Apple Releases iOS 12.5.1 With Exposure Notifications Bug Fix for Older iPhones

Monday January 11, 2021 10:18 am PST by Juli Clover

Apple today released iOS 12.5.1, an update that is available for older iPhones unable to install the iOS 14 update. The update features an Exposure Notifications bug fix.

exposure notification cartoon
The iOS 12.5.1 update can be downloaded all on eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the new software, go to Settings > General > Software Update.

Apple in December released iOS 12.5 alongside iOS 14.3, bringing support for Exposure Notifications to older devices for the first time.

According to Apple's release notes, today's update addresses a bug that could cause Exposure Notifications to incorrectly display logging profile language.

Apple's Exposure Notifications system is now available in a wide range of countries, and many states have also adopted it, including North Dakota, Arizona, Delaware, Nevada, Alabama, Colorado, Wyoming, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Washington, Connecticut, Nevada, the District of Columbia, and California.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

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Top Rated Comments

nutmac

75 months ago

This stuff is so creepy. What an unnatural use for technology. Booo. Boooo.

Can you explain what's so creepy about it?

I am a developer and my developer friends and I did a deep dive on how this feature is implemented on the iOS side. Nothing at all strikes me as even remotely creepy.

Logging randomized Bluetooth ID of nearby devices (within 33 feet), which changes every 15 minutes and cannot be traced back to a specific user, and storing only on your device and not on the cloud is certainly private enough. And the feature only notifies you if those tested positive manually and voluntarily logs the positive test results.

Where is the privacy concern here?

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

peneaux

75 months ago

A constant-on bluetooth to track who I meet with? As a sex worker I find this does not respect my privacy.

NO THANKS!

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

nutmac

75 months ago

I believe that technology should be used as vehicle for increased social liberation not as a mechanism for increased social control.

How is Exposure Notification increasing social control?

At no point the information is transmitted to the server. It is only when a person tested positive voluntarily logs test data that any potentially identifiable data is transmitted to the server. Even then, the data is completely anonymized so it is technically impossible.

And to general public, only the database of infected randomized and anonymized Bluetooth IDs is transmitted to the phones.

At every steps, there's zero location information. Zero identifiable information. Only the randomized Bluetooth IDs that changes every 15 minutes. Apple (and I presume Google) does not store your location or any other information, whether it be on your phone or on the server.

My only quibbles are that (1) the feature can decrease your battery life (between 3-10%), (2) it is not super easy to enable it, (3) it is not widely promoted, hence many people have false information on what it does and how it works, and (4) not enough states and countries support it.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

az431

75 months ago

This stuff is so creepy. What an unnatural use for technology. Booo. Boooo.

I have news for you. Google and FaceBook collect far more information about you than this app (which actually collects nothing other than random numbers), and neither of them can be trusted to protect your information.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

nutmac

75 months ago

I question the value of this - has a single infection been discovered thanks to this API? It seems so neutered as to be utterly useless.

If you are skeptical, go to Settings | Exposure Notifications | Exposure Notification Status (not available unless you are participating), then Exposure Checks. Look through each log entry.

If you step outside at least few times a week and live in a decently sized city, you will probably note at least a handful of "Matched Key Count" here and there. "Match Key Count" corresponds to ANY exposure to those tested positive within 2 weeks. These timestamps correspond to when the database is updated, not when you were exposed. iPhone scans and logs Exposure Notifications enabled devices within 33 feet and when the database matches, "Match Key County" is incremented.

You will be notified according to the state/country's notification threshold. In California where I live, the threshold is within 6 feet and 15 minutes or longer. CA derives these values after months of testing, as to reduce false positives (e.g., you are in a car next to infected or would-be-infected).

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)