Earlier this month, Apple released iOS 9.3.4, which put a focus on security and was expected to be the last release of iOS 9.3 until iOS 10‘s arrival.
But it turns out Apple has at least one more release ready to go. The company officially released iOS 9.3.5 today, which is another update focused on security. It’s available right now to all devices that are running iOS 9.3 as an over-the-air (OTA) update.
With September right around the corner, and the expected release month for iOS 10, it’s possible that this is the last release of iOS 9.3. With it, Apple is focusing on behind-the-scenes improvements, security patches, and overall refinement of the system ahead of another major upgrade on the horizon.
Update: In two separate reports, both the New York Times and VICE have put together why the iOS 9.3.5 update is so critical for security reasons. iOS 9.3.5 patches an exploit that has apparently been around since iOS 7, and allowed for external sources to obtain and expose a variety of content, including contacts, emails, text messages, and more.