Last week I reported a frustrating flaw in iOS 9.3.1 that compounded the worst restriction in iOS 9.3. But now there is good news:
In short: iPhone and iPad users are soon going to be allowed to use Night Shift in conjunction with Low Power Mode.
This most logical of combinations (after all Night Shift is designed to be used at night when your device is most likely to be low on battery) was tested in iOS 9.3 but then dropped. Users found a workaround using Siri voice commands, then Apple closed that loophole in iOS 9.3.1 so another loophole was found. You get the picture: frustrated users stuck in a game of cat and mouse with Apple.
Happily Apple has had a rethink.
Yesterday the company released the second beta of iOS 9.3.2 (yes, this is the ninth iOS 9 release in seven months) and with it Night Shift and Low Power Modes are now fully compatible. No hacks, tweaks or loopholes required. Just fire-up both features and they run seamlessly side-by-side.
While this was the logical outcome, Apple should be praised for ceding to customer demand. This doesn’t fix all the shortcomings with Night Shift (bizarrely it remains unavailable on older iPhones and iPads), but it is a firm step in the right direction.
Interestingly iOS 9.3.2 also name drops some additional existing bugs in iOS 9.3.1 that the company had previously not recognised, such as glitches with iBooks and the infamous Game Center ‘white screen of death’ which users have complained about for months. Better late than never.
Of course the flip side to this is the number of iOS 9.x releases Apple is having to put out given about half have solely been bug fixes to address issues introduced in previous releases. As Apple supports an ever wider array of devices and apps some of this is understandable, but it does eat away about the platform's biggest advantage over Android: regular updates.
After all Android handset makers are notoriously slow to upgrade to new versions of the
Instant updates or not needing the updates in the first place? It’s an interesting dilemma…
___
Follow Gordon on Twitter, Facebook and Google+
More On Forbes
Apple Leak Reveals 'All Glass' New iPhone
iPhone SE Vs iPhone 6S Review: Which You Should Buy?
