Have an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch? You need to update it right now

By Joe Maring Published June 23, 2023

iPhone 14 Pro Max against a red background. — Prakhar Khanna / Digital Trends

If you own an Apple product — be in the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or a Mac — you should update it immediately. Why? Apple has begun rolling out updates to all of its devices with fixes for a serious security vulnerability.

The security vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-32434, and it has to do with the kernel privileges of Apple devices. Per Apple’s website, the vulnerability allows third-party apps to “execute arbitrary code.” In other words, if a bad actor knows how to exploit this vulnerability, they could potentially gain access to your Apple device and wreck havoc.

Recommended Videos

The bad news? That vulnerability affects iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs. The good news? An update is available now that patches the CVE-2023-32434 vulnerability so you don’t have to worry about it.

The original iPad wallpaper in iPadOS 17. — Joe Maring/Digital Trends / Digital Trends

If you have an iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app, select General > Software Update, and you should see an update available for iOS 16.5.1 or iPadOS 16.5.1, respectively. If you have an Apple Watch, open the Watch app, select General > Software Update, and you should see an update for watchOS 9.5.2. For Mac users, open the Settings app, click General > Software Update, and you’ll see an update for macOS 13.4.1.

These updates also address another security vulnerability for iPhones, iPads, and Macs — specifically, a WebKit-related one that could process “maliciously crafted web content” and “lead to arbitrary code execution.”

Although there’s not much else to talk about beyond these security fixes, we’re expecting a lot more from Apple’s software teams later this year. Apple is currently developing the next major software updates for all of its platforms — including iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS 14 Sonoma. Developer betas for all of those are available now, and if you’re interested, you can download them right now for yourself using one of our guides:

However, seeing how those big software updates are all still in the “developer beta” stage, we recommend that most people wait until the software officially launches later this fall — or at least until public betas are available later this summer.

Former Section Editor, Mobile

Joe Maring has been the Section Editor of Digital Trends' Mobile team since June 2022. He leads a team of 13 writers and…

Topics

Computing

Qualcomm is set to ratchet up chip prices in September, and your next gadget upgrade could bear the brunt

The price hike could touch every Snapdragon-powered device category.

The new Qualcomm Snadragon 8 Elite Gen 5

I want you to sit with this for a second. Qualcomm, the company whose Snapdragon chips sit inside your Android phone and tablet, your Windows laptop, your Meta smart glasses, your Galaxy Watch, and your wireless earbuds, reportedly sent a letter to every major customer telling them prices are going up by double digits.

The price hike will be in effect from September 1, 2026, a recent Bloomberg report claims. Essentially, all the companies placing their chip orders after that will pay a higher price.

Wearables

Slacked off all summer? Here are 3 fitness trackers that’ll help you stay accountable as you head back to school

Three trackers, three price points, three totally different approaches to keeping you honest about your own goals.

A person wearing the Whoop 5.0.

Summer break did what it usually does. Your sleep schedule drifted, workouts happened less often than you'd hoped, and by the time August rolled around, you were feeling it. You've got a plan to get back on track once the school year starts and your days have more structure, but you know how that usually goes. The first two weeks are solid, then the routine quietly slips.

A fitness tracker won't get you off your couch. What it will do is put a number in front of you every day, one that makes it obvious whether you stuck to your goal or slacked off. That small bit of visibility is often the difference between meaning to work out and actually doing it. Back-to-school season is a good time to buy in, since you're already resetting more than one part of your routine, and the overlap makes the habit more likely to stick. To keep the odds in your favor, here are three fitness trackers that can help you stay accountable and actually hit your goals.

Wearables

Galaxy Watch 9 vs. Watch Series 11: Has Apple finally met its smartwatch match?

From AI-powered health coaching to outdoor fitness tracking, here's how Samsung's Galaxy Watch 9 stacks up against Apple's Watch Series 11.

Wristwatch, Arm, Body Part

These days, the real battleground between smartwatches is who can turn a wrist-worn, sensor-loaded device into something that resembles a personal fitness trainer, and this year's crop of flagship wearables takes that fight more seriously than ever.

Samsung just refreshed its mainstream Galaxy Watch line with a new silicon and a batch of clinically-backed health tools, landing squarely on Apple's home turf of preventive wellness tracking. Apple, for its part, has spent the better part of a year letting its Series 11 sit as the reigning pick for anyone inside its ecosystem, propped up by a software catalog few rivals match feature-for-feature.