World files won't update past 1.17

So this isn't just an issue of 1.19.21. I've had this issue since November 30, 2021 when the 1.18 update came out. But now it's an issue because I want to transfer my world onto other devices and my world file is stuck on 1.17. I checked the new storage area that they are located in and I tried every YouTube tutorial and I was able to find the file but it was last modified on the 30th of November. My game was always set to external file storage so I don't understand what the problem is.