iOS 14.4.1 issues: Fingerprint issues, update problems, and more

Apple released a minor security update recently by the name of iOS 14.4.1. This update focuses on WebKit safety tweaks in order to prevent some malicious exploits on apps that use this web browser engine. However, although the iOS 14.4.1 update doesn’t bring any feature improvements or even bug fixes, it’s somewhat strange that it comes with a few issues.

The changelog for iOS 14.4.1 can be found here.

Now, the aforementioned issues on iOS 14.4.1 are rather scarce, and it seems that some well-known problems from the previous release are dealt with. Updates giveth and updates taketh. There are user reports on the official community hub about fixes, but it seems that a few overlying issues are casting a shadow on those fixes.

Of course, problems are mostly individual and, by the time we are covering this, there’s no widespread debilitating issue that renders many devices unusable. I, personally, don’t have any problems with the update.

So, without further ado, here are the most prominent problems users reported on the Apple Discussions forum.

Can’t update to iOS 14.4.1

The majority of reports come from users that are unable to download or install iOS 14.4.1 on their devices. For some, the update is missing, for others, it won’t download at all. The third group that’s affected successfully downloaded the update but they are unable to install it.

Here are two questions from affected users:

“I have successfully downloaded the new iOS 14.4.1 but it has refused to install, what do I do?”

“During updates my iPhone ,updates stopped and message read update 14.4.1 failed what’s the problem?”

We encourage you to restart your device, connect to a stable network and try again. Make sure that your device is eligible for iOS 14.4.1 update. Also, it’s worth noting that the update procedure can last longer on some older devices. So, be patient and give updating another try.

Battery draining faster on iOS 14.4.1

The battery issues appearing after an update are not exactly a rarity. Especially on older iPhones that require extra optimization to run on the latest iterations of iOS. One iPhone 7 and one iPhone 12 user reported an idle drain increase after installing iOS 14.4.1.

Here’s how they explained their particular problem:

I am using Iphone 7 and my problem is overnight battery draining issue My battery health is 82%. I updated ios 14.4.1 after this update i’ve facing this issue.

iPhone 12 after upgrading to version 14.4.1, the phone was put on charge and charged to 100% . At night, the phone was not used, for 7 hours the battery level dropped to 85% in the background. I understand the problem is in the update? This was not the case before the update.

Make sure that your battery health is above 80% as that’s the lower optimum for battery performance.

iOS 14.4.1 fingerprint doesn’t work on iPhone 8

It seems that the fingerprint sensor is not working as intended on the iPhone 8. At least, for the user that reported the problem to Apple’s community forum. There are some reports from previous releases about the fingerprint sensor not working at all or lacking responsiveness.

The best way to deal with this is to restart your device. However, if the issue persists, consider resetting your device to factory values. Just don’t forget to back up everything before doing so.

Apple Watch connection issues on iOS 14.4.1

One user who runs iOS 14.4.1 on their iPhone XR is unable to connect their device to Apple Watch in order to update the firmware on it. And, since the pairing can’t be done before the watch is updated, the problem arises. They seemingly tried a variety of troubleshooting steps but to no avail

Here’s what they have to say about the problem:

I am trying to connect my Apple Watch to my phone and it keeps coming up that the watch is unable to software update as it is not connected to the internet. My phone is connected to the internet. I have tried on wifi, 4G, tried turning my blutooth off, my iOS is up to date, I’ve reset both devices, I have deleted and re downloaded the app.

Any other ideas?

For the time being, there are no viable alternatives to the steps the user already took. Hopefully, the next update will deal with this accordingly.

Slow Wi-Fi on iOS 14.4.1

As we already mentioned, there seems to be an underlying issue with Wi-Fi on various iterations of iOS 14. It seems that the problem is present in the latest release, as well. Namely, users are reporting slow Wi-Fi connectivity.

If you are among them, you can try

Those are the issues we run into at the moment. But, based on previous increments, chances are that there are more problems. What is your experience with the latest iOS update? Have you run into any of the mentioned issues? Make sure to tell us in the comments section so we can add them to the list.