Are you having problems with your iPhone or Mac? iOS 16.4.1 and macOS 13.3.1 are here to help

When it comes to operating system updates, we here at Macworld encourage users to install them as soon as possible. Sometimes updates have nice new features, but bug fixes and security updates are the most important. But with iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, and macOS 13.3, the version update to update Those were well worth the wait – and could be the most important of the year, depending on the issues you had with your hardware.

On Friday, Apple released small updates to iOS 16.4 and macOS 13.3, and if you look at the release notes, they’re very small updates. Only three minor issues mentioned — fixes for Siri, automatically unlocking your Mac with your Apple Watch, and an emoji — but they’re much bigger than that. First, it includes two major security patches for vulnerabilities that “may have been actively exploited”. On the other hand, it seems to fix most, if not all, of the bugs introduced in iOS 16.4 and macOS 13.3:

iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4

• weather appThe Weather app that many of us rely on to set the tone for the day is having problems displaying the forecast. Earlier this week, the Weather app experienced a complete data outage, and while restoring service (according to Apple’s System Status website), the app still works wonky. We don’t know for sure if the Weather app has been fixed or not, but we haven’t had any issues since Friday.
• Battery drain: There always seems to be an audible number of users experiencing shortened battery life when an update is released. But the number of anecdotal accounts, like those in the Apple support community, seems to be more frequent with iOS 16.4. YouTuber iAppleBytes has a Geekbench battery test demo video with iOS 16.4 that supports the shortened battery life claim. Battery drain is always difficult to determine, but we did not notice any unusual drain in iOS 16.4.1.
• home application: The Home app, which is used to control smart home devices, just got an update to its build, but Apple stumbled while rolling it out. It was initially introduced in iOS 16.2 but got pulled and then released with iOS 16.4. Now, there are a number of complaints about the reworked app, iMore reports. We had no issues in iOS 16.4, but the Home app works fine in iOS 16.4.1.

macOS Ventura 13.3.2 update

• main directory: macOS 13.3 introduces an issue with user home directories saved to external drives. The solution to this problem involves turning off System Integrity Protection, but this is not ideal. We’ve confirmed this issue is fixed in the macOS Ventura 13.3.1 update.
• quick look: While I haven’t encountered this issue, many users in the Apple Support community can’t get Quick Look to work in macOS 13.3. Responses to the original post confirm that macOS 13.3.1 fixes the issue.
• Comprehensive control and delivery: These features, which depend on an iCloud connection, stopped working for some users after installing 13.3. The workaround involves logging out of iCloud and then logging back in, but this can cause a whole host of hassles for users, especially if you’re using iCloud to sync your photo library. We need to test to see if this error persists.