iOS 6.1.2 Released With Fix For Exchange Calendar Bug; What About The Passcode Unlock Issue? [Download Links]

As promised, Apple released iOS 6.1.2 firmware update Tuesday, bringing the fix for the annoying Exchange calendar bug that has created a lot of furor among the users in the last few weeks.

The iOS 6.1.2 came one week after Apple rolled out iOS 6.1.1 update for the iPhone 4S users, who were facing reliability and 3G connectivity issues.

When it comes to iOS 6.1.2, it “fixes an Exchange calendar bug that could result in increased network activity and reduced battery life,” said the official change log.

iOS 6 has been facing Exchange-related issues from the very beginning. In October last year, a report surfaced over at MacRumors saying that due to a bug with Microsoft Exchange meeting invitations “at least one Fortune 500 company is requesting that its employees not upgrade to iOS 6.”

According to the report, whenever a user declined a meeting invitation from an iOS 6 device, the notorious bug made iOS 6 send meeting cancellation notices to all attendees on the entire distribution list, instead of sending a notification to the meeting organizer.

Issues with Exchange meeting management apparently continued with iOS 6.1 and 6.1.1 as well, but in a different way. The recent Exchange calendar bug caused “a continuous loop between iOS 6.1 devices and Exchange servers while trying to synchronize recurring calendar meeting invitations,” iDownloadBlog reported.

If your iOS device is also affected by all these issues, you are recommended to update it to iOS 6.1.2 at the earliest. The firmware update is currently available over the air (OTA) or through iTunes.

We’ve listed the supported devices below with direct links to the download files. What you have to do is just select the appropriate ISPSW file for your device:

- iPhone 5 GSM

- iPhone 5 CDMA

- iPhone 4S

- iPhone 4 GSM

- iPhone 4 CDMA

- iPhone 3GS

- iPad mini (GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi)

- iPad 4 (GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi)

- iPad 3 (GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi)

- iPad 2 (GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi)

- iPod touch 4th-generation

- iPod touch 5th-generation

Is Passcode Unlock Bug Fixed?

Apart from the Exchange calendar bug, another issue that has troubled a lot of users of late is the passcode unlock bug that came to light recently.

According to reports, the passcode unlock bug allows anyone to bypass the unlock feature on the Lock screen and thereby get immediate access to the user’s private stuff, including iMessages, FaceTime, photos and so on.

Following the release of iOS 6.1.2, Federico Viticci of MacStories said that the new firmware update not only had brought the remedy for the Exchange calendar bug, but also fixed the passcode unlock bug.

Here’s what Viticci said:

It’s not mentioned in the release notes, but — based on some first tests I ran on my iPhone 5 — it appears iOS 6.1.2 also fixes the passcode bug that was discovered last week (by following the steps to reproduce the old bug, the iPhone now simply gives a black screen/keypad instead of jumping to Phone/Contacts).

While Viticci said that he couldn’t reproduce the passcode unlock bug on his iPhone 5 after updating to iOS 6.1.2, Ars Technica’s Andrew Cunningham reported that the bug was still unfixed in the latest firmware update.

“We tried the convoluted unlock exploit on our own iPhone 4S and were able to unlock the screen successfully under iOS 6.1.1, and the same process once again unlocked the phone in iOS 6.1.2, giving us access to the phone dialer app and all of the information contained within,” said Cunningham.

“Put simply: it doesn't look like this update fixes the passcode unlock bug, according to our testing,” he added.

The report also cited one of the readers who said that even using a complex password is ineffective.

“Using a complex passcode DOES NOT protect your device. I was able to use the exploit successfully on a non-jailbroken iPhone 5 that uses a complex passcode rather than the simple four digit passcode,” the report quoted the reader as saying.

If you have faced all these issues and have updated your device to iOS 6.1.2, let us know in the comment section what you have experienced thereafter.

For Jailbreakers

Evad3rs team-member Planetbeing has confirmed via Twitter that iOS 6.1.2 is jailbreakable as the exploits used in evasi0n are still unaffected.

The team has released evasi0n v1.4 with iOS 6.1.2 support. If you want to update your device to iOS 6.1.2 while maintaining your untethered jailbreak, you are recommended to backup your device and restore it to stock 6.1.2 via iTunes (not OTA). After that you can use evasi0n 1.4 to jailbreak it. IBTimes will shortly come up with a tutorial, showing how to perform the untethered jailbreak using the latest version of evasi0n.

UPDATE: Evasi0n Untethered Jailbreak Updated To Version 1.4; Supports iOS 6.1.2 Running On iPhone 5, Other Devices [Tutorial]

MUST READ: Apple iPhone 5, 4S Beat Samsung Galaxy S3, Become World’s Best-Selling Smartphones In Q4 2012 [Report]