iPad news: iOS 9.3 renders iPad 2 unusable; Apple issues fix

iPad 2Wikimedia Commons

Owners of the old iPad 2 were stunned after updating to the latest iOS version 9.3, which was officially announced last March 21. The tablet was stuck on the authentication page and users need to type in their Apple ID and password that was used during the initial setup. There are also iPad 2 users who are not the original owners of the tablet, and some got them as gift while others bought them as second hand, so this is a big problem.

Many iPad users got frustrated when they could not log in to their respective iPad 2 devices. It was initially thought as an overload on Apple's authentication server, which had happened before, but it was not. After a day or two, more and more iPad 2 users were having the same issue. These were then joined by owners of the iPad Air, iPhone 5s and iPod touch models.

Apple issued a workaround for the authentication issue only on March 25, but it wasn't able to fix the problem . The said workaround has been in circulation on the Apple Forum since the issue started. Several were successful, but many were not that lucky.

Also on that same date, Apple released a modified version of iOS 9.3, only targeting the iPad 2. The tech giant also published a detailed installation instruction. Users have reported that the sign in step can be disabled via the Web. Nevertheless, the iOS 9.3 issue was far from over.

Currently, additional older models are also having the said authentication issue. These models include iPhone 5s, iPad Air and iPod touch and their respective older models. Thus Apple decided to stop the roll-out of iOS 9.3 altogether, as iMore reported. The tech giant is working on a fix and will announced it when it is available.

In other iPad news, T-Mobile has started taking pre-orders for one of the latest Apple products, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. The mobile carrier started taking pre-orders last March 24, same as Apple. For the 32GB variant, the carrier is offering the tablet for US$30.42 a month for 24 months with zero upfront. The 128GB and 256GB variants are both offered for US$30 a month for 24 months, but will have an upfront payment of US$160 for the former and US$310 for the latter. A T-Mobile's SIM Starter Kit will be needed and costs US$20.