The latest beta release of iOS 14.7 reportedly fixes a flaw in the iPhone’s networking that disabled Wi-Fi if networks whose IDs had specific characteristics were joined.
Secret Club founder Carl Schou first revealed a problem with iOS networking on June 20. That flaw caused an iPhone that connected to a network called “%p%s%s%s%s%n” to constantly disable Wi-Fi its own connectivity until its network settings were reset.
Schou then revealed another problem on July 4, this time involving a network called “%secretclub%power”, that purportedly disabled his iPhone’s Wi-Fi even after its network settings were reset multiple times.
Apple released iOS 14.7 Beta 5 on July 8. The company didn’t offer much information about the update in its release notes, but Zollotech showed that it resolves the flaw involving the “%p%s%s%s%s%n” network name in a video summarizing the changes they found in the update.
The test showing an iPhone’s Wi-Fi continuing to work after connecting to a network with that name—”%secretclub%power” went untested—starts after the 5:23 mark in this video:
Apple hasn’t offered a timeline for iOS 14.7’s release. The length of time an update spends in beta varies: The first beta of iOS 14.5 debuted in February, for example, but the update wasn’t officially released until April 26.
This appears to be a smaller update, so ideally it will make its way to the public sooner than later. Setting up a network with one of these names is trivial, and it would be easy for an unsuspecting iPhone owner to accidentally disable their device’s Wi-Fi by connecting to one.
