Apple has just released iOS 7.1, the first major update for iOS 7 since its launch back in September 2013. The update has been available to developers for some time now, and brings a lot of small but interesting changes to Apple’s mobile OS, including continued visual tweaks of the all-new iOS 7 design. The update adds official support for CarPlay, which has been the talk of the town recently thanks to its official unveiling at the Geneva Auto Show.
This update eliminates the possibility of a jailbreak. Users of jailbroken iPhones are advised to stay away from this update, because once you update to iOS 7.1, you can’t downgrade to 7.0.6 again. Currently, iOS 7.1 is not supported by any jailbreak software.
If you are still on an earlier version of iOS 7 than 7.0.6, you'll need to make sure you have SSLPatch installed from Cydia on your device, which patches a high-risk security flaw.
The good news, for jailbreakers, is that there aren’t very many notable improvements with the release of iOS 7.1. The list of features includes support for Apple CarPlay, new visual design of the call and end-call buttons, the ability to control how long Siri listens to you by holding down the Home button while talking, Camera is automatically set to HDR on iPhone 5S, new “month view” is added to the Calendar application, improved Touch ID fingerprint recognition, Mail button badge can now display numbers higher than 10,000, and an occasional Home-screen crash bug was fixed.
All-in-all, if your iPhone is not jailbroken, then we recommend updating to iOS 7.1. If your iPhone is jailbroken, then we do not recommend updating but instead installing “SSLPatch” from Cydia.
