A tour of iOS 10.3: Checking out APFS, the Settings app, and other tweaks

[captain_to_fire]

Sources: Ars Technica & Apple 

 

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Apple has just released iOS 10.3 to the general public, an update which is likely to be the last major release of iOS 10; at this point in the year, work usually begins in earnest on the next major release of iOS, which will be revealed at WWDC in June. The update is available for everything that runs iOS 10: the iPhone 5 and newer, the fourth-generation iPad and newer, the iPad Mini 2 and newer, both iPad Pros, and the sixth-generation iPod Touch.

The update has been going through the beta process for a couple of months now, and since it’s likely to be iOS 10’s last major update, we’ll spend some extra time with a few of the high-profile features. I’ve also spent a tiny bit of time with the new APFS filesystem, which won’t change much for most people but does seem to free up a small amount of local storage space.

I freed up at least 2.5 GB of storage. 

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Many of iOS 10.3’s most noticeable tweaks are in the most exciting part of any operating system: the Settings app!

The most obvious of the changes moves the iCloud settings screen from about halfway down the list to its own prominent position at the top of the stack. There isn’t a ton of stuff here that doesn’t already exist in iOS 10.2.1, but given that the first thing most people do with their iPhones and iPads is sign in to their iCloud accounts, it makes sense to move this stuff front and center.

Particularly useful is a big “Password & Security” section right at the top of the new screen, which lets you change your iCloud password and set up two-factor authentication. This was available before, it was just buried in a non-obvious place (go to the iCloud settings page, then tap your Apple ID, then tap Password & Security).

 

Also, the animations feel smoother and somehow the new file system APFS breathed new life to older devices like my iPad Air running on A7 chip.

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APFS

iOS 10.3 will automatically convert your iDevice’s filesystem from HFS+ to APFS when you install it, making it the first Apple operating system to ship with APFS as a non-beta default filesystem.

These are small gains in usable capacity, just a few hundred megabytes (the more storage you have, the more you seem to gain). These are also far from real-world conditions—the tests were all done on freshly reset devices that have been allowed to build their Spotlight indexes but had no apps, photos, or browser data on them and hadn’t been connected to iCloud. And without more information, it’s not possible to attribute the space savings exclusively to APFS; it’s merely the most likely of all possible options. Your mileage may vary, but it does look like iOS 10.3 and APFS will help you reclaim a little space.

 

Further Reading: A ZFS developer’s analysis of the good and bad in Apple’s new APFS file system

Faster animations

If iOS 10.3 does feel faster to you, it might be because of Apple’s seemingly never-ending quest to mess with the app launching animations it introduced in iOS 7. When you launch or close an app, you can see the icon you tap sort of “expand” to take up the entire screen; in iOS 10.3, that expansion process happens just a little more quickly, just enough to convey a greater sense of speed.

And the rest

Find My iPhone

• View the current or last-known location of your AirPods
• Play a sound on one or both AirPods to help you find them

Siri

• Support for paying and checking status of bills with payment apps
• Support for scheduling with ride-booking apps
• Support for checking car fuel level, lock status, turning on lights, and activating horn with automaker apps
• Cricket sports scores and statistics for Indian Premier League and International Cricket Council

CarPlay

• Shortcuts in the status bar for easy access to last-used apps
• Apple Music Now Playing screen gives access to Up Next and the currently playing song’s album
• Daily curated playlists and new music categories in Apple Music

Other improvements and fixes

• Rent once and watch your iTunes movies across your devices
• New Settings unified view for your Apple ID account information, settings, and devices
• Hourly weather in Maps using 3D Touch on the displayed current temperature
• Support for searching “parked car" in Maps
• Calendar adds the ability to delete an unwanted invite and report it as junk
• Home app support to trigger scenes using accessories with switches and buttons
• Home app support for accessory battery level status
• Podcast support for 3D Touch and Today widget to access recently updated shows
• Podcast shows or episodes are shareable to Messages with full playback support
• Fixes an issue that could prevent Maps from displaying your current location after resetting
• Location & Privacy
• VoiceOver stability improvements for Phone, Safari, and Mail

Security fixes

 

Overall, I'm quite happy with the iOS 10.3 update. Given that Apple is ditching the older HFS+ for APFS, it begs the question when will Redmond ditch NTFS? I know that they have their own ReFS but it's not ready for consumer use and you can't even boot Windows on a ReFS partition. 

 

Here are iOS 10.3 videos from EverythingApplePro: 

 

 

[AG1233]

Thanks for a detailed post but can you fix the formatting for night theme users

 

[ProjectBox153]

Does anyone know if the 10.3 Public Beta has APFS? It didn't change the amount of free space I had, and I've been on it for a while. Good job for the nice, in-depth post. 

[captain_to_fire]

42 minutes ago, AG1233 said:

Thanks for a detailed post but can you fix the formatting for night theme users

 

 

I tried but it doesn't seem to work on a tablet. I don't have my PC with me at the moment. Maybe a forum mod can do it for me. 

 

13 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Does anyone know if the 10.3 Public Beta has APFS? It didn't change the amount of free space I had, and I've been on it for a while. Good job for the nice, in-depth post. 

That I didn't know. Maybe because Apple will soon remove compatibility with apps compiled for 32-bit,  and that could be the reason for the recovered storage space. 

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, hey_yo_ said:

I tried but it doesn't seem to work on a tablet. I don't have my PC with me at the moment. Maybe a forum mod can do it for me. 

 

That I didn't know. Maybe because Apple will soon remove compatibility with apps compiled for 32-bit,  and that could be the reason for the recovered storage space. 

Maybe. I don't need the extra storage space, but it sure would be nice to have. The 10.3 PB 5 I'm on right now is running decently, and other 10.3 betas i've been using for a while now seem really good. 

[Waqas409]

I see lots of changes in the new IOS always wanted to Upgrade to newer one but could'nt got a satisfactory answer from people.
So i'm asking again is it worth upgrading my iPhone 5S 16GB ( Current OS: 8.3 ) to 10.3?
 

[ProjectBox153]

1 minute ago, Waqas409 said:

I see lots of changes in the new IOS always wanted to Upgrade to newer one but could'nt got a satisfactory answer from people.
So i'm asking again is it worth upgrading my iPhone 5S 16GB ( Current OS: 8.3 ) to 10.3?
 

It would probably be slow. My iPhone 6 is slow on 10.3. 

[captain_to_fire]

1 minute ago, Waqas409 said:

I see lots of changes in the new IOS always wanted to Upgrade to newer one but could'nt got a satisfactory answer from people.
So i'm asking again is it worth upgrading my iPhone 5S 16GB ( Current OS: 8.3 ) to 10.3?
 

Yes. Your iPhone 5s and my iPad Air both have a paltry 1GB memory and a dual core A7 chip. The animations are smoother after the installation of iOS 10.3. Since you're still in 8.3, installation might be longer. 

[Waqas409]

Just now, Jamiec1130 said:

It would probably be slow. My iPhone 6 is slow on 10.3. 

oh wow.

Then i should run my iPhone on 8.3 till the rest of its life. 

[Dylanc1500]

3 minutes ago, Waqas409 said:

oh wow.

Then i should run my iPhone on 8.3 till the rest of its life. 

I have 8.2 on my SE and it's faster than when I bought it. It came with iOS 10. That's just my experience though.

[henriksenn]

Oh, that's super that in this update they have touched the issue of space-saving) because it is a bit strainedOh, that's super that in this update they have touched the issue of space-saving) because it is a bit strained

[SeraphicWings]

APFS is really great, not just only at freeing more space, it makes quite a difference in comparison to HFS+ when you have an app with about 150GB of data in it

 

I use the music app iAudiogate with like 145gb of music in it, and it boots much faster than pre-10.3

[captain_to_fire]

59 minutes ago, SeraphicWings said:

APFS is really great, not just only at freeing more space, it makes quite a difference in comparison to HFS+ when you have an app with about 150GB of data in it

The YouTube app for instance crashes a lot on 10.2.1, not anymore on 10.3. App switching is also faster. 

[atrash]

The update freed up 5.2gb on my 6S and I updated mine straight from the phone. No iTunes. Some apps open noticeable faster too. Probably the animation, probably the file read idk but welcomed nevertheless.

[dalekphalm]

Just a warning to those who have iMessage disabled, when you install the 10.3 update, it will re-enable iMessage.

[Tataffe]

[CommandMan7]

On my iPhone 6S, my usable capacity has gone from 121.76 GB to 124.29 GB. That's a 2% gain, but i'll take it.

[mrchow19910319]

My SE feels smoother than before. 

Kudos to apple though. 

[captain_to_fire]

8 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Just a warning to those who have iMessage disabled, when you install the 10.3 update, it will re-enable iMessage.

Most people won't really care. All they'll notice is a noticeable improvements in performance and the freed up storage. 

[rawrdaysgoby]

When I update it, it felt twice as fast but that might be because I have mess with the settings A LOT like everything off.... And I would definitely have to ask if those are the same GB models.... if it was 128GB model throughout then the test might be worth something but the SSDs in each of them are somewhat different especially the 7 model 

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, hey_yo_ said:

Most people won't really care. All they'll notice is a noticeable improvements in performance and the freed up storage. 

Most people, yes, but most people don't disable iMessage, I imagine.

 

Kind of annoying for those who do, though - especially without being notified or warned. I only noticed because the background colour changed from green to blue when I sent a "text".

[Waqas409]

16 hours ago, Dylanc1500 said:

I have 8.2 on my SE and it's faster than when I bought it. It came with iOS 10. That's just my experience though.

Yea but i feel like new updates on Apps gonna kill the speed on 8.3.
Like now Messenger n other apps is kinda slow on 8.3