If you use an iPhone and have not yet upgraded to IOS 12.1.2, don’t do the upgrade!
There have been widespread reports of a variety of different and serious problems associated with 12.1.2. If you have “Auto update” turned on, turn it off immediately so your phone doesn’t download and install the update by itself.
If you already have done the update and your phone is working fine, good. The majority of phones seem to have no problem with the update. But so many reports of problems have been coming in since Apple began pushing out the update two days ago that I’ve been telling everyone I know with an Iphone to put off installing the update until Apple figures out what is going on and fixes it.
The biggest problem seems to be the loss of access to cellular data, which means the phone can no longer communicate with the internet. Other problems including WiFi connection problems have been reported as well. At the moment no one seems to know exactly what is going on or why some phones have been affected and others haven’t.
Apple is supposedly working on a fix (IOS 12.1.3) but no one knows when that will be available.
My general advice to most people is that while Auto Update is convenient, having it turned on is a bad idea because of issues like this. You should never do an IOS update as soon as the new version is made available. You should always wait at least several days before updating to make sure there isn’t something wrong with the update.
There was nothing extremely important in 12.1.2 in the first place. Reports I’ve seen indicate that this update was primarily an attempt by Apple to get around an injunction in China preventing the sale of iPhones because of a patent lawsuit they lost to Qualcomm.
If you’ve been hit by this problem, I’m afraid I can’t help. You need to scrounge around the internet and see if there are fixes available. Or if you have an Apple store nearby, talk to them. If you got your phone from a specific carrier, talk to them about a possible fix.
Here are some hints to help you keep from having problems in the future:
Have an iCloud (or whatever Apple calls their cloud data storage feature these days) account and use it to automatically backup your phone. Then if something nasty happens you can fairly easily restore the apps and data stored on your phone.
Turn AutoUpdate OFF. Wait at least several days after an IOS update it pushed out to make sure it doesn’t have serious problems. Install it only after you’re sure it’s bug free.
grouchyfarmer 
Thanks for the heads up. I’m really happy with the version I’m on. Hate it when upgrades are downgrades.
LikeLike
This kind of thing is getting to be increasingly serious. The issues with past IOS updates have generally been mild, but this one seems to be pretty nasty. That’s why I always advise people to put off installing them until after they’ve been available for a week or so and they’re sure that there isn’t a problem. Unless you are having problems with your phone or an update fixes a serious security problem, there is no rush to do these upgrades anyway.
There are always things going on behind the scenes, so to speak, when it comes to these updates. I have the iPhone XS Max, the new one. When I first got it I had no real issues with it. But after one update my battery use skyrocketed. I don’t use the phone a lot. Mostly it just sits on the table or in my pocket, but suddenly my battery would be down to less than 60% at the end of the day even when it wasn’t being used. Following the next update, my batter would be at 95% or higher after the same amount of usage. So one of the updates drastically increased power consumption and the next fixed it. Never did find out what the heck happened.
Win10 updates have become notorious for this kind of thing. Microsoft put out at least two Win10 updates in the last quarter of 2018 that had serious problems that should have been discovered before they pushed out the updates.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I got a little lucky on this one. I just bought a new iPhone 6. Lol. I’m always a few versions behind, but hell, $100 at Walmart for a new phone I’ll get 5 years out of? Anyway, yesterday I got the alert to update. I think I’ll hold off I month or two.
LikeLike
Waiting at least until version 12.1.3 is out is a good idea and I’ll probably wait a few weeks after that before I do the update.
I had a 6 and loved it. Was a great phone, decent camera. I hadn’t intended on upgrading and generally when I do I get the previous generation or two to save money as well. But Sprint gave me such a good deal on the XR Max I couldn’t resist.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hate updates. I had a windows update lock up my computer to the point I thought it was bricked. I had to take it in and have someone root it out.
OS updates seem to take forever.
App updates often change an existing feature I like or add a feature I find cumbersome.
Basically I’m curmudgeon. I like what I have, stop making it change!
Which is why I’m not getting a new phone despite the fact that it’s becoming more and more obvious that the one I have is going to die on me. I will regret the procrastination when I don’t have a phone for a few days – because it is my only phone. But knowing it doesn’t overcome my inner curmudgeon.
As I write this I’m realizing I need to put on the big girl panties and get the damn phone. sigh.
LikeLike
I dislike app updates as much as OS updates. It seems that just as I get used to an app’s quirks along comes an update that changes how the thing works or messes up the user interface. Sigh…
Don’t blame you for not wanting to get a new phone. I hate changing phones. I’m always afraid I’m going to lose all my contacts, notes, photos, etc. Although I have to admit that Apple makes the process pretty painless. When I got the new iPhone a few months ago all I did was turn it on, turn on my old phone, set them alongside of each other, and they auto-magically did it all by themselves. All of the data on my old phone was cloned onto the new one with all the apps, phone numbers, contacts, settings, photos, everything. It’s still a bit nerve wracking, though, even though I have the thing backed up to “the cloud”. Or so they tell me.
If they would make the dopey things repairable it would go a long way to ending this endless cycle of replacing phones every couple of years. We were just talking about that at a Christmas party this afternoon. Somehow the conversation got onto old cell phones and we were telling the youngsters (teenagers) how back in the “good old days” you could actually replace a phone’s battery all by yourself when it went bad!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hear France has a law prohibiting planned obsolescence and they are investigating apple over the slow downs built into the OS.
LikeLike
That’s true. France (and maybe all EU) are looking at it because it’s such a huge problem. Planned obsolescence, making devices that are difficult or impossible to repair, uses up huge amounts of scarce resources and an enormous amount of energy, but adds huge amounts of money to the pockets of companies that make electronics, appliances, etc. There is no reason why a phone, for example, can’t last 10 years if they were made so they could be repaired. It’s becoming a huge problem with laptops now. Companies are now using glue to put them together instead of clips, screws, etc. That and other engineering decisions makes them almost impossible to repair. If a device fails during warranty these days it will probably be replaced, not repaired.
Apple was caught deliberately slowing older IOS devices down with some updates to IOS. When they got caught they claimed that they were doing it to prolong the life of failing batteries on older devices. By slowing it down it would use less energy. While that is true, it is also very deceptive because they didn’t tell anyone about it until they got caught at it. The average user would think that there was something wrong with the phone.
Then Apple also got caught putting code into IOS that would, if it had been activated, completely disable the phone if someone other than an authorized Apple repair center worked on it. Without having special equipment or codes to reset the phone, something as simple as replacing a battery or screen would disable it. This was, Apple claimed when they got caught, “to protect the user”. That code was never actually activated, but it was there, waiting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the heads-up, but sadly a bit late. The only problem we had was the Find Friends app got all messed up. It dove my wife mad until she finally got it to work again. I suppose it was due to the update. Happy New Year! GROG
LikeLike
this was one of those situations where luckily a minority of users got hit with the bug. So far I haven’t seen anything indicating why some had problems and others didn’t. I imagine it was due to some kind of hardware in the phone itself that was changed in those models that were affected.
LikeLike