Q: Google links don't work after iOS 9.3

Dear Deggie,

Your level of sarcasm really does deserve a duckduckgo, what ever that might be.

As a relatively new user of Apple all these levels are a mystery to me but I am sure much work is required to reach upwards.

You will see from the many posts on this thread how simple Apple users are struggling to find and give solutions. So I am not sure who is trying to sell your information.

You will recall from my earlier post that i have been unsuccessful in using Apple Support to communicate with them. And reading many of the posts on this thread used a form of "whit" to try to get a message. What a pitty it has fallen on deaf ears.

Indeed i have looked to see if Apple have issued an upgrade but being an old dude i dont use itunes and strangely expect Apple to do it via the normal route.

Obviously (warning - this is sarcasm) i place trust in them.

Sorry, but your sarcasm in your first post far exceeds my pitiful attempts to match you.

Yes, I have seen the posts. I know that people have directly contacted Apple by various means. I'm sure they are aware of it and are diligently working on it.

Google sells my information. They sell yours to as you agree to this when you use Google. I'm not sure how you have been unsuccessful in contacting Apple. Are you saying your phone will not let you place phone calls to AppleCare?

DuckDuckGo is a search engine like Google but with a major difference: they don't share your search information with 3rd parties. Go to Settings > Safari > Search Engine and make the default DuckDuckGo and see if you can then do a search and tap on a link. It works on my devices.

Being an old dude I do use iTunes and up until iOS 6 the only "normal" way to upgrade or restore and iDevice was by connecting to your computer and using iTunes. In the early days it was also the only way you could sync. The slipstream update that Apple released was really for activation problems on older devices and it did not have a new iOS number just a new build number.

Dear Deggie,

Oh the beauty of the old systems! The old days.

I think what you fail to realise is that this is not just related to google. Other apps are impacted.

So this issue is making it difficult for people to use an apple device.

With regard to phoning Apple - in this day an age - why should a little Irish man in remote Mayo (in Ireland) have to phone apple to tell them of a problem that has made their customers life difficult for the last 5 days.

I really dont understand what you are trying to defend.

But anyway its way past my bed time being after 1am here, so enjoy the rest of your day.

Best regards

I have had zero problems with 9.3 until a few hours ago.  I don't get it.  Nothing changed, no new apps, no updates, but now NONE of my browsers will work  Firefox, Safari, Chrome ... all have the same problems as reported here.  WHAT IS THE DEAL?  I am charging up my old Android to have a phone that actually operates.  THIS IS RIDICULOUS! 

iPhone 6+

Have you tried contacting the FBI to ask them if they had a hand in this? You may get a fix or a reply, seeing as Apple doesn't care.

Although I enjoyed the witty conversation between you and aimwest, I have to disappoint you: Using DuckDuckGo does not necessarily solve the issue at a point when the bad data in the Universal Links are crashing swcd.

I just tried it (with and without Javascript) and pressing links in DuckDuckGo still freeze Safari.

To overcome the frozen link issue I use the Mercury browser (which looks very similar to Safari), but seem to be unaffected by the bug (yet).

BTW, the problem is not just in Safari. In my iPad several other Apps as Mail, Facebook, eBay freeze when tapping links.

Deggie - upgraded to latest iOS 9.3 and that made no difference.  Can't see how difficult it can be for Apple to push out an update to delete the file causing the issue and/or force a refresh of it....

(Don't have the time to try the workaround - plus the laptop I carry all the time has a broken and unfixable/undeleteable version of iTunes on it anyway - but that's a whole other issue....)

hey guys i have same problem as you all do . im using iphone 6s plus ios 9.3 . when i get link on whatsapp this is how i open the link . by force touch the link and pull it up after that you will get option to open it by chrome . hope this will help for temp . im not sure if its will work through the email coz u cannot use force touch . by im sure if any apps has force touch it will help .

hey guys i have same problem as you all do . im using iphone 6s plus ios 9.3 . when i get link on whatsapp this is how i open the link . by force touch the link and pull it up after that you will get option to open it by chrome . hope this will help for temp . im not sure if its will work through the email coz u cannot use force touch . by im sure if any apps has force touch it will help . also in twitter i use force touch on any link then option will pop up down bellow you will find option called open in chrome . hope thats works too . so for whatsapp and twitter this is the temp  solution

I have the same issue with my iPhone 6. Ever since upgrading to iOS 9.3 Safari links in Google searches don't work and my application frequently freezes or crashes. Mail links seem also to affected and the application hangs, requiring restart. Please Apple, fix this quickly! it's very frustrating.

Is it possible that this whole issue has to do with the latest privacy policy of google? Perhaps the genuises of apple would like to take a look at that direction too? Did anyone of you accept the terms and conditions about privacy policy of google latetly?

the same issue here... APPLE WE NEED 9.3.1

There is a rumour that is happens because Booking.com App. There is a table listing all the websites in order to check to associate with the opened link. But Booking.Com App puts lots of websites of hotel into this table and make this table non-usable. Sorry for my novice English.

http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/28/its-not-just-you-clicking-on-links-in-ios-9-3-c an-crash-your-iphone/

Statement from Booking.com

"We’ve uncovered some issues with the universal linking framework, which appear to be an issue specific to Apple iOS 9.3. We understand they are in the process of correcting, and we’re offering any help we can to help them expedite a resolution."

This is correct ....  Booking.com is the actual culprit but it's possible (I think) that Apple can still issue a fix. Note that just deleting booking.com will NOT fix the issue. Once you have the corrupted data on your phone you cannot delete that app and fix it. I was able to fix my phone my restoring from an iTunes backup that was about 10 days old (before my data was corrupted) and also deleting booking.com. Other have had similar success by restoring an old backup from iTunes. No other patch of fix worked for me. Hope this helps someone. All the best, Daryle

How can you possibly ignore the numerous reports of people experiencing this issue who have NEVER had booking.com app installed or any of its affiliates?! It is abundantly clear that this app or its affiliates do NOT need to be installed in your device for you to be affected; making it even more clear that Apple is to blame not an app developer. Please do not dismiss facts and spread unproven theories as a single cause. There is more to what's happenlong than booking.com or its affiliates.

And yes, restoring to an earlier date can help fix the bug, but there are also reports the bug comes back on its own for some people, so that's not a permanent fix For everyone. It only works for a few. Apple needs to release an update to hopefully remedy the problem, since it is taking them this long to release one this issue must be very complicated.