The next big software update for the iPhone is due in the next couple of weeks. Or it was. But the latest beta version released to developers has now been removed from the Developer Center, after causing some iPhones to get caught in a boot loop. Here’s what we know.
On Wednesday, January 4, Apple released the second developer beta of iOS 17.3. Since this is a release which includes a key upgrade that has been widely anticipated, that’s good news.
Less good is the fact that some users who installed it complained that their phones were suddenly bricked, stuck in boot loops where the phone is essentially useless—unless you try this fix.
When there are complaints, it’s hard to know how widespread they are, but they were obviously enough for Apple to take action. After only three hours or so, Apple suddenly removed iOS 17.3 and iPadOS 17.3 so that there’s currently no way to install or download them. Well, that was quick. And the speed may well be unprecedented.
The removal was sudden, but makes sense that it was. Now, nobody can download it and install it to brick their iPhone. The second beta of the parallel software for iPad, iPadOS 17.3, has also been withdrawn.
The pubic beta version which might have been expected to land a day or so after the dev beta, has not appeared. This is not surprising and there’s so far been no comment from Apple on when it might reappear, so it’s obviously working on putting things right. Here’s what Apple has said in its updated release notes: “Important: iOS & iPadOS 17.3 Beta 2 has been withdrawn temporarily due to an issue that prevented a small number of devices from starting up. If your device is in this state, you can recover it by entering Recovery Mode and restoring a previous version of iOS or iPadOS.”
As always, Apple has guided users not to put beta software on critical devices, and that advice has proved crucial here.
Another element has emerged, which may go some way to explaining why it hasn’t affected every user. According to Guilherme Rambo, it seems the problem was more likely to happen if the iPhone had Back Tap activated. That’s the clever system where you can set the iPhone to react in certain ways when someone effects a double-tap or triple-tap on the back of a compatible iPhone.
These issues may delay the general release of iOS 17.3, currently expected later in January or early February.
