Typically, after Apple introduces a new major version of its operating system, it stops pushing out the old version to compatible phones. Older phones that are incompatible with the new version continue to get security updates, but newer phones have to jump to the newer operating system to get them.

This has been the case with iOS 18 and iOS 26 (and iPadOS 18 and 26). The latest version of iOS 18, 18.7.7, was available only for the iPhone XS, XR, and iPad 7th generation. Newer devices should move to iOS 26 to get security updates.

A particularly nasty threat called DarkSword, a hacking tool th