Is iPadOS 17.7.9 safe after the issues with 17.7.7?

iOS/iPadOS 17.7.9 is, essentially, a security update. Insofar as documented or as assessed by researchers, there are no functional updates included in this update.

While it is perfectly true that iPadOS 17.7.7 caused significant issues - and was quickly suspended by Apple pending release of iPadOS 17.7.8 - thus far there have been no reports of issues with iPadOS 17.7.9.

If you have any concerns for the efficacy of this update, you might be well advised to wait for just a day-or-two before installing this update - while monitoring this ASC iPad forum for reported issues. Be mindful, however, that potential exploits for now documented security fixes are increasingly likely to be active over the coming days.

As such, you need to balance your caution in updating against increasing risk of exploit.

duerded wrote:

Thanks - agreed.

This really is a case of risk management - balancing the risk of a successful (but now patched) security exploit against the possibility of bad update that cripples a device.

The recent issue with iPadOS 17.7.7 was, thankfully, a rarity - but demonstrates that Apple is not immune to releasing inadequately tested software. The saving grace here is how quickly (a) Apple responded in first withdrawing the bad update before impacting a broader population - and (b) in releasing a fixed version within days.

This particular issue appeared to be iPad model specific - now thankfully understood to have been resolved.

I am not aware of any global issues with 17.7.7, and haven’t seen many reports; if you had issues they were with your iPad, not the version. You should update because 17.7.9 fixes dozens of potential vulnerabilities.

duerded wrote:

There were *hundreds* of reports about 17.7.7 on this forum.

There are always reports of issues after an update here. After all, we are a technical support forum so everyone comes here with their issues. You rarely see praise for Apple. And this is an update that patches 24 security vulnerabilities, so you will be much safer by updating.

Yes, iPadOS 17.7.9 is safe to install. It generally includes bug fixes and improvements over the previous version.

as i am aware of the issues with 17.7, you can update to 17.7,9 without issue. It is a security update so it is imperative that you update, but you can wait a few days if you want to be sure. I never update the first day an update is released to be sure

Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN, then restart your device. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN, but probably shouldn't.

iPadOS 17.7.9 installed normally and is running w/o apparent issue on this family’s 10.5” iPad Pro (2017).

My iPad Pro (10.5 inch) won’t connect to internet since the update. It says it’s connected in settings but the wifi icon is not there and iPad won’t stream anything. It says not connected 🤷🏻‍♀️

ZiggyMeister wrote:

Just because you’re not aware doesn’t mean there weren’t hundreds of devices affected. And the issue was software related, that only affected certain models of iPads, but still software related.

Hundreds out of 2 billion iPhones; that’s 0.00003%. A drop in the bucket, and almost certainly a problem with the individual device. If you had said a million iPhones it might be an actual problem.

duerded wrote:

There were *hundreds* of reports about 17.7.7 on this forum.

OK, “hundreds” out of roughly 100 million iPhones with iOS 17. That’s terrible!