Apple releases iOS 9.3 with Night Shift, Touch ID Notes and More

Apple has just released iOS 9.3 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to the public, marking the third significant update to the iOS 9 operating system since it launched in September of 2015. iOS 9.3 has been in testing since January 11 with new features, refinements, and bug fixes added throughout the beta testing period.

iOS 9.3 is one of the biggest update to iOS 9, and includes several new features such as Night Shift mode. Night Shift makes use of the iOS device’s clock and geolocation to automatically shift the colors in the display to warmer end of the spectrum to reduce exposure to bright blue light in the event, to make it easier on your eyes. You can also enable or disable Night Shift via the Control Center.

iOS 9.3 also includes the ability to password and Touch ID protect Notes, revamped News app, new 3D Touch Quick Actions for stock apps like Weather, Settings, Compass, Health, App Store, and iTunes Store, ability to duplicate the Live Photos as a still image, improvements to the Health app, Apple Music support in CarPlay and new Classroom app, which includes the ability to manage multiple Apple ID logins for iOS devices, allowing multiple students to utilize the same device with individualized profiles. iOS 9.3 also brings Wi-Fi Calling support to Verizon Wireless subscribers.

iOS 9.3 is available immediately to all iOS 9 users as an over-the-air update. It can also be downloaded through iTunes on the Mac and PC.

Jailbreakers should avoid upgrading their jailbroken device to iOS 9.3 as one of the golden rules of jailbreaking is to stay where you’re to improve your changes of getting a jailbreak.

iOS 9.3 release notes

New features, improvements and bug fixes in iOS 9.3 include:

Night Shift:

When enabled, Night Shift uses your iOS device’s clock and geolocation to determine when it’s sunset in your location, then it automatically shifts the colors in your display to the warmer end of the spectrum and may even help you get a better night’s sleep.

Notes improvements:

Protect notes that contain your most personal data with Touch ID or a passcode
Sort notes alphabetically, by date created, or by date edited
When sketching, quickly bring up a fresh canvas with a two finger swipe, or by tapping the New Sketch button
A new checklist button at the bottom of every note makes it easier to create lists
Show thumbnails instead of large images and attachments by long-pressing on any image or attachment in a note
Choose whether photos and videos taken within Notes are stored only in Notes, or also added to Photos
Long-press on an Evernote Export file to import its contents into Notes

News improvements:

New Top Stories section in For You highlights the most important stories of the day
Discover something great to read in Editors’ Picks, a selection of channels and topics handpicked by our Apple News editors
Swipe left on stories in For You on iPhone to quickly share or save or swipe right for more options
Play video stories right from For You — without opening the article
Read stories and watch videos in landscape orientation on iPhone
Change the text size in articles to make reading easier

Health improvements:

Related third-party apps for select data types such as weight, workouts and sleep are displayed in the Health app
Health dashboard adds support for move, exercise, and stand Activity data and goals from Apple Watch
Easy access to Dashboard and Medical ID using 3D Touch Quick Actions from the Home screen
Third-party apps now have access to Activity rings and summaries from Apple Watch through HealthKit

Apple Music improvements:

Add songs from the Apple Music catalog to playlists without having to add them to your library
Watch music videos on iPad in full screen
See what’s playing on Beats 1 directly from the Radio tab — without having to tune in
Tap the name of the currently playing song in Now Playing to go to the album
See which songs are most popular on albums in the Apple Music catalog

Photos improvements:

Extract the still image from a Live Photo by tapping Duplicate which will give you the option to duplicate the Live Photo, or just the still image
Improved download performance of full size original photos or videos stored in iCloud Photo Library
Share Live Photos between iOS and OS X through AirDrop and Messages

iBooks improvements:

Adds the ability for iBooks to store your PDFs in iCloud, making them available across all of your devices
Adds support for downloading previously purchased audiobooks from the iBooks Store
Adds the ability to share your audiobook purchases with any of your family members using Family Sharing
New controls for reading Manga more comfortably with faster page turns and simple controls for enlarging text
Adds Apple Pencil support to highlight and save your favorite passages for later

Education improvements:

Introduces a preview of Shared iPad that enables multiple students to use the same iPad at different times throughout the day
Adds support for signing into iCloud with Managed Apple IDs
Adds compatibility for the new Classroom app
New configuration options to control the organization of apps on the Home Screen
New controls to determine which apps to show or hide on the Home Screen
Adds support for new restrictions for iCloud Photo Library and Apple Music

CarPlay improvements:

Apple Music members now have access to their For You and New content in CarPlay
New Nearby screen in Maps to quickly find Gas, Parking, Restaurants, Coffee, and other driving essentials
Siri speaks more concisely when reading back and composing messages in CarPlay
Equalized sound levels between different audio sources in CarPlay

Dolby Digital Plus:

Adds support for playing video encoded with Dolby Digital Plus audio streams with support for multichannel output using the Apple Lightning Digital AV Adapter

Hardware keyboard improvements and fixes:

Enables the use of arrow keys to navigate through lists in Spotlight, Mail and Safari
Enables the use of space bar to scroll in Mail
Improves performance when using the space bar to scroll in Safari
Adds the ability to bring up the software keyboard from the Shortcut Bar when a hardware keyboard is connected
Fixes an issue that could prevent unlocking an iPad using the hardware keyboard
Fixes an issue that caused hardware keyboards to become unresponsive in captive login pages
Fixes an issue that could cause the Messages input field to disappear behind the Shortcut Bar when connected to a hardware keyboard

Other improvements:

Maps adds support for getting a highlighted view of destinations and stops for a specific transit line by tapping on it
Maps now displays whether there are multiple transit line options for each route suggestion
Wallet app adds the ability to view the app related to a card or pass in the Wallet app by tapping an icon on the card or pass
Apple Pay adds support for signing up for store rewards programs with Apple Pay at point of sale terminal
Podcasts adds support for fullscreen video playback
Activity app adds a new Workout tab with monthly summaries of key metrics and the ability to filter by workout type
Move to iOS now offers app suggestions from the App Store based on apps installed on your Android device
iCloud Storage adds proactive status information and in-app notifications to let you know before you run out of space
Two-factor authentication is now available for all iCloud accounts
Support for Spanish (Latin America) system language
Siri support for Finnish (Finland), Hebrew (Israel), and Malay (Malaysia)

Enterprise bug fixes:

Resolves an issue that could prevent some VPP purchased apps from launching after being updated
Adds iCloud backup support for device-assigned VPP apps
Addresses an issue that could prevent certificates from installing correctly when updating configuration profiles
Fixes an issue for some IPSec VPN configurations that could cause the internet connection to be interrupted after a VPN session was ended
Fixes an issue to prevent iBooks from emailing enterprise managed PDFs from unmanaged accounts
Resolves an issue for some Exchange users that caused Calendar to send multiple responses to the same invitation
Improves reliability for devices connecting to OS X Caching Server

Accessibility bug fixes:

Improves 3D Touch reliability with Switch Control Accessibility option
Fixes an issue where VoiceOver interferes with speech after dictation
Fixes an issue where VoiceOver users could not write a review on the App Store
Resolves an issue where VoiceOver becomes unresponsive when receiving a phone call with a Bluetooth headset
Fixes an issue where large text was unreadable in Reminders

Other bug fixes, performance and stability improvements:

Fixes an issue where manually changing the date to May 1970 or earlier could prevent your iOS device from turning on after a restart
Fixes issues that could prevent some iCloud Backups from completing
Fixes an issue for some users where Health data was incomplete after restoring from iCloud Backup
Fixes an issue where an inaccurate battery percentage could be displayed
Addresses an issue that prevented iMessage or FaceTime activation for some users
Addresses an issue that could prevent displaying the Phone interface while receiving a call
Fixes an issue that enabled overriding restrictions applied to cellular data toggle
Fixes an issue that caused notification settings to appear in the Watch app for apps that were not installed on Apple Watch
Improves reliability when using 3D Touch on the keyboard
Improves stability of the Phone app when setting up voicemail
Improves stability of the Mail app when your device is low on storage
Improves stability in Mail while using Mail Drop to send large attachments

If you’re not getting the iOS 9.3 OTA update, then download the iOS 9.3 IPSW firmware file and update it manually:

Download iOS 9.3 IPSW for iPhone

Download iOS 9.3 IPSW for iPad:

Download iOS 9.3 for iPod touch

iOS 9.3 (iPod touch 5G): iPod5,1_9.3_13E233_Restore.ipsw
iOS 9.3 (iPod touch 6G): iPod7,1_9.3_13E233_Restore.ipsw

Are you going to upgrade to iOS 9.3?

iOS 9.3 release notes

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