after updating to iOS 9.3 the links in Safari and Mail do not work

its not just booking its many others like fruit ninja, skype and booking

And it means that we have a virus in app store?

😕

Before I begin YES Apple and I are fully aware of this issue with the links not working on Safari after installing 9.3 GM on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus devices, so that part should not be new to anyone. However I kept extremely accurate records during beta testing (and afterwards) which I would like to share with others and Apple - if they're reading these comments online.

First up, I did all the beta tests for 9.3. This issue NEVER came up once and it's not fair that all of us beta testers are being blamed now for "not doing our job". That is not the case and I take offense to that as should all of you who also beta tested 9.3. I had all the beta running on 5 different devices all deemed "regular use devices" something Apple strongly discourages, but I feel we should be testing in the real world and if something goes wrong, fine I have a backup. That said I ran them on 2 different iPhone 6S plus, I also had it running on iPad Pro, iPad mini 4 and iPad Air 2. Everything ran perfectly in every stage.

When the golden master came out Monday I upgraded all 5 devices at the sane time within minutes of it being available which would be around noon my time (this part is important). All were functioning perfectly. Then on Tuesday night around 11pm, all the sudden on my iPhone 6S plus this problem surfaced. Talk about bizarre! I mean approximately 32 hours after the upgrade THEN it happened?? I immediately got up and checked all the other devices and they worked perfectly (and still do as I write this). This points directly to anything Apple "changed" or "modified" from beta 7 (I think that was the last one) and the GM of 9.3 That's where I would start looking if I were Apple, but I'm not so I had to test the things I could on my end.

Since all the other devices were working correctly including the other iPhone 6S Plus which is what I thought was the problem, but that can't be. So I reformatted my device, installed a new iOS 9.3 from scratch like I was a new user to Apple and didn't do a backup. Everything was fine Safari worked perfectly.

I then started installing my backup which was saved from the last 9.3 beta. Keep in mind I have over 700 apps. As we found out with IOS 8 if you have more than 500 APPs there are issues when doing a backup from hard drive as it stalls every 75 apps - forcing you to unplug the device and plug it back in to do the next 75 apps, etc. Lucky for me Apple has STILL not resolved this issue. At each "75 app" freeze up I unplugged the device, openied Safari and checked to make sure the links were working perfectly - they were. On to the next 75 apps... I continued this process till I finished the last apps installing. Safari hung in there! <grin> I was so relieved. My backup was clean, free of bugs AND Safari was working without problems too... well almost...

I was just about to unplug my iPhone when I noticed under "BOOKS" (actually installed on my device) it showed only 124 books had copied. I know for a fact I had 154 books, but just incase I ched the other devices. I proceeded to go through the books and put a checkmark to the ones missing from the final backup. When I was done it said 154 books so i clicked "SYNC"

HOLY CRAP! This last stage - where it was adding the extra books or the act of clicking sync itself - something broke Safari - I was back to square one.

I'm not a genius like you guys. I'm just a record producer who's good at finding stuff during beta testing because I have a photographic memory. I literally can pull up something I tested last Tuesday and "play it" in my head. I can fast forward, rewind - just like an actual movie. Turns out this is great for trying to solve beta problems because not only can I send the info to Apple (or one of you guys who I help as well), I can literally recreate every single keystoke and give them that info to recreate it themselves everytime. Who knew? But this Safari/links broken thing has me baffled.

It didn't appear during any of the individual "75 app upload restrictions" restarts of my 700+ App reinstall

It's obviously NOT in my backup or it would have appeared the second the last app installed

And worse it has a "time delay" element causing me great concern for the obvious implications (like malware based)??

I called Apple because I was most worried about the time delay aspect of this bug. A normal person may not have figured out that, first it was working, then 32 hours later suddenly it not? That's something that could have been overlooked easliy enough. Unfortunately I called Apple before this was an "issue" - before they took me seriously, so I'm hoping this info will find it's way BACK to Engineering 3 who I spoke with in Cupertino, to assit them in problem solving it quickly as now it has turned into a major issue affecting hundreds of thousands of users world wide, Well I did my job. I identified it immediately and not just reported it I called it in directly to Engineering 3! Now its all over the internet - something I tried to prevent by contacting apple immediately Wednesday at 8:05am. Either way, I wanted to report this info here to compare notes with you guys. Maybe I will trigger something in your memory too (I hope).

Joseph

I think it is a problem of 9.3. upgrade. My iPad Air just downloaded update and when I tapped "install", installation did not begin because Apple stopped distribution of 9.3 for older devices. After this I experience the same problem like you even my version is still 9.2.1. It seems only automatic download of 9.3 update and its verification creates the problem even you are using older iOS.

Same problem here on my iphone 6. None of the links does not work. I've also upgraded my ipad air2 and for some reason links are working on that one. But we need quick update from Apple. Turning Javascript off is not a solution.

Same problem here. But also just before the update to 9.3 so I dont think its due to this update only. Really annoying though! I have an iPhone 6. Links in Safari, mail and sometimes even Firefox doesnt work. In Firefox clicking on the link to open in ' a new window ' does work. In Safari turning off JavaScript works but then some websites doesnt work proporly. Bad! Hoping for a quick but good fix from Apple!

Problem is the same on iphone 5s.

As everyone is reporting, 9.3 update on iPhone 6 has frozen the links in both Safari and Mail. Come on Apple get busy. 😟

Same problem I have. So frustrating. This is the first iPhone I've had and now it doesn't work properly!!

Same problem as everyone else. Disable java on Safari works but that is not a fix. Chrome and message links refuse to work. I've wasted enough time on this already and am very disappointed that Apple has not said anything or offered a concrete solution after nearly a week. In fact, the problem started when my iPhone had downloaded the latest 9.3 version (13E233) and prior to me activating it - which I mistakenly thought would resolve the problem.

Now I question my loyalty to apple given that the phone cost me £700!

Come on Apple - fix it!

APPLE SORT THIS OUT PRONTO!

Hello, I guess that Apple engineers are doing their best and putting more pressure won't help. I décided to be patient and since I need my iPad, I just downgraded from 9.3 to 9.2.1. Since then, mail and safari are back to life. Just quietly waiting for a healthier 9.3...

This helped partially..i now get a big text box on every java site about javascript...@Apple : Fix this !!!!

Turning of JavaScript does not work. Dolphin is the only browser working and then only by long pressing for a new tab. Shame on you Apple.

Same here Apple..😠

Turning JavaScript off makes things 'marginally' better, but still not able to follow links in Mail. frustrating!