Following the emergence and public code leak of the severe DarkSword iPhone exploit, Apple is preparing to release a patch for users who choose to run iOS 18, so that they can be protected without upgrading to iOS 26.
Many users still use iOS 18 instead of upgrading to iOS 26
Many users still use iOS 18 instead of upgrading to iOS 26
On March 23, an exploit tool dubbed DarkSword was made publicly available on GitHub. While Apple has patched the exploit in iOS 26.3, and older devices stuck on previous versions of the operating systems, Apple is taking an extra step to help those who can update to iOS 26, but choose not to.
Rather than stick with the latest versions of those operating systems, Apple will also be “backporting” a patch, a spokesperson told Wired. This refers to the patching of an older operating system version, so that users can get the patch without updating their software in the normal fashion.