How To Fix ‘Links Not Working’ Bug In iOS 9.3

It’s probably fair to say that Apple’s public launch of iOS 9.3 hasn’t really gone as smoothly as the company would have liked. The latest version of Apple’s mobile platform attracted quite a bit of attention from the media when Apple first pulled the download from being accessed by older hardware for fear of it locking users out their devices. Then came the fact that some users were experiencing crashing and hanging behavior when trying to open links within Safari and other apps. This issue has been tracked down to be related to how apps installed on a device handle universal links feature of iOS.

Apple has already confirmed that a fix is coming for this bug, but in the meantime, there’s also now an interim workaround that should work while Apple packages together a version of iOS to permanently fix the problem.

safari-broken

Until Apple releases a software update with fix for this bug in place, a UK-based mobile specialist Ben Collier of Ocasta has published a workaround solution that allows users to fix the problematic issue while they wait for Apple to officially release a new point update to iOS that removes the issue entirely.

In an ideal world, the temporary solution would be as easy as uninstalling the affected app(s) and rebooting the device. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world, meaning that Collier’s solution requires a little more leg work on the user’s part.

In short, the solution is a fairly lengthy process that involves connecting the affected iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to iTunes whilst in Airplane Mode and doing some synchronization techniques that involves quite specific timing to make sure that the relevant caches are cleared. Not exactly the most seamless and user-friendly solution to a problem, but better than nothing for those who simply cannot live with the problem.

Here’s the full step-by-step walkthrough of the fix, courtesy of Ben Collier.

Did this solution from Ben work for you guys? Let us know in the comments section below.

(Source: Ben Collier)

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