Upcoming iOS 10.3 Discussion Thread

I thought it might be good to have a discussion thread for the upcoming release of iOS 10.3. For those who don't know already, this is a major update and will include the new file system for iOS devices. According to an article on Mac Rumors:

Apple's latest update also introduces a new Apple File System (APFS), installed when an iOS device is updated to iOS 10.3. APFS is optimized for flash/SSD storage and includes features like strong encryption.

Apple just seeded the 7th beta to developers for testing. Yep, I said 7th beta! That seems rather high as far as betas go for iOS, I think. This could mean that Apple is merely being extremely cautious, or perhaps they are having a lot of issues. I have no clue, but it would be a good idea to approach this new file system with a great deal of caution. I've seen operating systems in the past that switched file systems and those rarely went without some hitches. Personally this is one iOS update I will hold off on for at least a month after it is finally released. I suspect there will be a lot of issues, especially with older apps that haven't been updated in a long time.

I have no clue how long before Apple releases iOS 10.3. But if you are jittery like me, then you probably want to hold off a while after final release before installing it. It might be a bumpy road...

[pwalker8]

I've been using since the first beta without any issues.

[Jessica Lares]

Yeah, I'm going to trust that when it officially comes out that it's going to be fine. A lot of people are using the betas as their daily driver (it's also being seeded to public beta testers), so you'd already be hearing if stuff was going on. It's the macOS side of it that is more concerning.

[pwalker8]

Is there something in particular about the MacOS side that you find more concerning?

I'm not going to trust it is good to go on final release because there have been SNAFUs in the past with other releases. Best to wait a month. Testing with developers is not always going to discover things. Sometimes it is the final release that reveals isuues that were not encountered in the limited beta tests. When it gets released to the general public it will get a real workout.

[kyteflyer]

New file system will surely break a few apps? Think I will wait a while too

[HarryT]

I always wait a few weeks after the release of a new iOS version before upgrading. Apps can and do break with new versions. I've no desire to be an early adopter.

[pwalker8]

It all depends. The only issue that I've ever had with an iOS release was my dislike for the way audiobooks were changed from iTunes to iBook. The only issue I've had with an macOS release was problems with a fairly obscure driver for my Vantage Pro2 weather station, and I haven't had any issues with that for quite a few releases. It's been a long, long time since I've rolled back a release with Apple.

There is a reason that macOS and iOS have the highest upgrade percentage by a large margin. Apple does large open beta tests. Most of the issues tend to be obscure, tend to be fixed quickly and get overblown by a press looking for something to write.

If you don't feel comfortable upgrading for a week or two, then don't. There really isn't any must have features on the iOS side. but I expect there to be few issues with this release. You might run into issues with abandon-ware (apps that don't get updated on a regular basis), but none of my apps had issues and I do have some pretty old apps, including a couple that I'm being warned may have issues in the future.

Although it is rare, there have been certain cases with iOS releases wherein a few devices have been locked or messed up if a specific set of circumstances occur. These occurrences would be rare, but I prefer others to find that rather than me! I also ran into a strange situation with the release of 10.0 or 10.1 wherein there were specific issues with certain iPhone models that were on the T-Mobile system. I even got an urgent email from T-Mobile asking me to wait before installing, followed up a day later by an all is clear email saying it was now safe to install the update. So stuff can happen, and if it takes your device out of service for a day or more that can be very frustrating, especially if it is your only phone. So like many others I prefer for all the gremlins to come out first, then I will update.

I'm still running El Capitan so I'm not concerned about Sierra. The Mac OS X updates are not crammed down our throats like the iOS updates. But I guarantee that Apple will be just as annoying as ever trying to force us to update to iOS 10.3.

[MartyTX]

Originally Posted by jswinden

But I guarantee that Apple will be just as annoying as ever trying to force us to update to iOS 10.3.

Ahh ... one of the joys of owning an iPad Mini 1st generation is all updating stopped with iOS 9.3.5 ... I'm out of the club.

[GERGE]

I am usually an early adopter but not when it comes to file systems. I lived through that hell once with Btrfs (not because I wanted to, I was doing testing for a distro I was involved with), never again. Not even if you pay me for it. There is a difference between being an early adopter and boarding the first submarine ever.

Still, I am quite exited about 10.3. All those poor souls will do testing for me without even noticing what they are doing =)

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by GERGE

I am usually an early adopter but not when it comes to file systems. I lived through that hell once with Btrfs (not because I wanted to, I was doing testing for a distro I was involved with), never again. Not even if you pay me for it. There is a difference between being an early adopter and boarding the first submarine ever.

Still, I am quite exited about 10.3. All those poor souls will do testing for me without even noticing what they are doing =)

I understand that the people that boarded the first submarine ever enjoyed the ride so much, they are still on the submarine!

(ok, that's the definition of black humor)

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I have no clue how long before Apple releases iOS 10.3. But if you are jittery like me, then you probably want to hold off a while after final release before installing it. It might be a bumpy road...

Considering the fact that we are at Beta 8 as of just a little while ago and that iTunes 12.6 just came out today (featuring rent once play anywhere functionality) that enables iOS 10.3 devices and tvOS 10.2 devices to play movies you have rented elsewhere... I would think we are getting super close now.

Oh and also I will almost certainly install the updates as soon as possible. I'm one of those tech enthusiasts who just can't seem to help themselves.

And I am irrationally excited for APFS... but that is the sort of thing that gets my engines going.

[HarryT]

What practical benefit will it bring to the end user?

[GERGE]

note: This is a highly technical topic. None of these will be stable for a few years yet. There is a lot more to say and discuss, this is just an optimistic overview.

New APFS will have many benefits. Most of them will be under the hood, end-users will benefit from them but won't really notice a difference in their workflows. The ones you will notice are these:

Your data will be a lot safer in the case of crashes. Data loss because of power or crashes will be minimized.

There is sparse file support. This will make virtualization much better, file system will be faster and backups will be smaller.

Faster encryption. There is native support now.

There is snapshots now.

HFS+ (the file system Apple uses now) is 20 years old and full of patches to support modern features. It is, essentially, a hack. APFS is a modern file system in every sense. It should improve almost everthing related to SSDs, which is actually almost everything. Apps will launch faster, data will be copied and written faster, directory sizes will be determined almost instantly, it is optimized for soid state so drive lifetimes will be improved.

All in all, this is a great improvement. It won't effect iOS that much, but you will definitely feel it with macOS. They are testing it first with iOS, because it is controlled. Apple control everything that goes into it. So, don't jailbreak.