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iOS 12.3.1 update – bug fixes and battery life

It’s not long since Apple unleashed its all-new TV app with iOS 12.3, but already a smaller iOS 12.3.1 update is here with a few further improvements.

On paper, it’s a pretty minor update, with bug fixes for problems with VoLTE calls and Messages’ “unknown senders” and “report junk” features. If you’ve experienced issues with any of those things this is an essential update, and of course if you’ve not yet checked out the new TV app this update will have all that too.

But beyond those very specific fixes, it looks as though Apple has continued to slowly improve performance and stability behind the scenes. Test results from Geekbench show a marked improvement in the battery life of older iPhones when running iOS 12.3.1.

According to these scores, iPhones 5S, 6, and 7, all showed battery life increases of around 10%. There is a margin of error with this kind of testing, but it certainly looks like some of the changes in the latest update are proving to be good news for those still using older models.

iOS 12.3.1, then, is a great update for these people – but we would recommend always grabbing the latest update as soon as you can, no matter which model of iPhone or iPad you have.

Remember that all iOS updates are free, and can be quickly and easily delivered over the air (that is, without plugging into a computer) from SettingsGeneralSoftware Update.