After extensive testing over several weeks, Apple today released iOS 10.3 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices, which includes yourself with the 'Find my AirPods' function and other new 'features'. Firmware iOS 10.3 is available for free download 'over the air' for all users iOS 10 and can also be downloaded via the 'iTunes' application.
The new iOS contains more than a dozen improvements and innovations such as' Find My AirPods ', new filesystem from Apple, redesigned service section' iCloud 'in' Settings', disabling ads in apps, the infamous list of outdated apps on your device, and more.
Major innovations in iOS 10.3
Firmware iOS 10.3 revealed several external innovations along with bug fixes, stability improvements and new security measures. The most significant changes include:
- New file system 'Apple File System'
- Service performance analysis option 'iCloud'
- Redesigned service settings section 'iCloud', which now takes the first place in the list of settings in the 'Settings' application
- Improved service performance 'Siri' and 'CarPlay'
- Reducing 'Movement' on web pages
- Settings for disabling the application request to evaluate its work and write a review about it
- Hourly updated weather forecast in Maps
- Improvements to the Conversation interface in the Mail app
- Fast typing in Chinese and Japanese
Find Mine AirPods allows you to locate your headphones in the Find Mine iPhone app.
This feature allows you not only to see the last location of your headphones AirPods on a map, but also allows you to play a high pitched tone on one or both headphones AirPods, allowing you to locate them faster (within the working area Bluetooth).
Siri also got 'smarter'
In firmware iOS 10.3 you can ask Siri to pay invoices through payment applications and check their status. It can also help you plan your trip using the Uber app and other compatible apps of this kind. If you are interested in sports, now Siri can check the latest sports results and statistics for you in the Premier League Football (American) and the International Cricket Council.
If you use applications from car manufacturers (CarPlay), now Siri in iOS 10.3 will check the amount of fuel in its tanks, turn on the headlights and give a signal using a simple a request spoken out loud.
In iOS 10.3, developers were allowed to respond to user reviews in App Store directly and publicly. Soon the company Apple will activate a new switch in the 'Settings' for the option to remove annoying requests from the application to evaluate its work and publish your review in App Store.
When set to 'Off', the app will no longer bother you with a request to write a review.
This feature will work in applications that use the new 'Browse' API codes from Apple. The ability to respond to developers and the ability for users to turn off ads in the app will work on both App Store and Mac App Store.
The new Compatible Applications Section in Settings will show a list of 32-bit applications.
After launching such 32-bit applications, the system iOS 10.3 will give you the infamous warning that 32-bit applications will no longer be supported in future versions iOS, unless they will not update (which can serve as proof for you that iOS 11 will definitely be completely 64-row).
The root section of the service settings 'iCloud' has now moved to the very top of the list in the 'Settings' application and presents a unified view of your account Apple ID, which will contain all information about it, settings and all devices connected to it.
Service Maps CarPlay 'now displays nearby EV charging stations, i.e. offers a feature that first appeared in Maps for iPhone and iPad in December 2016.
Speaking of the service 'CarPlay', it should be noted that now there is quick access to the last used applications without having to go to the home screen by using the Home button. On the left side, there are quick links to launch your favorite music tracks, navigation maps, and social media apps.
In the 'Maps' application in iOS 10.3, you can use the gesture '3D Touch' on the temperature display and get a menu with the weather forecast for this location, which will be updated hourly or, if you press even more, then more detailed information for this location will appear in the 'Weather' application.
By the way, the Maps application allows you to find your parked car.
You can now mark 'spam' in the Calendar app. This feature was originally launched in the Services Calendar app iCloud in November 2016 and is now also available on all your iOS devices.
The Podcasts app now has its own Today widget, supports the '3D Touch' gestures for quick access to your favorite episodes and allows you to share them through the Messages app.
In the Home app, you can see the battery status of the compatible accessories used and set a specific scenario for the programmable switches.
Firmware iOS 10.3 allows you to quickly update a third-party application icon without having to provide a binary file in App Store Developers can use this functionality to display various statuses of their applications on your home screen. For example, a free program can change its icon after you upgrade it to the full paid version of the application through the built-in purchase mechanism.
Last but not least, now iOS 10.3 (as well as macOS Sierra 10.12.4, watchOS 3.2 and tvOS 10.2) uses a new file system from Apple, designed specifically to free up disk space, improve performance, and make your data more secure.
This file system is optimized for flash drives (but works with traditional hard drives as well), and has been scaled from devices Apple Watch to Mac Pro and includes built-in support for data encryption.
Three good reasons to use Apple File System over HFS +
- Encryption is native support for the process itself and extends to the meta data of the file itself.
- Copy-on-write metadata – provides trouble-free file system updates
- Free space allocation – many files on the system use all available free space on disk, not the free space allocated for each file.
For more tech-savvy users, here are the other benefits of using the new file system:
- Extended list of file attributes
- TRIM operations
- Cloning files and directories
- Disk status snapshot
- Quick allocation of size for a directory
- Primary functions of secure storage at the atomic level
- Timestamp scale of one nanosecond
- Improved basic file system functionality
Existing third-party utilities will need to be updated to work with the new file system.
The APFS manual has more information.
List of changes in iOS 10.3
The company Apple provides the following improvements in the official changelog iOS 10.3:
Find My iPhone service
- View the current and last registered location of your headphones AirPods
- Play a sound signal on one or both headphones AirPods to find them faster
Service 'Siri'
- Supports payment and check of payment status in payment applications
- Supports 'Schedule' function in taxi ordering apps
- Supports checking the remaining fuel in the car tanks, checking locks, turning on the lights and playing the horn in car manufacturer applications
- Checking the results in the games played in cricket and viewing the statistics of the games, under the auspices of the 'International Cricket Council'.
CarPlay
- Quick links in the menu for a list of recently used applications
- On the screen 'Apple Music Now Playing' you can view the next track and exit to the entire album of the currently playing track.
- Daily updated playlists and new items in various service categories 'Apple Music'
Other improvements and fixes
- One-time rent in iTunes and play this video content on all your devices
- New unified view of settings, information and connected devices for your account Apple ID
- Updated hourly weather forecast when using 3D Touch gestures at the current location temperature in Maps
- Support for finding 'parked car' in Maps
- The Calendar application allows you to remove unwanted invitation and mark it as spam.
- The Smart Home app allows you to script actions using accessories and buttons.
- Smart Home app allows you to check the battery status of accessories
- The 'Podcasts' app supports '3D Touch' gestures and the 'Today' widget to access updated episodes
- Added the ability to share an episode from the 'Podcast' app via the 'Messages' app with playback support
- Fixed a bug that prevented your current location from being displayed after making changes to the 'Location & Privacy' settings
- Improved VoiceOver in Phone, Safari, and Mail.
For information regarding security in iOS 10.3, read the document from Apple.
What do you think of iOS 10.3?
We are unlikely to see the release of iOS 10.4 because the company Apple will immediately provide version iOS 11 and firmware for other devices at the international developer conference in June. However, we are awaiting update iOS 10.3 by one more digit or more in case of finding critical flaws in it and for their elimination.