Apple Releases iOS/iPadOS 17.3 With Stolen Device Protection and More

First up, Apple has released iOS/iPadOS 17.3. You can download the update by going to Settings > General > Software Update on your iPhone or iPad.

The major new feature is Stolen Device Protection for the iPhone. With that feature, Face ID or Touch ID is required to perform certain actions. That further protects the information on your smartphone is someone is able to find out your passcode and steal the device.

Apple Music fans can also enjoy a collaborative playlists with others.

Here’s the entire changelog:

Stolen Device Protection
– Stolen Device Protection increases security of iPhone and Apple ID by requiring Face ID or Touch ID with no passcode fallback to perform certain actions
– Security Delay requires Face ID or Touch ID, an hour wait, and then an additional successful biometric authentication before sensitive operations like changing device passcode or Apple ID password can be performed

Lock Screen
– New Unity wallpaper honors Black history and culture in celebration of Black History Month

Music
– Collaborate on playlists allows you to invite friends to join your playlist and everyone can add, reorder, and remove songs
– Emoji reactions can be added to any track in a collaborative playlist

This update also includes the following improvements:
– AirPlay hotel support lets you stream content directly to the TV in your room in select hotels
– AppleCare & Warranty in Settings shows your coverage for all devices signed in with your Apple ID
– Crash detection optimizations (all iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 models)

Apple Watch users can now download watchOS 10.3

It features the new Unity Bloom watch face, pictured above. There are other smaller bug fixes and improvements.

The update can be downloaded now through the companion Watch app on your iPhone by heading to General > Software Update in the My Watch portion of the app. You can also go to Settings > General > Software Update on an Apple Watch.

Your watch needs to have more than 50 percent power and connected to a charger. Like most Apple Watch updates, it could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to complete, so be patient.

It’s compatible with the Apple Watch Series 4 and later.

tvOS 17.3 has also arrived for the Apple TV. There are no known new features.

An update should automatically be downloaded to an Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K.

If you haven’t already enabled automatic updates, you can download the software by heading to Settings > System > Software Updates > Update Software. Right next to the button to update software is the toggle switch to turn on automatic updates.