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Release record

watchOS 5.1

Full article
Public release
Recorded milestones
6
Beta cycle
42d
Average interval
8d
Public release
Oct 30, 2018

Release notes

Overview

Editorial synthesis with inline references and a source ledger when citations are available.

Release overview

Apple's dedicated security advisory records watchOS 5.1 as released on October 30, 2018 with fixes across cryptography, strings, networking, the kernel, mail, VPN behavior, Safari Reader, certificates, web processing, and Wi-Fi.[1]

Evidence boundary

Apple's current watchOS 5 consumer update history has no 5.1 section and instead proceeds from 5.0.1 to 5.1.1. Because the security advisory independently confirms 5.1, this page preserves the existing route but makes no unsupported feature or ordinary-fix claim.[2][3]

Source ledger

References

Sources are linked to the claims they support. Publication and access dates are shown when available.

  1. About the security content of watchOS 5.1

    Apple Support · Apple · 2018-10-30T00:00:00.000Z · Released October 30, 2018

    Back to text ↑
  2. About watchOS 5 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 5.0.1 through watchOS 5.1.1

    Back to text ↑
  3. About the security content of watchOS 5.1

    Apple Support · Apple · 2018-10-30T00:00:00.000Z · watchOS 5.1

    Back to text ↑
  4. About watchOS 5 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 5 update index

Documented & observed

Changes in this version

Source-linked features, fixes, known issues, removals, and community-observed behavior recorded across this version’s appearances and verified builds.

Release changes

Changed in this release

Features, fixes, removals, and regressions first observed in this release record.

security · fixed

watchOS 5.1 security repairs

documentedconfirmed

Apple's advisory records memory-safety, privilege, information-disclosure, denial-of-service, DNS-leak, cross-site-scripting, and wireless fixes.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About the security content of watchOS 5.1 · CoreCrypto; ICU; IPSec; Kernel; Mail; NetworkExtension; Safari Reader; Security; WebKit; Wi-Fi

Milestones

Release history

Every recorded channel appearance in chronological order. Open an appearance for any available build, scope, notes, and sources.

  2. +14 days
  3. +7 days
  4. +6 days
  5. +7 days
  6. +8 days

    Public release

    Public

    Full articleEditorially verified

    watchOS 5.1 reached the public channel on October 30, 2018 according to Apple's version-specific security advisory; Apple's current consumer history supplies no retained 5.1 feature or maintenance note.

    Availability
    available
    Sources
    6 linked
    Open this appearance

Historical context

Cycle comparison

Pace, intervals, and duration compared with earlier releases on the same platform.

Historical avg for .1 releases

41 days, 5.4 milestones

Based on 11 previous watchOS .1 releases

Cycle vs. platform average

42d (avg: 58d)

16 days shorter than the watchOS average

Duration ranking

#29 of 49

Middle of the pack watchOS beta cycles

Longest gap in this cycle

14 days

Between Beta 1 and Beta 2

Previous .1 releases (watchOS)

Previous comparable watchOS releases
VersionYearCycleMilestonesAvg. Interval
watchOS 9.1202240d77d
watchOS 8.1202134d76d
watchOS 7.1202049d512d
watchOS 6.1.1201935d59d
watchOS 6.1201936d67d
watchOS 5.2.1201946d512d

Scroll horizontally to compare every historical field.

Official release notes