Apple rolls out Rapid Security Response updates with iOS 16.4.1

Apple iPad and iOS users can get the latest security update by going to software updates in their settings menu. Similarly, Mac users will have to go to their system settings and click on ‘install Security Responses and system files’.

What is a Rapid Security Response update?

A Rapid Security Response update allows some important software fixes to be installed without waiting for a long time. These updates can be installed in a matter of minutes and might not even require a reboot sometimes. The RSR updates will be installed automatically on the user’s device and can be turned off from the settings if needed.

Users will see an ‘a’ next to their software version number after installing the Rapid Security Response updates. For example macOS 13.3.1 (a) or iOS 16.4.1 (a).

Apple has also confirmed that the company will only be delivering the Rapid Security Response updates to users who are updated to the latest version of iOS, iPadOS and MacOS.

“They deliver important security improvements between software updates — for example, improvements to the Safari web browser, the WebKit framework stack, or other critical system libraries. They may also be used to mitigate some security issues more quickly, such as issues that might have been exploited or reported to exist in the wild,” the company said.

However, the roll out does not seem going perfectly for Apple with many users on Twitter, Reddit and other social media platforms complaining that they were not able to apply the rapid response update. The users got a message that read ‘iOS Security Response 16.4.1(a) failed verification because you are no longer connected to the internet’