Is your iPhone 6s crashing when you open Safari links under iOS 9.3?
Owners of Apple's current-generation handsets, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, have been encountering trouble when attempting to open links inside of Safari and other iOS apps. Oddly, the issue has only arisen after afflicted smartphones have downloaded and installed iOS 9.3, the latest iOS release from Apple which launched earlier this week.
Have you been affected?
So far, loads of reports from iPhone 6s owners have been posted on Apple's Support forums, according to 9to5mac. There, users complain that they're unable to open links inside of apps including Safari, Messages, and Mail: instead of the link opening in a new tab, “the app crashes, freezes, or hangs,” the report explains.
No permanent fix ... yet
This is curious indeed, and so far, there's no fix. Furthermore, as 9to5mac adds, the bug seems to be affecting older iPhone models as well as iPads, alongside iOS 9.2.1-based devices, too, indicating that the issue isn't just confined to iOS 9.3-powered iPhone 6s handsets. If this were the case, it could be that a bug concerning 3D Touch (a feature still exclusive to the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus) was the cause. But this doesn't seem to be it.
The plot thickens
Until a fix appears, we'd advise iPhone 6s and 6s Plus owners to avoid iOS 9.3. I own an iPhone 6 Plus and a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and so far neither device seems to be afflicted with this issue (both are running the public release of iOS 9.3). Though the software update does offer users a bunch of impressive features, it's nevertheless not worth the risk of losing hyperlink functionality inside of native iOS apps.
As always, we'll keep you posted with further information as we receive it.
