Apple has released iOS 18.7.7, an iPhone update which is aimed at protecting users against an exploit chain called DarkSword.
This is Apple’s first iOS 18 release for a wide range of phones for months. Last year, the first releases in iOS 26 were accompanied by iOS 18 updates for those users stubbornly holding off updating to the new build.
That ended with iOS 26.1 and iOS 18.7.2. From iOS 18. 7.3 onwards, Apple restricted support to phones that could not run iOS 26: iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR.
Those three phones work with the new update, but so do a whole load of others which have been restricted to iOS 26 recently.
As well as the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR, the new update will work on every iPhone released in 2019 and later. That means iPhone 11 and all later series.
iOS 18.7.7 is all about an exploit called DarkSword. DarkSword is an exploit chain affecting iOS 18.4 through iOS 18.7 that was discovered by the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG).
According to the GTIG, there are ‘multiple commercial surveillance vendors and suspected state-sponsored actors utilising DarkSword in distinct campaigns.’ It works by chaining multiple exploits together.
There is absolutely no doubt that this is a major problem and it’s something you should upgrade to immediately. More sensibly, if your iPhone is compatible with iOS 26, it really is time to upgrade to it.
