Apple has shipped the first set of patches offered under the Rapid Security Response (RSR) program it announced last year – but some users have reported the install failing on iPhones.
The RSR releases are designed to get patches for zero-days to iOS, iPadOS and macOS between Apple’s usual patch cycle.
The company explained in a blog post that Rapid Security Responses "are a new type of software release for iPhone, iPad, and Mac."
"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," the company said.
“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 RSR patch is for users on iOS/iPadOS 16.4.1 or Macs running macOS version 13.3.1.
Apple has not yet detailed what fixes are in the RSR update patches on its Apple security updates page.
While the feature is on by default, Apple said users who disable the feature will still receive the same patches as part of its regular updates.
There were, however, reported problems early on.
Mr Macintosh, who identifies himself on Twitter as a macOS platform engineer, posted: “As spotted by @.bin and @dhinakg, the iOS 16.4.1 (a) Rapid Security Response Update is not installing due to a TSS Error.”
According to The Verge, the install process was fixed early Tuesday morning, AEDT.
