iOS 10.3 Out Now With Reports of Lengthy Installation Times Due to New File System

[Maura]

MacRumors reports that following seven beta releases since January 24, iOS 10.3 is now available to the general public. Major new features introduced with the update include Find My AirPods and a new Apple File System (APFS).

The update is available as a free over-the-air download, and can also be downloaded from iTunes.

The new Find My AirPods feature has been added to the Find My iPhone feature so that you can find missing AirPods. Find My AirPods works by playing a sound so that you can locate a nearby AirPod, and it will also save an AirPod’s last known location from when it was last connected to an iOS device via Bluetooth. However, it is not able to find an AirPod when the phone isn’t nearby, or to locate the Charging Case.

APFS is a new file system that will be installed when you update your iOS device. It has been optimized for flash/SSD storage and has improved encryption support, as well as enabling the use of snapshots for freezing a file system’s state, which is better for backups, space sharing, and improved space efficiency, hopefully all of which will lead to more platform stability.

However, that said, an AppleInsider report on the newly released iOS 10.3 notes complaints from early adopters of the update of overly long install times, including multiple device reboots. Users have reported installation on an iPad Air 2, for example, taking more than 48 minutes.

AppleInsider notes that this is likely due to the change of file system to APFS. Advising AppleInsider on the matter, an Apple support technician recommended not stopping the upgrade if it appears to be taking too long. To be on the safe side, the best advice, as always, is to be sure to backup before you update.

Sources: Apple Releases iOS 10.3 With Find My AirPods, APFS, App Store Review Tweaks and More,

http://appleinsider.com/articles/17...ly-due-to-conversion-to-new-apple-file-system

 

[Thomas1977]

It did not take very long at all on my mini 2 to get 10.3. For your info.

 

[Wing rider]

Same here, totally normal update process and time on my Air 2.

 

[NSquirrel]

The update took half an hour, roughly, on my iPad air 2, but that may simply have been caused by excessive download on the servers.

 

[giradman]

Well, 3 iDevices last night, including my iPad Air 2 - did not seem much longer - had to update 6 apps today w/ the change (including all of the iWork suite apps) - have not checked wife's iPhone or iPad Mini but sure she has the same updates.

THEN, today did our 3 Mac computers to macOS 10.12.4 - WHEW! The latter did not include the new 'file format' - believe there are a few more issues to work out, so likely later this year and possibly w/ the upcoming 10.12.13? Death Valley is one of over a dozen names postulated HERE - Dave
.

 

[NSquirrel]

Slightly off topic, but something I have noticed with 10.3 is that my free memory, on a 64gb iPad, has increased by 2 or 3 gb (as monitored by a widget on iLauncher). There have been many recent updates, including as I mentioned elsewhere, numbers, keynote and pages so it may well be a simple combination of all.

 

[Jupiter7]

That may be due to Apples's new filing system (APFS).

 

[NSquirrel]

Thanks Jupiter7; I did wonder myself whether the new filing system would influence the size.

 

[twerppoet]

The filing sysrtem itself probably doesn't have much to do with the decreased storage space. However, the process of converting to the new file system probably deleted a lot of old caches and freed up mis-allocated space.

Another words, it probably did some spring cleaning while moving the furniture around.

 

[NSquirrel]

Good point, Twerppoet. Thanks.

 

[Jupiter7]

That's a very nice explanation, Twerpoet. Thanks!

 

[NSquirrel]

Well, my main point of the post was that often I read of others with low memory concerns, e.g 32gb or less devices. I am sure that extra mb or even gb will be welcome if that is what is happening with 10.3.

 

[Wing rider]

Another words, it probably did some spring cleaning while moving the furniture around.

That makes sense as I gained less than a gig but I recently did some housekeeping on my Air 2.

 

[twerppoet]

That's a very nice explanation, Twerpoet. Thanks!

Looks like I'm at least partly wrong. Here's a thread by giradman that says the file system is indeed more efficient.

Apple File System (APFS) Reclaims Storage in iOS 10.3