When does the iPhone 12 stop getting updates?
Apple has never published an end-of-support date for any iPhone, and this site does not invent one. What it does hold is what the iPhone 12 runs today and what Apple did with every iPhone it has retired, which is a pattern you can read for yourself.
Released Read
What is published
- Feature updates until
- Not published by the maker
- Security updates until
- Not published by the maker
Basis: our inference from history
Apple publishes no end-of-support date for the iPhone 12: the endoflife.date record shows no EOL and no security-support date, so both fields are left null rather than guessed. Apple has historically shipped major iOS updates to phones for roughly five to seven years and security patches for a while beyond that, but nothing here is a commitment Apple has made and no forward date should be read into this entry. Apple's iOS 27 page (read 2026-09-22) lists the iPhone 12 as compatible with iOS 27, the current iOS; that is a statement about today, not a forward date.
endoflife.date — iPhone, retrieved 2026-08-19
- Shipped with
- iOS 14.1GSMArena — Apple iPhone 12 specifications, retrieved 2026-08-19
- Runs today
- iOS 14 to iOS 27Apple UK — iOS 27 compatible devices, retrieved 2026-09-22
What Apple has done before
Every iPhone since the 6s that no longer receives updates, with the year of its last new iOS and the date of its last security patch. Since 2015 the last new iOS has arrived 5 to 6 years after release, and the last patch 2 to 5 years after that.
| Model | Released | Last new iOS | Years to it | Last security update |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone XR | 2018-10-26 | iOS 18 | 6 | 2026-08-17 |
| iPhone XS | 2018-09-21 | iOS 18 | 6 | 2026-08-17 |
| iPhone XS Max | 2018-09-21 | iOS 18 | 6 | 2026-08-17 |
| iPhone 8 | 2017-09-22 | iOS 16 | 5 | 2026-05-11 |
| iPhone 8 Plus | 2017-09-22 | iOS 16 | 5 | 2026-05-11 |
| iPhone X | 2017-09-12 | iOS 16 | 5 | 2026-05-11 |
| iPhone 7 | 2016-09-16 | iOS 15 | 5 | 2026-05-11 |
| iPhone 7 Plus | 2016-09-16 | iOS 15 | 5 | 2026-05-11 |
| iPhone SE (1st gen) | 2016-03-31 | iOS 15 | 6 | 2026-05-11 |
| iPhone 6s | 2015-09-25 | iOS 15 | 6 | 2026-05-11 |
| iPhone 6s Plus | 2015-09-25 | iOS 15 | 6 | 2026-05-11 |
What that pattern points to for the iPhone 12
The iPhone 12 went on sale in 2020. If Apple treats it as it has treated every phone above, its last new iOS would arrive in 2026 and its last security patch between 2027 and 2031.
That is an inference from the table, not a commitment. Apple can shorten or extend it without notice and has done both. The one figure Apple does publish is which iOS the phone runs today, above; the day it is missing from a new iOS is the day the pattern becomes a fact.
What to do with that
Nothing about the iPhone 12 forces a move today. The row-by-row case for or against replacing it, with what it fetches used, is on Should I upgrade my iPhone 12?; the full sheet is on the iPhone 12 page. Every phone’s version of this page is listed at All update timelines.