and the Journal app. Though most of these features were available upon iOS 17's release, a few were made available later. They're all accounted for now, so there's nothing we were specifically waiting for in a future update.

Also, when Apple released iOS 16.6 in July 2023 -- the last major iOS 16 update prior to the release of iOS 17 -- it was focused on bug fixes and security patches. They were still important fixes, but there were no new features in that update.

Lastly, Apple is gearing up for the release of iOS 18. The company already released a two public beta for iOS 18 after announcing the next operating system at WWDC in June, as well as the first developer beta for iOS 18.1. It's unclear when iOS 18 will be released to the general public, but I imagine Apple is shifting its focus from iOS 17 to make sure iOS 18 works well.

For more on iOS 17, here's what was included in iOS 17.5, and here's our iOS 17 cheat sheet. You can also check out what to know about the iOS 18 public betas, along with our iOS 18 cheat sheet.

Watch this: iOS 18 Hands-On: Exploring the Big Design Changes

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