Apple Releases iOS 11.2.5; With a Focus on Security and Under the Hood Improvements

By AppleVis, 23 January, 2018

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Apple has today released iOS 11.2.5 to the public.

According to Apple's release notes, via MacRumors, this update includes the following changes.

HomePod support

  • Setup and automatically transfer your Apple ID, Apple Music, Siri and Wi-Fi settings to HomePod.

Siri News

  • Siri can now read the news, just ask, "Hey Siri, play the news". You can also ask for specific news categories including Sports, Business or Music.

Other improvements and fixes

  • Addresses an issue that could cause the Phone app to display incomplete information in the call list
  • Fixes an issue that caused Mail notifications from some Exchange accounts to disappear from the Lock screen when unlocking iPhone X with Face ID
  • Addresses an issue that could cause Messages conversations to temporarily be listed out of order
  • Fixes an issue in CarPlay where Now Playing controls become unresponsive after multiple track changes
  • Adds ability for VoiceOver to announce playback destinations and AirPod battery level

In addition, It has been reported that this update addresses a bug that allowed a malicious link to freeze the Messages app.

We have not discovered any noticeable outward-facing changes during our testing, so it's possible that this update focuses mainly on this security vulnerability; along with other bug fixes and under the hood improvements. We will update this post if we learn of any notable changes.

Based on our testing, we believe blind and low vision users will find no accessibility changes in iOS 11.2.5.

In regard to possible new bugs for VoiceOver users, there is a problem with Lock Screen notifications which we are not completely sure is new in iOS 11.2.5, but-if not-is certainly far more prevalent. Specifically, accessing and using the VoiceOver Actions menu on Lock Screen notifications can be frustratingly unreliable. When flicking up or down on a notification, you may find that VoiceOver simply repeats the notification instead of providing access to rotor options )such as Clear or More). From our experience, it may take several attempts before it works correctly.

As we always stress, it is impossible for us to test all devices; configurations; and use cases—so there may be improvements and regressions that we did not identify during the beta cycle. With this in mind, please do let us know in the comments of any fixes; enhancements; or regressions that you find in your own testing of iOS 11.2.5.

iOS 11.2.5 is available via Over-the-Air Update (Settings > General > Software Update) or via iTunes on a Mac or PC.

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Comments

By alex wallis on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

another website just published the change log for this new ios release,
and VoiceOver does get a mention, the entry says
Adds ability for VoiceOver to announce playback destinations and AirPod battery level

I thought VoiceOver could already announce the battery level though? I have been able to access it when the case is opened etc.

By dvdmth on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Here are the release notes, taken from Apple’s website:

HomePod support
Setup and automatically transfer your Apple ID, Apple Music, Siri and Wi-Fi settings to HomePod.

Siri News
Siri can now read the news, just ask, "Hey Siri, play the news". You can also ask for specific news categories including Sports, Business or Music.

Other improvements and fixes
Addresses an issue that could cause the Phone app to display incomplete information in the call list
Fixes an issue that caused Mail notifications from some Exchange accounts to disappear from the Lock screen when unlocking iPhone X with Face ID
Addresses an issue that could cause Messages conversations to temporarily be listed out of order
Fixes an issue in CarPlay where Now Playing controls become unresponsive after multiple track changes
Adds ability for VoiceOver to announce playback destinations and AirPod battery level

By Holger Fiallo on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Does not work when you want to change the news. Siri states she is unable to change it. Right now I am using iPhone 7, iOS 11.2.5.

By gailisaiah on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Hi Holger,
I asked him to play the news and along with him telling me that I can change to another source for news, he starts randomly playing a song from my music library.

By Lielle ben simon on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Hello, with the new update for ios11.2.5 VoiceOver announce the incoming calls correctly with the lable of number? For example: Lielle ben simon, mobile..

By sockhopsinger on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

I don't think that was a Voiceover bug. If you look above, the release notes claim, "Addresses an issue that could cause the Phone app to display incomplete information in the call list." Hopefully this will fix all the issues regarding announcing callers.

Yes, it works well until you want to change the news provider. try it and you will see.

By Dawn 👩🏻‍🦯 on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Hi all!

I have what may appear to be a rather strange question for you all! I use the Braigo app & apparently, one of the versions of ios. before this one broke it! At least that's what I got from the dev! My question is: does anyone else on here that uses the Braigo app know if the issues were worked out yet? I surely do hope so! I use that app litterally every day! And if not, I sure do hope a patch is put out soon! Jhanks for any help in advance!

By LaBoheme on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

“I don't think that was a Voiceover bug. If you look above, the release notes. . .”

well, it is indeed a vo bug, so yes, only blind users suffer. if you were to look at your recent calls, you would find vo doesn't announce all the specifics, such as mobile, home, etc., and no source of the call like signal or whatsapp calls, either. these info are clearly shown on screen. i can no longer return calls by tapping, because i can't be confident where i'll be calling or whether if i will be on an encrypted call. simple bug like this should not have existed in the first place and maybe never get fixed, very frustrating.

By Sean Terry on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Hi there, I’m having no issues with the new Siri and news feature. Even when switching from one news source to another, I have no issues. I can even tell it to play the audio from a particular news source altogether without it defaulting to the one that is set. However, I do have a question. Is there anyway to have Siri default to another source? Right now as far as the US is concerned, it defaults to NPR. What if I wanted it to default to Fox?

By Unregistered User (not verified) on Wednesday, February 21, 2018 - 21:43

Hi All,
I am mostly using the Apple Wireless Keyboard for entering text in text fields. After updating my new iPhone 8 plus to iOS 11.2.5, I am not able to enter text when I double-tap a text field E.G. an Email address and/or password entry unless I turn off and turn on my Apple Wireless keyboard. I also tried a USB keyboard with the Apple Lightning to Camera adapter and got the same result.
Are you experiencing any issue using a physical keyboard with your iDevice after updating to iOS 11.2.5?
Thanks.

By Bingo Little on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

By saying: 'Siri, change my news provider to LBC' I appear to have changed the defeault from the bBC. If you haven't tried that formulation, perhaps that'll work.

By Roxann Pollard on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

When I first tried the SIRI News feature yesterday, the default was NPR here in the US. SIRI announced that I could switch to a few different news carriers. I told SIRI to "Switch to Fox". The Fox news started playing. this morning, I told SIRI to play the news and Fox news was played. Again, SIRI instructed that I could switch news carriers. I didn't instruct SIRI to change default news carrier to Fox. I think it just used the last played news carrier.

When looking for more info on this feature, I found a wegbsite which stated that Siri podcast news is available in the United States, Australia, and the UK, currently. If individuals who are outside these three regions are having difficulty, perhaps this explains the problem.

By treky fan on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Hi all. I have to stay at a hotel that has a public network, but you have to use your room number and last name in order to connect. Is it safe to update my phone using this network, which seems to be slower than a snail at times, or should I just wait until I'm back home and on a secure network?

By sockhopsinger on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Unless there is just some new feature that you absolutely can't live without, I think I'd wait until I was on my own secure network.

By charles on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Before this operating system update, I would choose the "for you" tab in "music" to see what new stuff can be gotten. I would see what I had previously been player, then it would jump to the list of tabs. To find out what was new, I would have to go to the bottom, then swipe up all the way through the posts, the likes and dislikes and all that stuff to eventually find music selections. Since the latest update, the "music" works as it should. What a relief.

By That Blind Canuck on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Hello,

I figured everyone probably knew, but just in case, Siri News does not yet work in Canada, probably because we still don't have the stock News app either. Kind of sucks, look forward to when News makes its way to Canada.

On another mentioned post, regarding VoiceOver announcing incoming calls, if I understand, when calls come in, if you have the person in your contacts and have their multiple numbers labelled properly (e.g. Work, Home, Mobile, iPhone), VoiceOver should not only read to you that you have an incoming call from John Smith, but should also indicate that is an Incoming Call from John Smith - Mobile, Is this correct? I do believe before that this would work. I would have various contacts and each of their numbers labelled correctly (e.g. Work, Home, Mobile) and when I would get a call from that person, VoiceOver would read aloud that I was getting an incoming call from that person's work number. If I even opened the Phone app and looked in my recents, it would also list the name of the person and indicate whether it was their work, home or mobile numbers. Of course, this would only work if you had the person's name in your contacts and each of their multiple numbers labelled correctly in order for this to work. If someone calls you that are not in your contacts, then I would assume that their default caller ID would be displayed instead. All of this to say that as of iOS 11.2.5, this glitch of not reading which number is the person from your contacts calling from is still not working. I only hear VoiceOver read out that I got an incoming call from a contact and that's it. It doesn't tell me whether its from their work, home or mobile, like it did before. So either this is a setting that I need to either enable or disable, I would say that it isn't fixed. Even when I view my recents, VoiceOver does read out all information, just not whether it was from their home or work or mobile.

On another note, for those of you who may have an Apple Watch Series 1, could also be present in other Apple Watches but I am not sure as I only have the Series 1. After updating to iOS 11.2.5, I've noticed that the setting to allow your watch, while on your wrist, to unlock when you unlock your iPhone, on my phone, it somehow got turned off, even though I had it turned on before. I just thought I would bring this up in case if others may be experiencing a similar issue and do not know why.

Thanks!

By Dawn 👩🏻‍🦯 on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Hi all.
Just figured I'd update you on Braigo. I updated my system just as a shot in the dark to see if Braigo was fixed, and sadly it's still broken. )long sad sigh)

On the bright side, I can't wait to try the new Siri reading the news feature!

By Dawn 👩🏻‍🦯 on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

Hi all!
I noticed some of you having issues with Siri and news. Well, I might have a possible fix. If you have the storage-saving feature to off load unused apps turned on, and the Podcasts app is in iCloud, then that may be why it's not working. I asked to play the news, and there was a button to download the podcasts app & when I asked to switch she said she couldn't because I haven't installed the latest Podcasts app yet. Just thought I'd share with you all!

By themusicman08 on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

I have no issues with it here. I don't use Hey Siri personally though.

By Holger Fiallo on Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 21:43

It is working now. I was able to change my news provider without any problem this time. It probably was a bug. Now seem fixed.

Hi there,

I find myself also having issues regarding the functionality of the Apple bluetooth keyboard. It often happens that I can’t type anything at all after selecting a textfield. There are a few keys that keep working like quick nav, volume keys and the escape button, but thats about iT. Most important is that the A to Z keys and backspace just stop reacting. The only solution I found is to turn bluetooth off and after turning it back on again everything works fine,unfortunately for a very short while. I use my keyboard a lot during the day, switching on and off bluetooth all the time gets me a bit frustrated. I expectedt apple to have fixed this by now. Its not the first time this happens, at the start of ios10 there wheresimular bugs regarding the wireless keyboard but that got fixed in the end. Does anyone has these same issues or could it just be my keyboard is slowly giving up on me after 4 years? Any suggestions beside changing the batteries are more than welcome.
Thanks!

By charles on Wednesday, February 21, 2018 - 21:43

I haven't seen any notifications from the Applevis team about this, but do not fault them for not letting us know. There are security fixes, which is always a good thing. I don't know of any Voice-Over bugs. I have heard that if a specific character was sent to people using 11.2.5, your device would crash, and that this has been fixed by Apple.