Data Encryption Bug
Discovered by the Proton VPN service, iOS 13.4 has a security flaw that leaves your data unprotected while using a VPN on your iPhone. Proton explains that iOS 13.4 cannot close current unsecured connections when your VPN starts up, and some unsecured connections will remain open for several minutes to hours outside the VPN.
This is a serious issue for any iPhone user who relies on VPNs to protect sensitive data. Most concerning is that Proton explains they found this bug in iOS 13.3.1 and notified Apple, but the company did not provide any fix, even though iOS 13.4 was released nearly two months later.
“Both Proton VPN and any other VPN services cannot provide a solution to this issue because iOS does not allow a VPN app to terminate existing network connections” – Proton explains. The company suggests that you should start your VPN, then toggle Airplane mode to terminate the connections outside the VPN, but this method only works when using Apple’s Always-on VPN feature, as it requires device management capabilities that no third-party VPN has.
Issues with Mobile Data, Calendar Reminders, Navigation, and Keyboard
In addition to security vulnerabilities, iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 face numerous other issues, including making third-party keyboards useless on iPads, causing Bluetooth connection instability, strange bugs related to shortcuts, and loss of mobile data for dual SIM users.
Moreover, there are many bugs related to Control Center, the virtual keyboard, Assistive Touch, opening and updating apps… This list also includes several issues related to mobile data and hotspots that Apple has identified but has yet to fix in iOS 13.
If you think that’s too much, keep reading.
Users of iOS 13.4 previously experienced a search bug on iPhones: the plus sign (+) in keywords would be automatically deleted. Although this bug is not as severe as most of the aforementioned bugs, it can lead to various consequences, from being annoying (for example, searching for “Disney+” but only returning “Disney”) to causing you to lose money unnecessarily (for instance, searching for the price of Galaxy S20+, but only returning the price of Galaxy S20, which is lower, leading you to potentially buy the wrong phone). Ironically, this bug prevents iPhone users interested in Apple’s new Apple TV+ service from finding what they want, instead only showing search results related to the Apple TV set-top box. The news outlet 9to5Mac points out that macOS 10.15.4 also has this bug. It’s puzzling what Apple is doing that allows this silly bug to “cross-platform” like this. It is known that Apple currently claims to have fixed this bug server-side, so you can try searching to see if the bug still exists on your device.
Finally, a small revelation: while investigating the leaked source code of iOS 14, the news site MacRumors discovered images of a controller for an AR/VR headset. This device is designed according to Apple’s minimalist criteria: a cylindrical tube with a matte black exterior and only one button. This discovery coincides with a previous finding by MacRumors: a new AR app on iOS 14, codenamed Gobi, which is believed to be under internal testing at Apple. Interestingly, the company has also set up an AR bowling game, which can only be activated at a specific intersection near Apple’s office named “Mathilda 3” located at 555 N Mathilda Ave in Sunnyvale, California – this is likely one of the locations Apple is using to develop the AR/VR headset.
There are still many mysteries, but one thing is certain: after launching the advanced LiDAR sensor on the new iPad Pro, Apple will ramp up AR/VR efforts in 2020, and the iPhone 12 will be the next device with exciting AR/VR features.
Source: Forbes