Apple has been deluged with complaints from users who say the latest version of its mobile operating system is breaking links and crashing apps.
Following iOS 9.3 on iPhone 6splus update links in safari no longer open, then safari crashes — any ideas how to fix? Same problem in Chrome, user John MacDonald posted Monday on Apple’s support page on Twitter.
Another user, Armando Couri Filho, had similar problems. My IPhone 6 is not opening links from Safari, Mail and WhatsApp. What should I do? he asked Apple support.
Clicking on links in the new iOS update causes safari to freeze. I’ve had to switch to using googlechrome and firefox, noted Ohanes Kalayjian.
What’s causing the problem with links in iOS 9.3? So far, Apple has been mum on the subject, but according to one news report, the issue could be with Universal Links, which Apple introduced in iOS 9.0.
Universal Headache?
Universal Links allow Web links to be opened directly from within apps running under iOS without first opening Apple’s Web browser, Safari.
The Universal Links are stored in a database in iOS, and if an app contains too many, they will crash not only the app, but Safari too, according to TechCrunch.
However, that doesn’t explain why apps without any Universal Links are crashing, nor does it explain other problems, such as iOS refusing to verify updates because it says a device is not connected to the Internet when clearly it is.
For users who have installed the new version of iOS, there doesn’t seem to be a quick fix. Turning off JavaScript in Safari has helped some users, but not all, BGR reported. Others have avoided the problem by using Google’s Chrome browser, but that too seems to be an inconsistent fix.
Of course, unlike with some desktop operating systems that allow an update to be rolled back to a previous version that worked fine, once most users commit to a new version of iOS, there’s no turning back.
We suggest that you don’t update to 9.3 until a stable fix is available
