When
Who Is iOS 9.3.4 For?
Like all iOS 9.x releases, iOS 9.3.4 is designed for the iPhone 4S or later, iPad 2 or later, iPad mini or later, iPad Pro range and the 5th generation iPod touch or later. Users will be automatically prompted to upgrade, but if that notification has not yet appeared for you it can be triggered manually by going to Settings > General > Software Update
As always, the size of iOS updates differ significantly depending on your device. In the case of iOS 9.3.4 you will typically find it weighing in between 20MB and 80MB.
The Deal Breakers
iOS 9.3.4 has one big concern that will affect a number of users: it patches the recent Pangu jailbreak.
For months the biggest jailbreaking players, Pangu and TaiG, have struggled to jailbreak iOS 9 with their last success coming with iOS 9.1. This changed when Pangu had a breakthrough with iOS 9.3.3 but Apple has quickly shut this down with iOS 9.3.4. In fact Apple, somewhat amusingly, even credits “
Elsewhere Apple’s Support Communities forum does note some smaller issues such as the dictionary no longer working and problems with the battery widget freezing. So far these are isolated incidents, but I’ll update if this changes.
So What Do You Get?
According to Apple’s release notes iOS 9.3.4 is all about one vague thing: "iOS 9.3.4 provides an important security update for your iPhone or iPad and is recommended for all users."
Dig deeper, however, and you learn more with Apple stating an IOMobileFrameBuffer issue could enable an app “to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges” - this is a potentially dangerous exploit. That said this is also the exploit Pangu uses for its jailbreaking.
Furthermore there’s nothing else included beyond this. No talk of general performance upgrades, any new features or refinements.
Apple iOS 9.3.4 Install Verdict: Only Upgrade If You Do Not Jailbreak
iOS 9.3.4 comes somewhat out of the blue and appears to be solely about patching Pangu’s recent jailbreak. If so, I believe this may be the first time Apple has updated iOS solely for this purpose and it shows how focused the company is only stamping down on an activity it used to begrudgingly tolerate for many years.
As such if you don’t jailbreak your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch there’s little reason to avoid iOS 9.3.4. Especially as the potential exists for less benevolent hackers to exploit iOS 9.3.3 in the same way Pangu did.
That aside there are a couple of issues with reports regarding battery widget problems so, if this widget is important to you, steer clear for now as it is likely to be the last iOS update owners of the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPod 5th gen will receive.
The Road Ahead
With the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus release now just one month away, all focus is on iOS 10 and its major upgrades and new features. You can read more about them below.
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