Apple Updates iPhone 4S To iOS 6.1.1 After European Carriers Advise Against Updating To 6.1

Apple has just issued iOS 6.1.1, a bug-fixing update aimed at the iPhone 4S specifically to address issues around cellular issues on 3G connections for some European carriers, per the release notes. The update had been in beta for only five days, which is a much shorter cycle than Apple usually goes through for new iOS updates. The new release is a different one from that already in testing, according to Apple, which addressed Maps fixes for users in Japan.

Vodafone UK and 3 Austria had warned customers not to update their iPhone 4S to iOS 6.1 via text messages sent out to subscribers, advising that it prompted 3G connection issues including an inability to make or receive calls or texts. iOS 6.1 also caused issues for AOL corporate employees, creating errors around meeting management.

Those errors, as well as ones that users are reporting around battery drain and device overheating, aren’t specifically mentioned in the release notes for this update. Those problems also extend beyond the iPhone 4S, so it’s likely they’ll get zapped in another, less urgent bug-fixing update aimed at all the hardware to be released later.