iOS 9.3 Jailbreak Expected In The Coming Days

One of the great highlights for owners of Apple devices is when the iOS operating system is jailbroken by skilful developers. Yes there has not been a major new jailbreak tool release for any iOS-driven devices since October 2015, which has left many rebellious Apple fans disappointed. It is true that the Pangu Chinese team released such a jailbreak last month, but this was only for devices utilizing iOS 9.1; which would not be considered particularly valuable, and ultimately was viewed as an incremental update.

iOS 9.3 Jailbreak imminent

However, reports are brewing that the latest iOS 9.3 version will be jailbroken in the coming days, with numerous jailbreak enthusiasts apparently nearing a solution to this hallowed grail. 9.2.1 seemed likely to be released a few months ago, but Apple has instead announced a raft of exciting new features for the iOS 9.3 system, with Night Shift, enhanced 3D Touch shortcuts and an improved Notes application high on the list of developments.

It is thought that the Night Shift in particular may have led to jailbreaking teams delaying their particular software releases, but rumors are afoot that breakthroughs will be made in the next week or so. iOS 9.3 includes the largest palette of features that Apple will include in an operating system until iOS 10 is released, and this makes it a worthwhile escapade for jailbreaking crews all over the world.

However, the situation has been complicated by the fact that the latest iOS release has experienced significant teething troubles, and thus there is already an update available for this operating system, namely iOS 9.3.1. This is effectively a window of opportunity for jailbreaking teams, though, as there are early indications that the latest update is free of any major bugs. There is obviously no point in jailbreaking operating systems which then are updated, but it seems that 9.3.1 could be the last iOS released for some time.

Apple aficionados

With this in mind, analysts believe that a major jailbreaking tool is on the horizon in the foreseeable future, and this will be anticipated hugely by Apple aficionados. It is extremely common for people who have grown up with the Apple operating system to indeed jailbreak their iPhones and other iOS-driven devices, with the jailbroken handsets offering significant advantages and freedom over the standard iPhone releases.

Apple has strongly resisted the jailbreaking of its devices, and thus it has been asserted that the golden era of jailbreaking indeed seems to be over. Apple has attempted to neuter this process by offering frequent software updates for the iOS operating system, and this has certainly reduced the effectiveness of jailbreaking teams. While users can sidestep these updates by ensuring that the iPhones are not automatically updated, this does bring with it a host of potential issues, and it does not appeal to all iPhone owners by any means.

Nonetheless, there are massive advantages to jailbreaking iPhones, with the most obvious being that it enables users to customize and personalize the appearance of the operating system. To some degree, one can understand why Apple opposes this; it has built its reputation on a physical ubiquity which attracts people all over the world. But iOS is also frequently criticized for being a considerably more buttoned-down system than the competing Android OS, and many Apple users appreciate the ability that jailbreaking offers to customize the setup of the desktop.

Adding additional features

Jailbreaking also enables Apple users to add several additional features to their smartphone devices, and these can include genuinely useful functionality such as adding protection for any software or Touch ID.

Restrictions eliminated

Another criticism of iOS is that it imposes onerous restrictions on owners of its devices, and jailbreaking helps to mitigate against this issue. Of course, many Apple users never for one second consider such problems, but those who want the sleekness and convenience of the Apple iPhone, while also having a more open system particularly appreciate jailbreaks.

It is usual for links in iOS devices to be automatically opened in the Safari browser, while if you are opening a Maps application, it is not possible to open Maps in other apps. Jailbreaking devicesremoves all such irritating restrictions found in the existing iPhone system, enabling users to utilize and install whatever applications are required and desired. This is probably the number one reason for jailbreaking iOS, and it does remain an attractive proposition even for those concerned about the downside of jailbreaking.

More apps, more hacks

Finally, once a device is jailbroken, it is possible to install many applications that would otherwise be unavailable. Jailbreaking also opens up many hidden features in iPhone devices, and enables users to rummage around for hidden treasures and resources contained within the iPhone. For the technically proficient, jailbreaking literally makes the iPhone into an entirely new smartphone, and thus iOS users will be eagerly awaiting the latest jailbreaking release, which could now be on the cards.

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Build 2016 app for Android and iOS now available

Recently, Microsoft released the Build 2016 app for Windows 10 devices. Today, the company also released the Build 2016 app for Android and iOS. The Android and iOS app for Build 2016 seem to include all the features as the Windows 10 app, which is definitely good news:

• My Schedule: Access and modify the list of sessions, speakers, and exhibitors that you have added as favorites in the app or on the conference website Schedule Builder
• Schedule Builder: View and search the full conference session list. Select a session to favorite it, view details, submit session evaluations, and take notes.
• Showcase: Find the Microsoft groups and partners you want to meet.
• Conference Info: Find important event information and read about key event highlights to enhance your on-site experience.
• Maps: Find your way around the venue.
• Social & News: Follow and join the conversation through our social channels

As you may expect, the apps are available for free on the Google Play Store and App Store. If you want to download the app for your iPhone, head over to this link. And this link to get the app for your Android device.

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Another iOS 9.3 Bug Causes Apps to Freeze Your iPhone

Apple’s iOS 9.3 is off to a rough start.

The mobile operating system Apple launched last week is suffering from another glitch that causes iOS-based devices, including the iPhone and iPad, to freeze, according to reports on Apple’s Support Forums and tweets to the company’s Support team.

A forum post last week from one iPhone owner said that when attempting to click a link to Google  GOOG -0.24% from Apple’s  AAPL -0.42%  built-in browser Safari or email app Mail, “the apps just freeze.” The person added that nothing fixed the issue, including restarting the phone. Soon after, several other Apple users reported suffering from the same problem.

“I’m having the same issue in every app that has a link to open Safari,” one poster wrote. “I was in the beta and this never happened; it was more stable then (sic) the public release.”

A video was also published over the weekend showcasing the issue in action.

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It’s unclear at this point exactly what is causing the issue. An earlier report in TechCrunch, which discovered the growing Apple Support thread, pointed to some complaints that the issue could have to do with an iOS 9 feature called “Universal Links.” The feature allows app developers to force links to open directly within their programs instead of Apple’s Safari browser.

Some users in the forums, however, have said that when they disable JavaScript, a computer language used by Apple’s apps, it fixed the problem.

Whatever the case, it’s just the latest glitch to affect Apple’s newest operating system launch.

Last Monday, Apple announced that it was launching iOS 9.3 to its iPhone and iPad users. The version was previously in beta for months, suggesting that Apple was working with developers to get the issues worked out. However, soon after, users started complaining about the latest version of Apple’s operating system. For instance, some users with older devices couldn’t even update to iOS 9.3 if they didn’t remember their passwords. Unless they tried a workaround, including changing their passwords through Apple’s iCloud.com, their devices would be rendered useless.

For its part, Apple acknowledged that issue, saying that it was working on a fix to address the activation error. The company last week patched the problem on the iPad 2, but said it would launch a software update to other iOS devices in the near future.

The issue was a bit of a black mark on an otherwise notable upgrade that includes support for new Night Shift feature that automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness to make it easier on the eyes at night. The app also includes improvements to Notes, News, and other features.

Still, users aren’t happy with an operating system that had been in testing for so long. And they’re now hoping Apple will fix this latest issue that—at least for some people—has stopped links from working.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the glitch. However, a forum poster claims to have spoken to Apple Support, which said it was aware of the issue “and that their engineers are working on an update.”

The person added that Apple Support thought “the update should arrive within the next two days.”

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Web link bug in iOS 9.3 causes apps to crash, freeze

In what appears to be yet another bug in Apple's latest iOS point release, users running iOS 9.3 are reporting system stability issues when attempting to open hyperlinks in Safari, Mail, and Messages, as well as third party Web browsers like Google Chrome.

It is not clear what iOS mechanic is promoting the software breakdown, though problems seem to have cropped up on Saturday as multiple users took to Apple's Support Communities forums for help.AppleInsider on Sunday received a number of similar reports from device owners running both iOS 9.3 and, to a lesser extent, iOS 9.2.

As described by those affected, tapping on Web links in Mail, Messages, Safari and other Apple titles causes those app to freeze or crash. The issue appears to be app agnostic, as a both first and third party software exhibits crash symptoms, suggesting the issue lies in iOS itself. 

While newer hardware like iPhone 6, 6s and current generation iPad models appear most impacted, scattered reports claim older devices are experiencing the same hangups. An exact distribution of affected devices and iOS versions is not known, though Apple's support forums now contain multiple threads on the topic, one with more than 7,000 views. 

A permanent fix has not yet been discovered, though some have found limited success in disabling JavaScript (accessible in Settings > Safari > Advanced). Others say performing a long press operation on a link in Chrome bypasses the bug, but the solution is hit-or-miss. 

One forum member said an Apple Support representative this weekend confirmed the company is aware of the issue and has engineers working on a fix, which should be released soon. Apple has not made an official statement on the matter. 

The link crash bug comes less than a week after complaints surfaced regarding an iOS 9.3 update issuethat prohibited older iPhones and iPads from completing the activation process, rendering those devices unusable. Apple temporarily pulled the software before issuing a patched version on Thursday.
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Apple iOS 9.3 Has A Nasty Surprise

Apple AAPL -0.56% iOS 9.3 is finally here after no less than seven betas. It’s jam packed with exciting new features, but arguably its biggest and most anticipated addition has left a bitter taste in the mouths of some users…  

In short: Night Shift is not all it is cracked up to be.

It turns out Apple’s long awaited Bluelight Filter has a number of frustrating limitations which the company failed to mention in its release notes. On top of this it is also being dismissed as not fit for purpose by one of the industry’s most respected display testers. Here are the facts as they stand:

Night Shift Doesn’t Work With Older Devices

Despite Night Shift requiring virtually no processing power it turns out anyone with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch older than late 2013 is out of luck. This includes the iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, the first four generations of iPad and numerous generations of iPod touch.

Why? The reason is Apple coded Night Shift exclusively in 64bit code. This means a cut off point for any device not using the Apple A7 chipset or newer since it provided the first 64bit iOS-compatible CPU and GPU. As such all owners of 32bit devices are out of luck / have been given the classic Apple push to upgrade.

Apple iOS 9.3. Image credit: Gordon Kelly

Night Shift Doesn’t Work With Low Power Mode

Also causing heads to shake, is the discovery that Night Shift cannot be used when your iPhone or iPad is in low power mode. The reasoning behind this is unclear (I’ve asked the question) since with Night Shift enabled displays should actually use less power. The other obvious point is Night Shift is designed to be used at night which is when a device is mostly likely to be running low on power.

Industry Attack

Lastly Night Shift has also come under attack from none other than Ray Soneira, president of DisplayMate – a site which has become the industry benchmark for testing the displays of electronic devices and is often cited by manufacturers in their marketing materials. Soneira dismisses the implementation of Night Shift in iOS 9.3 saying it does little to no good. He argues:

“Night Shift, which turns down the amount of blue light produced by the display, won’t significantly affect the production of melatonin enough to influence the circadian rhythm and improve the user’s nighttime sleep cycle. I’ve looked into this before and it’s more of a placebo effect.”

Night Shift on Apple iOS 9.3 – note: the orange hue doesn’t show up in screenshots. Image credit: Gordon Kelly

Following up with me Soneira expanded on his findings saying:

“This is an effect that I have been following for many years. I am not a sleep researcher, but I am a theoretical physicist with extensive knowledge of the displays, light spectra, and human color vision. It is clear that many sleep researchers do not have a very good understanding of displays, light spectra, or human color vision, so many of their conclusions regarding displays are simply not correct.”

Soneira also points out that the removal of blue light from a display will turn it yellow and Night Shift in iOS 9.3 turns the display orange. This also asks questions about many popular Android bluelight filter apps which turn displays grey (BlueLight Filter) and red (Twilight).

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WhatsApp for iOS and Android updated: Here’s how you can share documents

After a big update on WhatsApp for iOS that introduced pinch to zoom for videos and sharing from third-party apps, there is a new server side update rolling out to both iOS and Android devices that are updated to the latest versions from their respective app stores. The new server side update will now allow users to share locally stored documents with individuals as well as groups.

For now, users who update to version 2.12.453 for Android and 2.12.14 on iOS will soon see another sharing option that allows users to share documents. For now however, there is this one tiny issue. The receiver (your friend) should also have the updated version installed in order to receive the said document on their device.

On Android, the same appears upon clicking the attach icon where there is now a ‘Document’ icon instead of a ‘Video’ one. Tapping on the same will show you all the locally stored documents on your device, where you can select and send the same.

On iOS, tapping on the ‘Upload’ icon will now show a ‘Share Document’ option among others that will allow you to share documents from other third-party apps (mainly online storage) which is similar to what was revealed in the last update for photo and video sharing.

For now users are reporting that they are only able to share pdf documents. Since this is a server side update, it may take some time till it is available on your smartphone.

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iOS 10 concept video shows off some intriguing new features

With so much buzz surrounding Apple’s upcoming iPhone SE and the highly anticipated iPhone 7, we curiously haven’t heard much about iOS 10, the software that will power Apple’s next-gen lineup of smartphones.

With rumors surrounding iOS 10 few and far in between, visual designer Sam Beckett recently put together a concept video showcasing some intriguing and clever ideas Apple might be smart to incorporate into the upcoming version of its mobile OS.

Most of the ideas in Beckett’s video focuses on improvements Apple can make to iOS’ Control Center. For instance, one idea showcases 3D Touch integration with various Control Center toggles. So imagine, for example, being able to force touch the Wi-Fi toggle as a means to not just turn Wi-Fi on, but to also choose which wireless network to join.

Additionally, another concept shown in the video highlights how users might be able to pick and choose which particular toggles they’d like to appear in iOS’ Control Center in the first place.

As it stands now, the only iOS 10 feature we’ve heard rumblings about centers on a new service dubbed iCloud Voicemail that would use Siri to answer calls and transcribe voice messages.

In the months ahead, it’ll be interesting to see what type of cool new features Apple plans to incorporate into iOS 10, especially given that iOS 9 last year was largely focused on under-the-hood optimizations designed to improve the overall user experience and eliminate pesky bugs and performance issues.

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Apple iOS 9.3 Has 2 Important Changes

Over the last 18 months I’ve held Apple (rightly) to task about several releases of iOS 8 and iOS 9 which broke as much as they fixed. But with Apple’s new iOS 9.3 release I want to applaud the company for making two commendable changes very quickly…  

Important Change #1

Earlier this month a serious yet ridiculous bug was discovered: setting the date of an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to January 1st, 1970 would brick the device the next time it was restarted. Why would anyone do that? Because a hoax spread across the Internet that it would unlock a secret retro iOS theme.

Apple iOS 9.3 is a major upgrade. Image credit: Apple

Well just nine days later iOS 9.3 has stamped on this. MacRumours spottedthat Apple has come up with a very simple solution: users now cannot set the date to earlier than January 1st, 2001. Though why anyone would need to do that when they aren’t being tricked by a hoax is beyond me.

As for those unlucky enough to have already bricked their iDevice in falling for the date hoax, you can now use iTunes to restore the device to iOS 9.3 and it will magically return to life. I’ve seen some fast Apple patches in the past, but nine days is pretty great going.

Important Change #2

There’s a similar sense of speed in Apple’s second major iOS 9.3 change. The first three betas of iOS 9.3 did something highly controversial: it stopped the Apple Pencil from being used as a navigation tool around iOS, limiting it purely to being a creative tool.

Since this loss of Apple Pencil functionality was not listed as a known bug in the iOS 9.3 beta release notes, concern rose and a plea on iMore to restore the lost functionality gained a lot of attention. Now 46 days into the testing of iOS 9.3 Apple has spoken out:

“We believe a finger will always be the primary way users navigate on an iPad, but we understand that some customers like to use Apple Pencil for this as well and we’ve been working on ways to better implement this while maintaining compatibility during this latest beta cycle. We will add this functionality back in the next beta of iOS 9.3.”

Apple Pencil navigation support is not going anywhere. Image credit: Apple

Cynics have understandably claimed Apple has been forced into a U-turn following the growing outcry and used it as a PR opportunity. Of course that is impossible to prove and I think it matters little. More interesting is that a company stereotyped for thinking it always knows has opted for what consumers want after a short spell of testing and headed off a potential mutiny from iPad Pro owners.

I wouldn’t see this as a sea change moment (the iPhone 7 is still going to lose the headphone jack, whether we like it or not), but it’s still something to be applauded.

Changes For All

So when will these fixes be available to everyone? iOS 9.3 has just entered beta 4 (for public testers and developers) and has already surpassed the development time of both iOS 9.1 and iOS 9.2 so it shouldn’t be long now. If I had to call it? The first week of March.

Given that iOS 9.3 contains the most significant changes I’ve seen in an iOS point release in a long time, that date cannot come soon enough. Meanwhile I’d suggest anyone affected by the date bug skip the queue and join the Apple Beta Program to grab it right now. It’s time to bring your devices back from the dead! 

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iOS 9.2.1 jailbreak update, rumors: Jailbreak rumored to be skipped; iOS 9.3 beta 3 jailbroken?

After "Error 53," which plagued iPhone devices earlier this month, Apple released an updated iOS 9.2.1 to remedy the situation. Then more recently, it rolled out the third beta of iOS 9.3 to developers. This has led many to believe that an iOS 9.2.1 jailbreak may not see the light of day anymore.

The iOS jailbreak community believed that an iOS 9.2 jailbreak was in development stage when it was rumored that Pangu was working on it, and they were undoubtedly waiting for its release. During that time period, iOS hacker Luca Todesco claimed that he had a working jailbreak for iOS 9.2.1, and that iOS version was still in beta stage. Todesco did not want to share his knowledge to the rest of the world, so apparently, nobody has used the jailbreak tool apart from him.

Now, iOS 9.3 is the talk of the town, and even while in its beta stage, many now believe that jailbreaking is not limited to the Pangu and TaiG team anymore. Taigjailbreak has reported that Todesco has jailbroken iOS 9.3 beta 1 and even posted a video of it on YouTube. Again, he does not intend to release his tool to the general public.

Neurogadget has reported that a certain Twitter user with the handle enMTW announced that he has already cracked the iOS 9.3 beta 3 and said that he will eventually release the jailbreak tool, which is rumored to be in March. Many followers of enMTW believe that he will share his exploits to the community.

Meanwhile, TaiG is also rumored to be working on an iOS 9.3 jailbreak, but there is currently no information on its availability, whereas Pangu announced to its fans that the latest iOS 9.2.1 is recommended to be downloaded and installed in their iOS devices.

So far, iOS 9.3 is rumored to bring some major performance improvements, new features and of course bug fixes. It is believed that this version will bring sorting ability and password protection on Apple Notes. Improved algorithms, landscape mode and in-line video playback are said to be added on Apple News.

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