DealNTech Mobiles, PCs, and All Things Tech
iOS 16.3.1 started rolling out to all supported iPhones on 13th February. iOS 16 isn’t known for its stability, so iOS 16.3.1 doesn’t bring anything new or exciting to the table; it’s just a minor security update with some bug fixes.
Apple warns users to update as soon as possible since 16.3.1 fixes two key security issues. One of these is already in use in real-life cyber attacks.
WebKit, the engine that powers Apple’s Safari browser, seems to be the main target of these security concerns. If exploitation is done correctly, hackers can execute code on your device.
This a seriously concerning flaw, and it’s no wonder that Apple recommends updating immediately.
The update isn’t consistent in size for all iPhone users either. iOS 16.3.1 shows a whopping 5.34GB to some people. However, the actual size of the update is only between 300 and 400 megabytes. That’s a weird oversight, and we can put it down to a visual error.
We have some good news about the battery life, and some users report a better battery after updating to iOS 16.3.1.
It’s not all golden, though. Updates sometimes go wrong because of developer overlooks. This time, several users report problems with the Google Photos app.
Google Photos app crashes after iOS 16.3.1 update. @AppleSupport @appltrack pic.twitter.com/04q9xybCQp
— Prakash (@pracasgautam) February 14, 2023
If the app crashes upon opening it, it is impossible to view your photos and videos stored on the Cloud. Many people rely on Cloud servers to store important photos and videos.
Storing important information in the Cloud is a popular alternative to local or internal storage. It’s convenient since you can access your data anywhere, on any device, if you have an internet connection.
We recommend pausing for a while if you store critical data on Google Photos. It’s understandably frustrating when users lose access to important photos and videos stored on the Google Photos app.
People update to the latest software expecting bug fixes, not new bugs. According to many people on Twitter, the update breaks the app and is no longer usable. The app crashes upon opening it.
People are wondering whether it’s a flaw with Apple’s update or if Google didn’t properly optimize the Photos app for the latest software.
It turns out the latter prevailed since the developers of Google Photos came out with a really quick update to their app within a day that solved the app crash problems.
Since the new Google Photos app update fixes the problem, it was an overlook from Google’s side. Since there aren’t any more problems with Google Photos, iOS 16.3.1 gets a green light from our side. The bug with the Google Photos app was patched within 24 hours with the 6.23.1 version.
If you are updating to iOS 16.3.1 and use google photos make sure to check for an app update for photos as it fixes an issue where the app wouldn’t open. pic.twitter.com/5yWoQaqqTM
— Aaron Zollo (@zollotech) February 14, 2023
The update also improves the iPhone 14 models’ crash detection feature.
In other news, we still don’t have any updates about the iOS 16.4 Beta version. There isn’t much information about what it could bring either. We can expect security patches and bug fixes, with some extra minor features.
iOS 16.4 could feature the Apple Pay Later function we saw at WWDC 2022. We’ll probably see better Car Play, Web Push Notifications, and iMessage contact key verification. We’ll update you if there’s more news about iOS 16.4 and iOS 17.
