Ios 15 no longer supported?

[okkibs]

Apple keeps the latest version updated with all bug fixes (that they know about).

That's exactly it and as you said from that follows that Apple does not fix all already known issues on older versions. Usually there is no big risk. But if you are using a device for your business and need to follow best practices such as storing personal customer data only on devices that are up to date with security fixes then you shouldn't assume iOS 15 is good enough.

Latest iOS 17.5 update contained a cosiderable amount of security fixes, I would therefore expect a collection update for these on iOS/iPadOS 15 as well.

Why do you expect it when Apple clearly says only the current version iOS 17 is guaranteed to receive all fixes?

 

[whateverest]

Why do you expect it when Apple clearly says only the current version iOS 17 is guaranteed to receive all fixes?

Well, for Apple it is kind of balancing between possible 'bad news damage' to the company in case that certain now known and (in iOS17) fixed security issues could be actively targeted on the old devices - versus the probably low development effort to merge the fixes into iOS15.
I am quite sure the possible risks overweight the required dev/release costs.
Also, some of the security fixes are probably not required in iOS15, so a selection somehow will take place.

 

[RumorChaser]

Well, for Apple it is kind of balancing between possible 'bad news damage' to the company in case that certain now known and (in iOS17) fixed security issues could be actively targeted on the old devices - versus the probably low development effort to merge the fixes into iOS15.
I am quite sure the possible risks overweight the required dev/release costs.
Also, some of the security fixes are probably not required in iOS15, so a selection somehow will take place.

Apple does support older iOS for some time, iOS 16 is still supported at the moment. iOS 15 is not as of last September.

If you want to see which bugs are still present on iOS 15, many of the bugs fixed in the latest MacOS 12 advisory apply to iOS 15. You can cross reference iOS 16 and MacOS 13 notes to validate. For example, both ios 16.7.8 and MacOS 13.6.7 fixes CVE-2024-27789 and CVE-2024-23296. They share the same kernel but has different components on top.

The effort involved is minimal for a trillion dollar company, especially because they are still supporting MacOS 12. It is a business decision and not a technical one.

 

[FeliApple]

Apple does support older iOS for some time, iOS 16 is still supported at the moment. iOS 15 is not as of last September.

If you want to see which bugs are still present on iOS 15, many of the bugs fixed in the latest MacOS 12 advisory apply to iOS 15. You can cross reference iOS 16 and MacOS 13 notes to validate. For example, both ios 16.7.8 and MacOS 13.6.7 fixes CVE-2024-27789 and CVE-2024-23296. They share the same kernel but has different components on top.

The effort involved is minimal for a trillion dollar company, especially because they are still supporting MacOS 12. It is a business decision and not a technical one.

Agreed, just like disallowing downgrading is a business decision, too.

They could provide security updated for older major versions and allow any device compatible with that major version to install it, but how would they obliterate iOS devices if they did that?