Apple has just released a small update to iOS 11 that has one key change in it: a fix for a bug that caused a crackling sound to occur during phone calls for some iPhone 8 and 8 Plus users.
It’s still not clear exactly what was causing the issue, but it did seem to be a software problem: even on affected iPhones, the earpiece seemed to work normally in most circumstances. But during calls, the earpiece could occasionally produce a high-pitched static or crackling noise.
It was faint, but annoying.
Apple confirmed the issue last week, saying it was present for a “small number” of users and that a fix was coming. That fix is now available to download in the form of iOS 11.0.2, which addresses a couple of minor bugs as well.