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Apple iOS 10.3: This Update Contains An Important Bug Fix

This article is more than 6 years old.

iOS 10 screenshots

Apple

Apple officially released iOS 10.3 a few days ago, which contains a number of new features and bug fixes. However, there is one specific bug fix in iOS 10.3 that is absolutely crucial. Before iOS 10.3 was released, the bug was so problematic that it completely jammed 9-1-1 emergency call centers.

Back in October 2016, the security vulnerability was exploited by 18-year-old iPhone app developer Meetkumar Desai. Desai allegedly used a Twitter account with around 12,000 followers and tweeted a link that caused people’s phones to dial 9-1-1 over and over again. That tweet went viral and supposedly it was clicked 117,502 timesEven if users hit the hang-up button, it would simply redial 9-1-1. The only way to stop the redialing was to power the phone down. This video demonstrates how iPhones could have been vulnerable to calling a number and redialing involuntarily by the user simply tapping on a malicious link.

Desai said he discovered the bug in the iPhone software and was looking to report it to Apple as part of a bug bounty program. But Apple said that Desai was not part of the bug bounty program. Desai said he was originally considering making the code to call 9-1-1, but then decided to set to a dead number instead. However, he said that he ended up publishing the 9-1-1 code on accident.

The police department in Surprise, Arizona had received more than 100 hang up 9-1-1 phone calls “within a matter of minutes due to this cyber-attack and were in immediate danger of losing service to their switches,” according to the arrest reportAgencies across more than a dozen states including California, Florida and Texas were also affected by the 911 bug. The link used in the tweet to make phone calls to 9-1-1 was not obvious because it was hidden using Google's URL shortening service. Ars Technica reported that Desai was arrested on charges of felony computer tampering for allegedly creating the malicious code and sharing it on Twitter — which forced iPhones to repeatedly dial 9-1-1, similar to the way DDoS cyber attacks work.

This is not the first time iOS was vulnerable to this security exploit. In October 2008, a security researcher named Colin Mulliner reported the vulnerability to Apple and it was fixed in iOS 3.0 a few months later. But somehow the issue resurfaced in iOS 10.

A couple of years ago, another iOS bug went viral that caused Apple devices to crash. In this case, a string of specific Arabic characters used in a text message would cause iPhones to crash. Why did a text message cause the devices to crash? It likely had something to do with the way iOS handled Unicode.

Apple told The Wall Street Journal that iOS 10.3 now requires users to press a confirmation before a call is initiated. And Apple said the update will prevent iPhones from making calls even on apps that have not fixed the issue yet.

Apple iOS 10.3 Features

What else is included in iOS 10.3? Some of the new features include the integration of the Apple File System (APFS) in replacement of HFS+ (optimal for Flash and SSD storage, stronger encryption and file cloning), a Find My AirPods app, advanced Wi-Fi calling on iCloud devices through Verizon, the ability for developers to respond to customer reviews, support dropped for 32-bit apps, a new Podcasts app widget, new app animations, a new Apple ID Settings menu, a new iCloud storage section under the Settings, the addition of cricket scores on Siri and more.

Amit Chowdhry

Apple already started beta testing iOS 10.3.2 on Wednesday, March 29th, which was only two days after iOS 10.3 was released. You can install iOS 10.3 by connecting your device to iTunes or downloading it by going to the Settings app > General > Software UpdateiOS 10.3 can be downloaded and installed on these devices: iPhone 5 and later, iPad 4th generation and later and iPod touch 6th generation and later. The iOS 10.3 update size is over 600MB in size so downloading and installing it takes time. For some devices, the upgrade takes over 45 minutes.

Do you plan on upgrading to iOS 10.3 soon? What are your thoughts about the update? Please leave a comment!