Here we go again? Apple’s next iPhone update, which brings new emergency alerts and a game-changing AirDrop upgrade, is expected within days. But speculation has already started that it might already be running late. Just like Apple’s last update.
This speculation is not a surprise. iOS 26.1 was released in early November but had been expected in late October. This very unApple-like delay broke a multi-year streak of the first material update post a new iOS release releasing in October.
That last update brought a radical new security process to iPhones, with background updates enabling emergency patching without any user action or maybe even a restart. Ironically, the update bringing a more efficient update process was inefficiently late.
There’s no fixed date for iOS 26.2 yet — mid-December is the target. And there’s no reason to believe it’s running late. At least not yet. But iOS 26.1’s release delay will have had a knock-on effect. Delaying betas and consuming resource longer than expected.
The next update brings a new localized emergency update platform to iPhone, which will ask to use your location to ensure the updates you receive are relevant. This piggybacks on Apple’s shadow FindMy network, which raises another security and privacy question, but which is fine on the basis that you trust Apple with your data.
The second key security update is now more topical. Apple is adding a PIN code to AirDrop, ostensibly to enable you to share files with Apple users not in your contacts and without having to open sharing to “everyone.”
Instead a PIN can be shared and will open a secure sharing tunnel for 30 days. It was unlikely planned this way, but this now comes just weeks after Google broke into AirDrop’s walled garden to enable sharing between iPhones and Androids.
We’re half-expecting the usual Apple security shutdown, which Google pre-empted with its own “secure by design” blog to defend the change. Whether these new PINs morph into something more akin to an Apple only security layer remains to be seen.
iOS 26.2 will also bring the usual raft of security fixes across the Apple estate. The usual advice will apply. Ensure automatic updated are enabled and install the new firmware as soon as it’s available. It will come to everyone, everywhere at the same time.
