Apple’s first iPhone Rapid Security Response patch had a problem, but it’s fine now

Apple announced the new “Rapid Security Response” updates for iPhones, iPads, and Macs last year at WWDC, and today, the first publicly released patch on the system started to roll out. After rough going initially when the new update claimed every iPhone was “offline,” the new patch is now installed on our devices without a problem.

The Rapid Security Response system is supposed to make things easier, adding security fixes in between larger system updates that could install on some devices without a reboot as well as allowing users to opt out of receiving them entirely or uninstall them if they caused any issues.

Every iPhone we checked among Verge staffers running the latest iOS software (iOS 16.4) showed a notification that the 85MB patch was available after the rollout started at 1PM ET.

The only problem is that, as soon as we tried to install it, all we got was an error message that read “Unable to Verify Security Response.” It continued, saying, “iOS Security Response 16.4.1(a) failed verification because you are no longer connected to the internet.”

A quick scan of comments across Twitter, Reddit, and other platforms reveals a lot of other people experienced the same problem.

However, by around 3:30PM ET, the process started working smoothly, applying the update within about 30 seconds on all available devices. Apple hasn’t yet updated its security page for iOS or other platforms to explain what problems the patch fixes.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and so far, it’s unclear why the error messages were popping up. According to the support page, the first security updates are available now on iOS 16.4.1, iPadOS 16.4.1, and macOS 13.3.1.