#ios103

Just yesterday, the latest iteration to the tenth version of Apple’s long-maligned mobile operating system, iOS (10.3), was released!

The update includes a total overhaul of the current operating system to a completely new proprietary file system, abbreviated to “APFS” (stands for Apple File System). In short, this means that your device has a totally new type of back-end encryption and your iCloud backups are exponentially (quite literally) more secure.

With iOS 10.3, a feature directly similar to Find My iPhone has surfaced! Apple calls it “Find My AirPods”. Now, if you don’t know, AirPods are Apple’s newest and first attempt – excluding Beats – at wireless earbuds, and they are fairly easy to misplace, especially if your name is teezythakidd. With Find My AirPods being part of the ecosystem now, you can locate a missing AirPod from the same channels you normally would use to locate a device attached to your Apple ID (that has a “Find” feature at all, of course). This works by essentially triangulating the location of the AirPods only when one or both of them are out of the case and somewhat nearby; it uses your nearby devices to determine a fix on the map! It does not work, however, if they are both in the charging case or if you left them at work last night and you only realized this once you got home. At that point, you’d see the last location on the map (just like how your iOS devices send their last location to Find My iPhone just before the battery runs out).

Aside from technical stuff, iOS 10.3 introduces minor aesthetic changes, such as a new open/close animation for apps, a redesigned Settings app (iCloud account information is now at the top of the Settings instead of just in the “iCloud” settings pane), which means that your device may feel a bit “snappier” as the animations have been tweaked a little bit.

Probably the biggest, most relevant, yet still underwritten, fix that Apple brings to its customers with iOS 10.3 is a security hole in Safari that, when compromised, would prevent you from effectively using the web browser as it is stuck in an endless popup loop, typically from accidentally visiting a fraudulent site. This is due to a vulnerability that has been in Javascript for years’ past! Most often, these endless popup loops make you think that the functionality and contents of your device is held for ransom and unless you perform action Y by time X, then... ya know... “things” could happen. Fortunately, this is no longer an issue, as Javascript popups are now restricted to a per-tab basis, and would not lock up Safari as a whole, should the issue resurface... as in, you can simply close the affected tab and move on with your life!

If your device isn’t updated or you don’t plan on updating to iOS 10.3... a quick way to get out of that loop is to go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. This will close all currently open tabs in Safari on your device, as well as delete cookies, caches, and history data. At that point, you have a fresh version of Safari just waiting to be used! This does NOT erase bookmarks!

For the sake of your sanity, you might want to update your device.

Also, if the Javascript thing happens to you every time you visit *******r.com... you may also want to update your device (#noshade) or follow the steps I gave to clear out your Safari... or......... update your device. *ding!*

The update is available both Over-The-Air and via iTunes. I personally suggest that you ABSOLUTELY BACK UP your device to either iCloud or iTunes (I recommend the latter, but feel free to do both) prior to doing so. I further suggest RESTORING your device to iOS 10.3 and THEN restoring to your backup... iTunes will walk you through the second half of this process (hint hint).

If you see your device on this list, get to work:

iPad 4/”4th gen”

iPad Air

iPad Air 2

iPad mini 2

iPad mini 3

iPad mini 4

iPad Pro 9.7″

iPad Pro 12.9″

iPhone 5

iPhone 5c

iPhone 5s

iPhone SE

iPhone 6

iPhone 6 Plus

iPhone 6s

iPhone 6s Plus

iPhone 7

iPhone 7 Plus

iPod Touch 6/”6th gen” (current at time of writing)