Apple pulls iOS 9.3.2 for 9.7" iPad Pro after update errors
Following reports of broken updates, Apple has pulled the iOS 9.3.2 update for the latest-generation 9.7-inch iPad Pro, promising that a fix is in the works.
Owners of the new, smaller iPad Pro can no longer download the iOS 9.3.2 update from Apple. The issues do not affect other devices, like the 12.9-inch iPad Pro or iPhone models, and the iOS 9.3.2 update remains available for all other models.
Reports first began to surface earlier this week that the iOS 9.3.2 update was "bricking" some 9.7-inch iPad Pro models. It's unclear what caused the issues, as many users were able to successfully install the update without any problems.
Upon attempting to install the update, affected iPad Pro units displayed an "Error 56" message, which Apple identifies as a generic hardware effort. Early reports suggested there was no immediate workaround other than taking the tablet to an Apple Store for help or a replacement.
After pulling the update on Friday, Apple issued a statement to iMore stating it is working on a fix for the bug, which it claims affected "a small number of iPad units." The company pledged to deliver a new update "as quickly as possible."
iOS 9.3.2 launched on Monday, most notably restoring the ability to use Night Shift while in Low Power Mode. It also squashed a bug that caused sound quality issues when taking a call over a Bluetooth headset.
Apple also said iOS 9.3.2 fixes an issue where looking up dictionary definitions could fail, and it addresses a bug that prevented typing email addresses when using the Japanese Kana keyboard in Mail and Messages. The update also fixes an issue for VoiceOver users using Alex voice, where the device switches to a different voice to announce punctuation or paces.
Finally, Apple also said that iOS 9.3.2 fixes an issue that prevented MDM servers from installing Custom B2B apps.
Owners of the new, smaller iPad Pro can no longer download the iOS 9.3.2 update from Apple. The issues do not affect other devices, like the 12.9-inch iPad Pro or iPhone models, and the iOS 9.3.2 update remains available for all other models.
Reports first began to surface earlier this week that the iOS 9.3.2 update was "bricking" some 9.7-inch iPad Pro models. It's unclear what caused the issues, as many users were able to successfully install the update without any problems.
Upon attempting to install the update, affected iPad Pro units displayed an "Error 56" message, which Apple identifies as a generic hardware effort. Early reports suggested there was no immediate workaround other than taking the tablet to an Apple Store for help or a replacement.
After pulling the update on Friday, Apple issued a statement to iMore stating it is working on a fix for the bug, which it claims affected "a small number of iPad units." The company pledged to deliver a new update "as quickly as possible."
iOS 9.3.2 launched on Monday, most notably restoring the ability to use Night Shift while in Low Power Mode. It also squashed a bug that caused sound quality issues when taking a call over a Bluetooth headset.
Apple also said iOS 9.3.2 fixes an issue where looking up dictionary definitions could fail, and it addresses a bug that prevented typing email addresses when using the Japanese Kana keyboard in Mail and Messages. The update also fixes an issue for VoiceOver users using Alex voice, where the device switches to a different voice to announce punctuation or paces.
Finally, Apple also said that iOS 9.3.2 fixes an issue that prevented MDM servers from installing Custom B2B apps.
Comments
This smells suspiciously like a synchronization/timing bug involving the writing and verifying *updates to the iOS mass storage. The iPad Pro is probably a bit faster than any other iOS devices and the embedded software engineers have a bug in their code that is being surfaced more frequently by the increased performance of the iPad Pro and it is more pronounced on the 9.7" device but still possible on other devices if the combination of events hits the timing window.
I've always been troubled with Apple's synchronization strategy with iTunes and iOS. I'd greatly prefer that the process be slower but failsafe rather than going for the best possible performance without transactional integrity. Seeing the iOS device still chewing on downloads (as evidenced by the spinning arrow) long after iTunes says it's "done" bothers me. You don't know whether data is still in flight or where it is in the update process. I've had a couple of instances of iOS devices having to be reformatted from scratch because I disconnected the device when iTunes said it was "done" but the iOS device was still churning. After those occurrences I will never unplug an iOS device after it's been downloaded until the iOS device no longer shows the thin spinning arrow.
I don't think Apple is unique in struggling with achieving 100% reliability with firmware/embedded SW updates to existing products. It's a challenging problem and it can be very expensive to provide redundancy based solutions. Users also expect high availability of their products and don't like waiting for updates to complete. They also expect all the newest bells and whistles on older products with limited processing and storage resources. All of these factors and others, such as the fact that most programmers struggle to write reliable multithreading and multiprocessing based applications and services leads to inevidable problems like the ones afflicting the iPad Pro 9.7 and iTunes, not to mention the majority of security related bugs in products that rely on software at any level. I hope the increased performance we're seeing with these newer updates are not indicative of programmers cutting corners, whether intentional or based on a naive understanding of the complexities of the problem domain. Fingers crossed.