Apple

5 Things to Know About the iOS 13.3 Update

Published

4 years ago

01/03/2020

Apple’s pulled the iOS 13.3 update out of beta testing and the firmware is now available for iPhone models around the world.

The iOS 13.3 update serves as the third milestone upgrade for the company’s iOS 13 operating system which means it brings more than just bug fixes and security patches to iPhone users. It has some new features on board as well.

If your iPhone is currently running iOS 13.2.3, you get a fairly long list of features, bug fixes, and enhancements. It requires a fairly large download.

If you’re moving up from an older version of iOS, your iOS 13.3 update will be a little bit bigger because the changes from the iOS updates you missed are baked into the update.

With that in mind, we want to take you through everything there is to know about Apple’s latest update for the iPhone and iOS 13.

In this guide to the iOS 13.3 update we’ll touch on the iOS 13.3 update’s performance, the current list of iOS 13.3 problems, the best places to find feedback about bugs and performance issues, the iOS 13 jailbreak status, and more.

We’ll start with our impressions of iOS 13.3 update’s performance on iPhone.

iOS 13.3 Reviews

If you’re moving from iOS 13.2.3 to iOS 13.3 you’ll see a 400MB download. The iOS 13.3 update is a 407.2 MB download for the iPhone X and it’s around the same for other versions of the iPhone.

If you’re using an older version of iOS on your iPhone, you’ll see a larger download size because, again, your iOS 13.3 update brings the changes from the iOS updates you skipped.

If you’re already on iOS 13.2.3, the iOS 13.3 installation shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to complete. It took about seven minutes to install on an iPhone X.

For more on the iOS 13.3 download and installation, take a look at our guide.

We’ve been using the iOS 13.3 update on the iPhone for several weeks now and here are some quick impressions of its performance:

Connectivity

Battery life is stable right now.
Wi-Fi connectivity is fast and reliable.
Bluetooth is working normally.
GPS and cellular data are both stable.

Apps

Third-party apps including Netflix, Dark Sky, Twitter, Slack, Asana, Gmail, Chrome, and Spotify are all stable.
First party apps like Safari, Podcasts, and Calendar are working fine.

Speed

iOS 13.3 feels as fast as iOS 13.2.3.

If your iPhone’s performance is struggling on iOS 13.2.3 or another version of iOS 13, you might want to install the iOS 13.3 update right now.

If you need help making a decision, please check out our reasons to, and not to, install the iOS 13.3 update on the iPhone. It’ll help you to one side of the fence or the other.

Apple’s iOS 13.3 update is now out for iPhone.

We’ve published our mini iOS 13.3 reviews for the iPhone 11, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 7, iPhone 6s, and iPhone SE so check those for additional feedback.

iOS 13.3 Problems

The iOS 13.3 is already causing problems for some iPhone users. Some of these problems are brand new, others have carried over from other versions of iOS.

The current list of iOS 13.3 problems includes some of the usual suspects: installation problems, issues with Touch ID and Face ID, issues with first and third-party apps, UI lag, random reboots, abnormal battery drain, Exchange issues, and more.

If you run into an issue on iOS 13.3, please take a look at our list of fixes for the most common iOS 13-related problems. We’ve also released tips to improve iOS 13 performance and tips to fix bad iOS 13 battery life.

If you can’t handle iOS 13.3’s performance, note that you can no longer downgrade to a previous version of iOS 13.

Apple has stopped signing on iOS 13.2.3 which means you can’t use a loophole to drop back down in an effort to improve your device’s performance.

If your device is really struggling on iOS 13.3, you can also try moving to Apple’s iOS 13.3.1 beta though beta software typically isn’t an ideal daily driver.

iOS 13.3 Update: What’s New

Apple’s x.x updates always bring a mix of new features, bug fixes, and enhancements and that’s precisely what iOS 13.3 has on board. Here’s the full change log:

Screen Time

New parental controls provide more communication limits over who their children can call, FaceTime, or Message
Contact list for children lets parents manage the contacts that appear on their children’s devices

Apple News

New layout for Apple News+ stories from The Wall Street Journal and other leading newspapers
Easily like or dislike stories with a tap

Stocks

Stories from Apple News are now available in Canada in English and French
Continue reading with links to related stories or more stories from the same publication
“Breaking” and “Developing” labels for Top Stories

Bug Fixes & Other Improvements

Enables the creation of a new video clip when trimming a video in Photos
Adds support for NFC, USB, and Lightning FIDO2-compliant security keys in Safari
Fixes issues in Mail that may prevent downloading new messages
Addresses an issue that prevented deleting messages in Gmail accounts
Resolves issues that could cause incorrect characters to display in messages and duplication of sent messages in Exchange accounts
Fixes an issue where the cursor may not move after long pressing on the space bar
Addresses an issue that may cause screenshots to appear blurry when sent via Messages
Resolves an issue where cropping or using Markup on screenshots may not save to Photos
Fixes an issue where Voice Memos recordings may not be able to be shared with other audio apps
Addresses an issue where the missed call badge on the Phone app may not clear
Resolves an issue where the Cellular Data setting may incorrectly show as off
Fixes an issue that prevented turning off Dark Mode when Smart Invert was enabled
Addresses an issue where some wireless chargers may charge more slowly than expected

The iOS 13.3 update also brings 12 security updates to the iPhone. You can read about those right here on Apple’s website.

iOS 13.3 Jailbreak

There is a jailbreak tool (dubbed checkra1n) that’s available for iPhone 5s-iPhone X running iOS 12.3-iOS 13.3. However, the jailbreak tool is currently in beta testing.

Jailbreak developers have also released a working jailbreak tool for iOS 12.4, but it doesn’t work with newer iPhone models like the iPhone 11 series and the company’s 2018 iPhone models.

If you want to jailbreak an iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or iPhone XS Max, you need to be on an older version of iOS 12. Unfortunately, there’s no way to downgrade to the previous operating system.

What’s Next

Apple’s confirmed a new version of iOS 13.

The iOS 13.3.1 update is confirmed and it’s currently in beta testing ahead of an unknown release date for the iPhone.

The update is a small point release (which means it probably won’t carry new features) and we expect it to fix bugs impacting Apple’s new Screen Time features.

Given the severity of the issue, look for iOS 13.3.1 to roll out sooner rather than later, probably sometime later this month.

4 Reasons Not to Install iOS 13.7 & 11 Reasons You Should

Install iOS 13.7 for Better Security

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If security is important to you, think about installing the iOS 13.7 update.

iOS 13.7 doesn't have any known security patches on board. That said, if you skipped iOS 13.6 or an older version of iOS, you'll get security patches with your upgrade.

iOS 13.6 had more than 20 patches for security issues on board which made it an extremely important update. If you skipped iOS 13.6, you get the patches with iOS 13.7.

If you want to learn more about iOS 13.6's security patches, head on over to Apple's security site for more information.

If you skipped iOS 13.5.1, you get its security patch with your upgrade to iOS 13.7. You can read more about it on Apple's website. The patch is for an exploit used by jailbreak developers.

If you skipped iOS 13.5, iOS 13.7 brings iOS 13.5's 41 new security patches with it. Apple's posted the details on its website and you can dig into the particulars if you're interested.

Among them, patches for the company's Mail app, Wi-Fi, AirDrop, Bluetooth, FaceTime, Messages, and Notifications.

If you skipped the iOS 13.4 update, you'll get iOS 13.4's 28 security patches with your upgrade. You can read about all of them on Apple's website right here.

iOS 13.4 also brought several improvements to Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention. Apple's John Wilander outlined them in a blog post and it's worth checking out.

Reports have outlined a vulnerability in Wi-Fi chips made by Broadcom and Cypress Semiconductor that left billions of devices susceptible to attack.

Dubbed Kr00k, the vulnerability allows nearby attackers to decrypt sensitive information that's relayed over-the-air.

Fortunately, it looks like the issue was patched up with the release of iOS 13.2, an update that arrived all the way back in October.

So if you're running a really old version of iOS 13, you'll really want to move your device up to the newest version of iOS 13.

If you skipped iOS 13.3.1, you get its patches with iOS 13.7.

The iOS 13.3.1 update included 21 new security patches that will help protect your device from harm. The company's outlined those patches in detail if you want to dig in.

If you skipped iOS 13.3, you get its patches with iOS 13.7. iOS 13.3 brought 12 new security patches to the iPhone and you can read about each one over on Apple's security page.

The iOS 13.3 update also added support for NFC, USB, and Lightning FIDO2-compliant security keys in the Safari browser.

If you missed iOS 13.2, it had 16 new security patches on board. You can read about all of them on Apple's website right here.

iOS 13.1.1 brought a security patch for a third-party keyboard issue to your iPhone. If you're interested in the particulars, you can read about them over on Apple's website.

If you passed on installing iOS 13.1, you get an additional patch with your iOS 13.7 update. You can learn more right here.

If you're moving up from iOS 12, you'll get iOS 13.0's nine security patches with your upgrade to iOS 13.7. Read about those here.

If you skipped iOS 12.4.1 or any older versions of iOS 12, you'll get their security patches with your iOS 13.7 update.

iOS 12.4.1 only had one patch on board, but Apple's iOS 12.4 update brought 19 security patches to the iPhone. If you're interested in the specifics, you can read about them on right here.

In addition to those patches, iOS 13 itself comes with some security and privacy upgrades including improved anti-tracking features in Safari and the ability to get rid of location metadata in your photos.

You also now have the ability to block apps from using Bluetooth and the ability to allow apps to access your location just once.

iOS 13 will also send you reminders about applications that track your data.