iOS 17.1 to arrive by October 24

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The saga of the iPhone 12's high SAR values in France is almost concluded. The update that will fix the high SAR values on the iPhone 12 in France will be released by Apple "by October 24" to all French iPhone users, according to France's ANFR, the national regulator of frequencies.

That update, by the way, is iOS 17.1, according to the information Apple itself shared recently. It's safe to assume that it will, like all other iOS updates, go out globally on the same day.


To recount the saga in brief: first, France banned iPhone 12 sales in the country over high SAR values found by ANFR. Then, Apple promised it would issue a software fix. At the end of last month, the update was approved by the French authorities. Today, those same authorities have announced the release date.

And so, after October 24, the iPhone 12's high SAR values will hopefully not be an issue anymore. There is, however an unfortunate flip side to all this. The reason the high SAR values were registered was, according to Apple, an off-body detection function in iOS.

This detects when the phone isn't held on the body, and in that scenario it increases transmit power. Now, this will be disabled in France, which may mean that the iPhones in question could have worse data connectivity in edge coverage areas.

Aside from this, iOS 17.1 also brings a favorites system for Apple Music, support for AirDrop over the internet, new options for bank and card balances in the Wallet app, a Dynamic Island flashlight indicator, support for the Nintendo Switch N64 Controller, improvements for Photo Shuffle on the lock screen, and some Action Button features (like Camera, Flashlight, Voice Memo, Focus, and Magnifier) will be disabled while the iPhone is in your pocket.