Apple Launches iOS 5.01, Its First Over-the-Air Update

Apple has released iOS 5.01, the first over-the-air update for the iPhone to address a few issues that have cropped up recently. Details on the  iOS 5 tweaks along with how smooth the update went are all coming up …

Apple’s iOS 5.01 update is primarily to address battery life problems that have plagued certain upgrades to iOS 5 and iPhone 4S owners. But it also patches a unique security flaw that had allowed developers to implant malicious code into an iOS application and subsequently control your phone without a user’s knowledge. The flaw was made public through a proof-of-concept iPhone app (which Apple approved) by security researcher Charlie Miller. Considering this happened Nov. 7, 2011, it’s good Apple addressed it in such short time.

And speaking of short time, iOS 5.01 was the most pleasant iPhone update I have ever experienced. Since the update was over the air and incremental, there were no iTunes downloads or syncing required. I popped on over to “Software Update” in my iPhone settings, and in less than 5 minutes, the 44MB download had completed. After the update installs, users see a pop-up that asks if they want to update now, or later. That notification also has a 10-second timeout on it, so if users leave their phones alone, the update will install automatically. The iPhone reboots, a progress bar pops up under the booting Apple logo, and in another two minutes, the installation is done. No fuss, no wires, no syncing problems. Of course, if you prefer the old method, you can still download the update via iTunes and sync.

In the future, I’ll be looking at how these OTA updates are handled when it’s more than a small release. Perhaps iOS 5.1, which could be as hefty as 200MB, would be a good test — both of Apple’s internal iPhone upgrade technology and the ability to handle large server loads.

Have you experienced any hiccups with your update? Chime in and let us know.