Apple Releases iOS 8.3

Apple released a new iOS 8 point release yesterday. Apple Watch support and Photos for Mac integration headline the list of features, so Mac users and potential Watch customers are going to want to download this one.

The thing is, this update does something far more important than it’s release notes imply. It drastically improves performance across-the-board.

Devices powered by the A6 and A5 run vastly better, almost as smooth as they did on iOS 6, especially after turning down various graphical effects. We’re talking a night and day difference here.

Devices powered by the A7 and A8 didn’t suffer as much under previous iOS 8 revisions, but they still benefit noticeably from this update. My iPad Air 2 especially – I’ve been dealing with longstanding crash issues when multitasking, general delays when deleting apps, buggy keyboard input. Since updating, the Air 2 finally feels as powerful as it’s hardware suggests it should be. The iPhone 6 Plus is improved as well, though there are still reports of occasional lag – a consequence of having an underpowered GPU for the display it sports.

A5 devices especially benefit from this update. They were barely acceptable under previous versions of iOS 8, and Apple should have been ashamed of themselves for shipping the in that state. Better late than never on performance improvements.

I know some of you – those with jailbreaks – have one very big question on your minds: Do I upgrade and lose the jailbreak? Hard to say. I have no idea if an 8.3 jailbreak is coming any time soon. All iOS 8 and iOS 7 jailbreaks are using the same basic exploit, and Apple patched it in 8.2. Personally, I upgraded my iPad, but not my iPhone 6. I use my iPad as my work machine, and the performance and stability benefits are just too important. If I primarily used an A5 powered device, I’d upgrade in a heartbeat – even the best jailbreak tweaks aren’t worth dealing with lag over.

I’m still hoping iOS 9’s rumored focus on performance turns out to be true. Still, for now, iOS 8.3 is a big step in the right direction.