Apple Releases iOS and iPadOS 13.3 With Communication Limits for Screen Time, Safari Physical Security Key Support, and More

[Dave-Z]

Zero because the Microsoft way is to restart the moment you lock the computer after 5 PM, resulting in interrupted tasks, loss of any unsaved work, wasted battery on a laptop, and having to twiddle your thumbs for 15 minutes while it updates.

The Windows 10 experience is exactly why Apple makes you explicitly ask for a install.

If that's your experience take 1 minute to jump into Settings > Updates and set your preferred "down time". I did and I have zero issues with Windows updates. They're nearly entirely invisible to me.

(Also, I know you're being hyperbolic because you're frustrated with Windows, but the default settings are to start those types of tasks: 1) while on AC power, and 2) after 10-minutes of the user being idle.)
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iOS devices can't really be bricked because you can always DFU them.

Even with over the air updates, bricking is practically impossible now with APFS.

The way the updates work is:

- The OS partition is cloned. (copy on write, this doesn't take extra space)
- The update is applied to the cloned partition. (Preparing update)
- The partition is verified; every file in it gets an md5 check to make sure the update has no errors. This is why that damn progress bar takes so long.
- The system is rebooted from the clone.
- Only after the system comes up correctly and various checks pass (the second progress bar) is the previous OS partition deleted.

This sequence of events makes it practically impossible for an over the air update to brick the device anymore. If something interrupts the update, the device will just boot from the unmodified original OS version and you can try again.

I'm not saying I don't believe you but, like @gilbertmc, I would really like to see a citation for this because I would like to read Apple's documentation on it.

 

[konqerror]

If that's your experience take 1 minute to jump into Settings > Updates and set your preferred "down time". I did and I have zero issues with Windows updates. They're nearly entirely invisible to me.

You ran into the exact flawed thinking Microsoft did. The logic that there's a out of office time fails severely when you have people start jobs overnight and they show up the next day, and the system has rebooted. It also fails when you have jobs that extend over several days (like some of ours, the runtime is unpredictable).

Another problem is that we use unused CPU time to run distributed jobs, that gets interrupted as well.

(Also, I know you're being hyperbolic because you're frustrated with Windows, but the default settings are to start those types of tasks: 1) while on AC power, and 2) after 10-minutes of the user being idle.)

Flawed design again. You have people who shut down their computer at the end of the day and plug it in, then unplug and use most of the day on battery power. For example, the classic travelling salesman, or people in the field doing line-of-business applications. After a few days, Windows gives up waiting to be on and idle and connected to AC power, and installs anyway, right when somebody is about to use the computer/give a presentation.

They engineered the reboot logic assuming that a) everybody is running Windows 8+ iOS-style applications that signal when they are processing and can autosave and b) people use their computers regularly 9-5 (or some other 8 hour window). The reboot logic is a utter disaster when neither of those are true.

 

[FlyingDutch]

I truly hope the memory issues are resolved. Apps reloading with extreme frequency has been the biggest nuisance I have ever experienced on iOS.

It has been solved one version ago 🧐

 

[Dave-Z]

You ran into the exact flawed thinking Microsoft did. The logic that there's a out of office time fails severely when you have people start jobs overnight and they show up the next day, and the system has rebooted. It also fails when you have jobs that extend over several days (like some of ours, the runtime is unpredictable).

Another problem is that we use unused CPU time to run distributed jobs, that gets interrupted as well.



Flawed design again. You have people who shut down their computer at the end of the day and plug it in, then unplug and use most of the day on battery power. For example, the classic travelling salesman, or people in the field doing line-of-business applications. After a few days, Windows gives up waiting to be on and idle and connected to AC power, and installs anyway, right when somebody is about to use the computer/give a presentation.

They engineered the reboot logic assuming that a) everybody is running Windows 8+ iOS-style applications that signal when they are processing and can autosave and b) people use their computers regularly 9-5 (or some other 8 hour window). The reboot logic is a utter disaster when neither of those are true.

It's probably a safe assumption that the use-case you're describing is atypical. Nevertheless, for Professional, Education and Enterprise editions you can set a group policy to disable automatic updates; in fact it's a single group policy setting and the machine does not need to be joined to a domain (but it can be, of course). Once set Windows will do nothing until the user runs the updater manually.

My personal experience since switching back to Windows about 13 months ago is that automatic updates work seamlessly and reboots have only been needed about 10 times. (iOS has had that many reboots in less than three months.)

 

[konqerror]

It's probably a safe assumption that the use-case you're describing is atypical.

Long tail. Basically everybody has some use that is "atypical" so you end up with 100% of people getting screwed by some issue.

Nevertheless, for Professional, Education and Enterprise editions you can set a group policy to disable automatic updates; in fact it's a single group policy setting and the machine does not need to be joined to a domain (but it can be, of course). Once set Windows will do nothing until the user runs the updater manually.

Not an acceptable option for a business, particularly with compliance issues. WSUS/Windows Update for Business lets you limit updates, but it still uses the same reboot logic (or worse, has a forced time).

In fact, this made it worse on some systems where IT validated patches. Instead of expecting reboots on Patch Tuesday, we'd get reboots on random days after the patches were pushed, leading to lots of screaming about it, and eventually them giving up on testing.

My personal experience since switching back to Windows about 13 months ago is that automatic updates work seamlessly and reboots have only been needed about 10 times. (iOS has had that many reboots in less than three months.)

It's not the frequency of reboots, it's Windows heavy handed auto reboots that's the issue.

iOS doesn't have the issue because explicit saving and long processing isn't a thing. As I said, Microsoft assumed people were writing mobile-style apps using Windows 8 APIs that could auto save as well as notify the OS when it was busy. The issue being very few desktop apps bothered to do this, especially in the early days.

Chrome is the only app that does it auto restore right. I don't think Office will auto-restore outside OneDrive files that do it anyway.

Instead of neutering auto reboots, Microsoft screamed "security" and decided data loss was trumped by the bad PR incurred by a worm.

And it has gotten better, you weren't around for the 2015 versions of Windows 10. This is Microsoft's third or fourth attempt at fixing updates. Again, everybody I knew had issues where you leave some app with unsaved data, 6 PM rolls by and you come back to a freshly rebooted computer with data loss.

 

[adib]

iOS devices can't really be bricked because you can always DFU them.

Reminds me of Catalina beta which bricked some T2 macs because of bridgeOS issues.

 

[Rob Francis]

Gapless playback still broken for me in the Music app. Horrible glitching between tracks that should be seamless. Having to use VOX to get around it for now. Very annoying.

 

[bdhokie]

Communications Limit FAIL!! Wow - what a mess. I tried to set a communications limit for my daughter and first it required HER to approve me adding a limit. WTF? Then when I actually tried limiting contacts by selecting from her contacts, it duplicated those I selected (duplicated in her contacts) and crashed. So she ended up with double contacts and still no limit.

Screentime is terrible anyway - it's too confusing and I find too many issues, like random apps being excluded from limits set. IOS overall is buggy, and the parental controls feature clearly was designed by 20 somethings who don't have kids.

Have not yet been able to test my wife and son's phones which have massive Mail issues to see if the update may have helped.

For the first time in my life, I'm seriously considering moving to Android next time around. Apple seems more worried about winning Emmys than making things that "Just Work".

 

[fireboy60013]

I have had android before and never again. I am issued a work computer and won’t even log into it at work, it sits in the mount in my command truck and isn’t even turned on because they have the ability to turn off location password protected, so besides that and the radio they know where I am. I figured out how to turn off gps on the portable radio so I never turn the mobile on... unless I want them to know where I am. I’d rather have glitchy mail, and use my iPad to do my work, so I can horse around all day and get paid by the county taxpayers and only actually do 1/1000th of the job I’m supposed to. A job doesn’t provide anything but income to pay bills and health insurance, both are so unimportant.

 

[dewski]

Can anyone report if this version fixes the bug that causes original email messages to not be quoted when you reply? It is causing major problems in my organization.

 

[J Michael T]

iOS devices can't really be bricked because you can always DFU them.

Even with over the air updates, bricking is practically impossible now with APFS.

The way the updates work is:

- The OS partition is cloned. (copy on write, this doesn't take extra space)
- The update is applied to the cloned partition. (Preparing update)
- The partition is verified; every file in it gets an md5 check to make sure the update has no errors. This is why that damn progress bar takes so long.
- The system is rebooted from the clone.
- Only after the system comes up correctly and various checks pass (the second progress bar) is the previous OS partition deleted.

This sequence of events makes it practically impossible for an over the air update to brick the device anymore. If something interrupts the update, the device will just boot from the unmodified original OS version and you can try again.

Best post ever...

 

[DragonJade]

13.3 refuses to install on my 9.7" iPad Pro. Though iTunes it says that the firmware file is not compatible (so why download for me to install it in the first place?), and over the air it says that there's an error in installing it.

 

[MistrSynistr]

It has been solved one version ago 🧐

No it hasn't.

 

[Phuz01]

iOS devices can't really be bricked because you can always DFU them.

Even with over the air updates, bricking is practically impossible now with APFS.

The way the updates work is:

- The OS partition is cloned. (copy on write, this doesn't take extra space)
- The update is applied to the cloned partition. (Preparing update)
- The partition is verified; every file in it gets an md5 check to make sure the update has no errors. This is why that damn progress bar takes so long.
- The system is rebooted from the clone.
- Only after the system comes up correctly and various checks pass (the second progress bar) is the previous OS partition deleted.

This sequence of events makes it practically impossible for an over the air update to brick the device anymore. If something interrupts the update, the device will just boot from the unmodified original OS version and you can try again.

Thank you for this very useful and informative post. When did this become the standard for updating?

 

[Braderunner]

Zero because the Microsoft way is to restart the moment you lock the computer after 5 PM, resulting in interrupted tasks, loss of any unsaved work, wasted battery on a laptop, and having to twiddle your thumbs for 15 minutes while it updates.

The Windows 10 experience is exactly why Apple makes you explicitly ask for a install.

I work for a university, and HAVE to deal with Windows 10. Not only on my work computer, but co-workers, faculty, and others who visit. It has been a total hell, lately. And...it just keeps getting worse.
When I say to someone, who is using a Windows Piece of Crap, that I prefer a Mac. They almost always respond with, "I don't know how to use a Mac. They're too complicated". I just laugh, and think, "you don't know how to use your pc, either". Oh, well...can't fix stupid.

 

[mistabrad]

Give it 24 hours. iOS always rebuilds caches and search indexes after each update so it can hammer the system for a while depending how much data there is.

I hope it improves today, because I am having the exact same issues with my iPad Air 2 after the update. It was almost unusable after the first boot after the update. I shut of off and left it off for a few minutes, and was a little better when I restarted, but still slow and choppy. Then last night, Hulu and Netflix were not running well either. I guess we will see what today brings, otherwise I'm gonna hold off on also updating my 11 Pro.

 

[zorinlynx]

If that's your experience take 1 minute to jump into Settings > Updates and set your preferred "down time". I did and I have zero issues with Windows updates. They're nearly entirely invisible to me.

(Also, I know you're being hyperbolic because you're frustrated with Windows, but the default settings are to start those types of tasks: 1) while on AC power, and 2) after 10-minutes of the user being idle.)
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I'm not saying I don't believe you but, like @gilbertmc, I would really like to see a citation for this because I would like to read Apple's documentation on it.

Sadly I can't find the source where I read this now. It was on a jailbreaking site, in a discussion thread about performing jailbreaks using APFS snapshots and rolling back to pre-jailbreak when things go wrong.

Of course the person who explained this process may not be a trustworthy source either, but when you think about it this update method makes the most logical sense when you're using a snapshot-capable filesystem, so I have no reason to think they're wrong.

 

[Dave-Z]

Long tail. Basically everybody has some use that is "atypical" so you end up with 100% of people getting screwed by some issue.



Not an acceptable option for a business, particularly with compliance issues. WSUS/Windows Update for Business lets you limit updates, but it still uses the same reboot logic (or worse, has a forced time).

In fact, this made it worse on some systems where IT validated patches. Instead of expecting reboots on Patch Tuesday, we'd get reboots on random days after the patches were pushed, leading to lots of screaming about it, and eventually them giving up on testing.



It's not the frequency of reboots, it's Windows heavy handed auto reboots that's the issue.

iOS doesn't have the issue because explicit saving and long processing isn't a thing. As I said, Microsoft assumed people were writing mobile-style apps using Windows 8 APIs that could auto save as well as notify the OS when it was busy. The issue being very few desktop apps bothered to do this, especially in the early days.

Chrome is the only app that does it auto restore right. I don't think Office will auto-restore outside OneDrive files that do it anyway.

Instead of neutering auto reboots, Microsoft screamed "security" and decided data loss was trumped by the bad PR incurred by a worm.

And it has gotten better, you weren't around for the 2015 versions of Windows 10. This is Microsoft's third or fourth attempt at fixing updates. Again, everybody I knew had issues where you leave some app with unsaved data, 6 PM rolls by and you come back to a freshly rebooted computer with data loss.

If you want a system that you don't have to worry about reboots, use LInux. I pretty much never reboot my Linux machines... Year or longer uptimes are doable with the right setup.

You can complain that Windows is such a problem, though having used it for decades (in total, with a small break) and known others in various-sized businesses it's really not as bad as people portray. But I'll admit it's not a solution for everyone. If it's not, people should find a solution that works for them.
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Sadly I can't find the source where I read this now. It was on a jailbreaking site, in a discussion thread about performing jailbreaks using APFS snapshots and rolling back to pre-jailbreak when things go wrong.

Of course the person who explained this process may not be a trustworthy source either, but when you think about it this update method makes the most logical sense when you're using a snapshot-capable filesystem, so I have no reason to think they're wrong.

No problem, thanks.

The process you outlined makes sense, I was just curious to read formal documentation on it because, well, I'm weird that way.

 

[jamesrick80]

Will give this a 2 week period before installing since people are already experiencing bugs......

 

[jeyf]

all of this is a cost performance issue for me
but
the family seems to avoid our relatively new MBP because of the keyboard and they are having random ios13 issues.


right now i dont have the personal time to dork with computer & iPhone things that much so hope apple dosnt to anything too "innovative".

they should split apple inc into smaller companies and close the mall retail stores

 

[highground]

Seems like the Podcasts app is chewing some serious battery after the update.

 

[scouser75]

I’m not seeing the update yet, but this is the one bug that I want fixed more than any other. Please tell me it is ACTUALLY fixed and not just on the list

Nope! I’ve downloaded the update BUT Mail still does not download as it should in the background.

I have a feeling this ain’t gonna be fixed until iOS 14!

 

[I7guy]

....they should split apple inc into smaller companies and close the mall retail stores

I have a feeling this plan is not on the drawing board.

 

[smartmiller]

Seems like the Podcasts app is chewing some serious battery after the update.

Hmm, I listen to many podcasts. But true, podcasts is no1 in the list of battery consumption!

 

[fredrik9]

There’s a lot of discussions about that bug. And many testers reported it. Yet Apple just ignored the bug until it was picked up by the media. So the fault was on Apple’s part.

Really? I did not know that. All the more reason to not download new releases right away!