iOS 10.3 was released today in the first beta version for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and the change expected by everyone, i.e. Theater Mode, is nowhere to be found. Despite this, the Apple company still implemented two notable changes for iOS 10.3, they being a system for finding lost AirPods headphones, and APFS.
We start with APFS, i.e. Apple File System, i.e. a new system to manage files that are available in Apple products. As a successor to HFS+, APFS was presented last summer at WWDC 2016 by Apple, and it was announced for integration into Apple products starting in 2017.
According to Apple, APFS is a modern file management system, optimized for flash and SSD storage media. APFS has a strong data encryption system, allows cloning of files and directories, offers copy-on-write metadata and overall offers much better performance for Apple products.
Considering that APFS will be installed starting with iOS 10.3, the Apple company recommends a backup for the data in our terminals before updating.
"Apple File System is a new, modern file system for iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. It is optimized for Flash/SSD storage and features strong encryption, copy-on-write metadata, space sharing, cloning for files and directories, snapshots, fast directory sizing, atomic safe-save primitives, and improved file system fundamentals.”
The second novelty of the Apple company for iOS 10.3 is called Find My AirPods, and it allows searching for lost AirPods headphones. We are talking about a function that is integrated in Find My iPhone and allows the location of the AirPods headphones on the map, but not quite as well as you would have expected from such a function.
Basically, Apple displays the last location of the AirPods headphones on a normal map, and if they are in the Bluetooth range, we will be able to play a sound through them. The sound gets louder as we get closer to the AirPods headset, and from that point we have the option to choose through which of the two headphones the sound is played.
Apple removed from the AppStore an application that offered a similar functionality, and now offers it natively in iOS 10.3.
