7 Things to Know About the iPad iOS 11.3.1 Update

iPad iOS 11.3.1 Update: What's New

The iOS 11.3.1 update is focused on fixing iPhone 8 touchscreen issues, but it does come with a few security patches for Apple's iPhones and iPads.

If you value your device's security, you'll probably want to install the iOS 11.3.1 update sooner rather than later. 

If you skipped iOS 11.3, your iOS 11.3.1 update comes with some major additions including upgrades to Apple Music, App Store upgrades, changes to Apple Music, bug fixes, and important security patches.

If you're unfamiliar with the features on board Apple's iOS 11.3 update, please take a look at our full walkthrough. 

If your iPad is currently running iOS 11.2.5, your iOS 11.3.1 update comes with two additional bug fixes. 

One is an important fix for an issue where using certain character sequences could cause apps to crash. It also comes with a fix for an issue where some third-party apps could fail to connect to external accessories.

If you're upgrading from iOS 11.2.2, your iOS 11.3.1 update comes with a collection of bug fixes, security patches, and new features. These features include support for the HomePod speaker and an upgrade to Siri that lets you instantly stream a news podcast when you ask about the news

If you're coming from iOS 11.2.1, your iOS 11.3.1 update comes with a single patch for the Spectre exploit. If you value your security, you'll probably want to download iOS 11.3.1 in the near future. 

If you're moving up from iOS 11.2, your iOS 11.3.1 update comes with a fix for HomeKit issues. If you use HomeKit, you should consider downloading iOS 11.3.1. 

If you skipped iOS 11.2, your iOS 11.3.1 update will be much bigger thanks to iOS 11.2's changes. 

The iPad's iOS 11.2 update arrived with an assortment of new features, bug fixes, patches, and enhancements. A few of the highlights include the company's new Apple Pay Cash service, a fix for an annoying calculator bug, and a fix for an autocorrect issue that changed the word "it" to "i.t." on some iOS keyboards. 

Unfortunately, person to person payments and Apple Pay Cash are available only in the U.S. and only on iPad Pro, iPad (5th generation), iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 or later, and Apple Watch.

If you're coming from iOS 11.1, your iPad's iOS 11.3.1 update comes with two bug fixes.

One is for a frustrating autocorrect bug that caused "i" to turn into a capital "A" with a rectangle with a question mark. If you're seeing this issue occur in your messages, you'll want to download iOS 11.3.1. It also comes with a fix for an issue where the Hey Siri feature would become unresponsive at times. 

If you're lingering on iOS 11.0.3 or below, you'll also get iOS 11.1's features and fixes with your iOS 11.3.1 update.

iOS 11.1 delivered a nice set collection of security patches including one for a potential Wi-Fi exploit. It also featured several bug fixes for Photos, Reachability and Accessibility. 

On top of that, it featured with 50+ new emoji characters for the iPad's keyboard and some minor tweaks like multiple emoji symbol suggestions when typing out texts in Messages.

These are just a few of the changes in iOS 11. If you want to learn more take a look our iOS 11 vs. iOS 10 walkthrough and our list of hidden iOS 11 features.