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Apple Announces iOS 9.3 is Launching Today [Updated]

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At its media event in Cupertino today, Apple announced that iOS 9.3 will begin to rollout as a free update to users worldwide today. As previously announced thanks to betas of the software, the update will bring new features to iOS, mainly centering around Night Shift.

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Updates to older apps like Apple News will see some small UI shifts to highlight breaking news stories, and the company announced that its CarPlay features will continue to appear on a wide array of vehicles in the coming year. Also briefly touched upon in iOS 9.3 was a featured called "Education," which will allow teachers and administration access to organizational features inside of classrooms on devices like the iPad.

Stay up-to-date with the event today on the MacRumors live stream.

Update: iOS 9.3 is now available for compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices.

Top Rated Comments

647156 Avatar
131 months ago
Looks like the servers are being hammered after all these years of waiting for an update - getting this when trying to check for this OS 9.3 update currently:



Looking forward to the increased snappiness of Internet Explorer after the update! Shame they didn't announce the PowerBook/iBook G5 along with this long-awaited update though, guess we'll have to wait until WWDC for those...

Oh wait...iOS 9.3? :(

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Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
131 months ago
Software update on iPhone says I'm up to date at 9.2.1 but iTunes says update available - 9.2.1

Odd.



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Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vertsix Avatar
131 months ago
I hope you all enjoy 9.3 if you didn't jump on the betas. The performance is soooo much better with 9.3 than 9.2.1.

It's like night and day.

Especially on the iPhone 5s and 6 Plus.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mdawid Avatar
131 months ago
Software update on iPhone says I'm up to date at 9.2.1 but iTunes says update available - 9.2.1

Odd.

I had the same issue - though, I plugged my iPhone into my Macbook last night and record the message then. Not a new thing. I just checked again - same. Letting it re-download and install or do whatever so I can update to 9.3 without hangup.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
131 months ago
I was hoping they'd announce a few more features for the News app to be honest. I hate that there's no 'end' to the news stream. I used to love using Zite cause you'd eventually run out of stories and you felt like you'd seen everything and you'd return later. But Apple News just gives you endless lists of articles and you have to actively decide to abandon it.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
frumpy16 Avatar
131 months ago
i just installed 9.2.1 last week. Held off for as long as possible till I knew it was safe. Installing a new OS on day one is asking, no let me correct that, begging for problems. Apple has proven time and again that it's iOS updates are not always reliable.

Prudence dictates to wait at least a month before installing any new OS if you can't afford ending up with a screwed up phone.
That was better advice before they greatly expanded the pre-release user pool with the public beta program. You gotta do what you're comfortable with but this is a very conservative approach you're preaching. Personally, I don't have anything mission critical enough on my iPhone to manage it this tightly to mitigate the risk that an issue went undetected through the usual internal, alpha, beta, and public beta testing processes (over several iterations). Be assured that this release aged well over one month already.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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