iPhone 17 praised for its 'groundbreaking' new memory security feature that flew under the radar
Published on Sep 12, 2025 at 6:04 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on Sep 12, 2025 at 6:04 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Claire Reid
The new Apple iPhone 17 has had a huge memory security update that has been hailed as ‘groundbreaking’ – but you may have missed it.
The tech giant said it had been working on the update for ‘half a decade’.
And now it’s set to roll out with the new iPhone 17.
However, despite being praised for being ‘groundbreaking,’ the memory security update has mostly stayed under the radar.
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The Apple iPhone 17 has a new memory security feature
As ever, the Apple iPhone 17 was unveiled to plenty of buzz and lots of media attention.
After months of speculation, Apple announced major updates to the phone’s camera, display, and battery life, as well as the iPhone Air: the thinnest and most durable iPhone ever.
However, there was also an important memory security update that you might not have heard of.
Memory Integrity Enforcement (MIE) is ‘the most significant upgrade to memory safety in the history of consumer operating systems’, according to its creator.
The update is specifically designed to target potential spyware threats and involves several big, key changes to Apple’s chips, operating system, and development tools.
“With the introduction of the iPhone 17 lineup and iPhone Air, we’re excited to deliver Memory Integrity Enforcement: the industry’s first ever, comprehensive, always-on memory-safety protection covering key attack surfaces — including the kernel and over 70 userland processes — built on the Enhanced Memory Tagging Extension (EMTE) and supported by secure typed allocators and tag confidentiality protections,” Apple said in a statement.
In practical terms, this means the new iPhones will offer much better security protection against the most commonly exploited software vulnerabilities when it comes to malware threats.
The update has flown under the radar and some fans think they know why
While the attention around hardware and software changes to the iPhone was as loud as ever, you may not have heard about the Memory Integrity Enforcement update.
In a Reddit post about the memory security update, one Apple user expressed their ‘surprise’ at it not being mentioned during the keynote.
However, others pointed out that the details of the update are very technical and might not make a lot of sense to some.
“Under the hood can be massive achievements, but it’s too technical for most,” one person commented.
“I’d say the reality is that for most people, the technology isn’t important,” someone else wrote..
“For the tech-conscious people, they know and look up what they want. For normal users, it really doesn’t matter.”
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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.
