Finding your misplaced wireless AirPods may not be such a big problem with an upgrade of Apple’s mobile operating system.
The new iOS 10.3 is available now to Apple mobile device users in Australia, and can be installed using the update feature in settings/general.
If one or both AirPods fall off while you’re walking or running, you can try to locate them using the Find My Phone feature. You’ll see the current or last known location of your AirPods, and you can get your phone to play a sound on one or both AirPods to help locate them.
So not all is lost if an AirPod ends up under a cushion at the back of the couch.
But if you’re running or walking around the streets, there won’t be an ongoing record of your AirPods’ location if you don’t take an iPhone or iPad with you. AirPods have no way to independently report their location to the cloud.
With iOS10.3, Apple hopes to make it easier for you to make payments and check on the status of bills with voice control. Developers can now add voice control to payment apps using Apple SiriKit. And there is now the capacity for apps such as Uber to include voice commands. For example, users could schedule a ride with Uber using Siri if Uber implements it.
Siri can now give you cricket scores and statistics for Indian Premier League and international cricket, but as The Australian discovered when trialling this, Siri is mainly Indian focused and lacks an extensive knowledge of Australian cricket.
CarPlay gets shortcuts in the status bar, making it easy for motorists to access last used apps and Apple Music has a new ‘now playing’ screen.
You can now rent a movie once through iTunes, and watch it across all your Apple devices.
And Apple now offers hourly weather in maps, using 3D Touch on the displayed current temperature, although we didn’t see this working when trialling it today.
In Calendar, if people send you invitations you don’t want, you can delete them and report them as junk.
Apple’s Home app for the connected home lets you create scenes using accessories with switches and buttons.
The most important new feature is under the bonnet. iOS 10.3 introduces Apple’s new file system, which replaces an ageing filing structure launched in the mid 1980s.
The new ‘Apple File System’ promises to save hard drive space, and brings with it the possibility of better file encryption and backup tools.
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