So, who else recently got offered an iOS 18 update on their iPhone that was already running iOS 18? I did, and I installed the update, after which I saw the “Hello" welcome screen again and then got prompted to enable Stolen Device Protection. Weird.

(And, no, I never ran any of the iOS 18 betas.)

@siracusa Yep, I got that as well and was very confused. I was expecting to see a 18.0.1 or similar after updating but no, just 18.0
@siracusa I got the update, but was not prompted for anything new.
@siracusa I got that on my new phone, but i did run the betas on my old 14 pro? Only the 18 beta, and my old phone was at 18 GM, when I upgraded to the 16 Pro. I never used the 18.1 beta.
@siracusa The description did suggest bug fixes for iPhones 16.
@siracusa there’s a supplemental update for 16’s, you wouldn’t be prompted to update during setup, but rather after transfer is complete.
@siracusa Got that a couple days ago. And as @gurupanguji said, it was specifically for iPhones 16.
@siracusa My girlfriend got this last night. Very odd, and it wasn't actually an update.
@siracusa I got this today on a 16 Pro that has only ever been running 18.
@siracusa Yes, I got it too. I checked the build number before and after and it did go up. Same prompt as you on reboot
@jonclayden @siracusa what was the final build number?
@siracusa my wife got that on her new iPhone 16. it was going to run last night, not sure if it prompted her for anything but she didn't ask me about it so I'm guessing no.
@siracusa This happened to me too. I figured the phone came installed with a slightly different build than the GTM, but I don't remember being prompted for Stolen Device Detection when I originally migrated. It was already enabled on my older phone, but maybe it doesn’t prompt when migrating regardless and Apple wanted to surface option to more users?

@siracusa I saw several instances of an iOS 18 update (not a point update) being offered to new owners of iPhone 16. Which came out of the box with iOS 18.

I think the new phones must have been pizza box updated sitting on shelf with iOS 18 GC.

The issue might be failing to name one or the other a point update, or preliminary loading of almost there iOS 18.

@siracusa I got it on a brand new iPhone 16. I ignored it and all seems to be well.
@rdodson If it’s a security update, you should probably install it.
@siracusa it seemed like a rapid security response. I got it Saturday night.
@siracusa I got it too. I was running the iOS 18.0 beta on my previous iPhone. I decided to check for updates on the new phone just to do it and that’s when I was prompted. The update text said it offered security fixes for the iPhone 16 line. I did find it odd that it prompted to enable Stolen Device Protection, which I thought was already enabled.
@siracusa Same experience on my 16 Pro. Also never ran the beta.
@siracusa I did as well. It only happened after I replaced my iPhone 12 Pro with a 16 though, wonder if there were some hardware-specific fixes?
@siracusa iPhone 16? Was offered that, declined and installed iOS 18.1 beta 4, and got the same Stolen Device Protection prompt.

@siracusa Got it. Didn’t action directly but then it later said it updated. No Hello screen or Stolen Device Protection.

This was on a 16 Pro.

@siracusa iOS 18 release last week was build 22A3354.

My iPhone 16 Pro came with the earlier 22A3351. After direct-transfer migration, I was not prompted to update iOS. Stolen Device Protection was off and I wasn't prompted (it was enabled on the old phone).

After updating to iOS 22A3354, I got a brief “applying account settings” screen and the SDP prompt like you did.

@multigreg @siracusa I didn't confirm the initial build number, but on my 16 Pro Max, this is how it happened with me, as well.

@pdxmisfit @siracusa Yep, based on several replies to John's post, that is one of the bugs fixed between the iOS build loaded on launch-day 16 phones and the final release.

It's an unfortunate bug because users wouldn't think to check that SDP was still on (I certainly didn’t!), there are so many settings.

In my case, iOS didn't check for an update for 36 hours, so my new phone was more vulnerable in that time.

@multigreg yeah, I had the exact same experience as this. I assume this is a consequence of their increased use of surface shipping: late iOS beta updates released while our phones were on boats.

Feels like the version numbering didn’t have to be quite so clumsy though. Upgrading from 18.0 to 18.0 is kinda 🤨

@AggroBoy Shipping can take many weeks. So either they used air freight for the first batch a few days ahead of launch, or they used surface shipping and those new machines to wirelessly update iOS on the phones inside their boxes.

In both cases, they would have needed a bit of time for logistics and had to install a build of iOS prior to the RC.

What annoys me is that iOS didn't check for an available update, either after Quick Start or the end of the migration process.

@AggroBoy I just realised that it’s unlikely that they have the wireless machines installed in all Apple Stores, so they must have used air cargo and an earlier build, just like in previous years.

The machines are to update to 18.1 and later for phones that were shipped beforehand

@multigreg @siracusa Man, those build numbers are complicated to make sense of. If only we could have a simpler numbering scheme to help us understand which version of the software we’ve installed.
@siracusa I didn’t get the update but I woke up to this in Settings on my new 16 Pro that I set up days ago. Running iOS 18.1 beta.

@siracusa That happened to me this morning. I thought it was odd, as well.

One of the guys in #MacOSX on Libera suggested there was a nasty bug that bricked some 16* models, and this contained a fix for it.

I didn't think to compare the build numbers, did you happen to?

@siracusa Same here. And well over 24 hours later, my battery settings still show this

@siracusa I got that notice, didn’t have a chance to do anything with it but did think it was weird it still reported iOS 18 as the version not 18.0.x

It has disappeared now

@siracusa Yep. I got that as well. The version of iOS 18 on the new iPhones isn’t the same as the shipping version. So it just brings them in line.
@siracusa woke up to this this morning. Got the stolen device protection prompt as well. When reviewing my new iPhone 16 pro max after migrating on Friday I noticed that stolen device protection was disabled even though it was enabled on my 15. Perhaps this is part of the update?
@siracusa I got offered the update on my new iPhone 16 pro and installed it. It was 18.0 before the update and 18.0 after, did not notice any difference. (Never ran any iOS 18 betas on my prior phone or the new one.)
@siracusa Exact same thing happened to me
@siracusa I had it too. No hello, and Stolen Device protection prompt. This setting is disabled, I think it should be ON by default, and it should’ve migrated from previous device.
@siracusa I go the same update but my phone started up as normal after installing. No “hello” screen or any onboarding stuff.
@siracusa Same here. Unfortunately I didn’t check the build number I had installed for comparison before updating.
@siracusa Yep got that on my iPhone 16 Pro Max. Very odd 🤔
@siracusa I got that as well on my new iPhone 16 Pro. Never ran the beta. I don’t believe it prompted me for anything afterward. It was odd as it was iOS 18 and not iOS 18.01 or something.

@siracusa I checked and installed it posthaste. My new iPhone 16 Pro was overheating and unresponsive this morning after charging on Qi charger overnight.

I’m hoping iCloud restore is done and this update might also introduce some better behavior.

@siracusa oddly, my wife was required to do it to get to new iPhone and it showed up on my iPhone 16 pro late last night.
@siracusa I did and I did run the beta.
@siracusa me! my 16 pro is insanely buggy (10+ app lock ups per day) so i hope that would help. it didn't so i turned on the betas.
@siracusa this also fixed an annoying bug where Spotlight would crash if the first letter you typed was an “s” (unless you used swipe typing or typed the next letter really fast)
@siracusa Yes except I didn’t get promoted for stolen device protection. Don’t even recall seeing Hello again but I may have just dismissed it quickly (I think I would have remembered stolen device protection).
@siracusa I got exactly the same thing, and also ran no betas
@siracusa I saw the update was available on my new IPhone 16 Pro Max and thought it was weird it didn’t have a version number (iOS 18.0.1 or something). I checked the build number my phone shipped with (but didn’t write it down!) and the manufacture date (July!). I don’t know how build numbers work, but the new one ends with 354 and the original one was something like 150 lower than that. I definitely noticed that some Settings.app bugs/hangs were seemingly fixed…