We’ve been seeing a few reports of the iOS 9.3 upgrade bricking the iPad 2, with the devices failing to activate at the end of the update.
The specifics reported in an Apple Support Communities thread, tweets to @applesupport and via email suggests that it may be nothing more than Apple’s activation servers struggling under the load, but some are reporting that their devices have still failed to activate 24+ hours later.
A couple of solutions have worked for some …
Some owners have found that simply connecting the iPad to iTunes has resolved the problem, while others say that this failed but a full restore via iTunes has done the trick. This will, of course, lose any changes to data since the last backup.
We’ve reached out to Apple and will update with any response.
One other reported iOS 9.3 glitch turned out to be a settings issue, with a simple fix for those find that Night Shift schedules were not available.
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9.3 ‘bricked’ my phone calling; a reboot fixed it though.
Bricking means permanently rendering the device unusable. If a reboot can fix it, 9.3 did not brick your device.
Should be the last iOS update for the iPad 2, iPad
Mini 1 and 2
Agreed about the iPad 2 and the original Mini, but why would it be the last iOS update for the iPad Mini 2? That’s still quite recent and should continue receiving updates for at least a couple more years.
Has anyone tested the iPad 2 with iOS 9.3 beta?
iPad 2 works with iOS 9.3 betas
yea, after updating it gets stuck in activation lock. I reported it and then had to restore to 9.2. I tried again with the next 9.3 beta and the same thing happened so I restored to 9.2 and left it until release.
installed release… and the same thing happened. Had to do a restore and upgrade through itunes and now it works.
Still can’t activate my iPad 2. Downloaded iOS 9.3 to it yesterday morning. Now attempting a full restore. It probably won’t work either. Thanks apple, you broke a perfectly working device.
it should work if you do a restore and update. Call apple care to know the right steps to do it.
I had a couple apps sort of vanish from my 6s after the update. The apps were gone and when I searched for them using Spotlight I was referred to the App store where the app had an open next to it, meaning the app was supposedly already installed. Tapping open did nothing. I had to connect the phone to iTunes, select remove, sync, select install and sync again to get the apps back.
Night Shift doesn’t show up in the settings search and now some iPads are being bricked. Contractions like don’j, it’f, can’d, I’h, etc, aren’t flagged as misspelled (The last bug is left over from iOS 7/Mavericks).
When I went to apple.com/feedback to report the missing app problem, not only was iOS 9.3 not listed, neither was iOS 9.2.1!
After *7* betas, one would think the release would be just about perfect, but these problems along with Feedback missing iOS versions, I get the feeling Apple no longer pays any attention to customer feedback.
I join the chorus here. The update bricked my iPad2. It got well along, but would not activate. I could see all the data on it using iTunes, but even connected it would not finish the activation phase. I had to totally restore it to factory as a new iPad. Ugly. This is the first time an iOS update gave me any problems other than time spent.
Didn’t bother to backup before you updated? Live and learn, I guess…
Minor inconvenience, luckily. I could restore the iPad 2 to factory default settings from iTunes and then restore an iCloud backup to it. Back up and running. The first attempt was to update (not restore) from iTunes, which failed but did create a fresh iCloud backup, so nothing was lost.
Same happened to my iphone5. Activation can not reach servers. Connecting to iTunes on my mac didn’t change anything. Next day at work, connected to itunes on windows and it showed me the activation window there, and fixed the problem. I read somewhere that this is a “find my phone” bug and it should be disabled before upgrade.
http://www.technobuffalo.com/2016/03/22/iphone-6s-vsmicrosoft-lumia-950-vote-best-smartphone-mobile-madness-2016/
Please vote for the best phone. Trolls saying lumia 950>iphpne 6s
The iOS 9.3 update effectively stopped by cellular data on an iPhone 5 GSM on MetroPCS. It connects to the LTE network, but no data flows. Confirmed that downgrading to 9.2.1 resolved the problem. If I then reinstall 9.3, it fails again. Reported the problem to Apple, but given the age of the device and that it is on a non-supported carrier, I am not sure they will resolve it.
Try doing a Settings – General – Reset – Reset Network Settings.
Try upgrading through iTunes. It’s far more reliable than an OTA update.
No way to get it to active. The only way is to revert to iOS 9.2. Follow the below instructions (hopefully you have a current backup on iTunes)
Plug in the iPad
Turn on iTunes, iTunes will complain
Press and hold the HOME button and Power Button until it restarts
Let go of the Power Button but keep holding onto the HOME button
In about 10 seconds iTunes will say that it found ‘AN’ iPad but it can’t be used without a restore.
Select restore and it will restore your backed-up old version to the device.
Wait until. 9.31 for Apple to fix their screwup! With this many people complaining, my guess is not a single person in the 300000 people that work at Apple tried to update an iPad 2.
There are several methods of activation of updated iPad: http://howtoiph.one/2016/03/23/how-to-solve-ios-9-3-activation-problem/
Thank you … Thank you very much George@(TB10) … Your reply and instructions above .. ” pressing the home button and power button …” Really worked for my iPad 2. I was able to restore my iPad 2 but I backed up my files first. Glad my ipad2 was restored .. No thanks to “apple support “. They were not able to help me and totally got frustrated . I thought I was really going to recycle my IPad 2 which was very expensive . Warning : DON’T update your iPad 2 to IOS 9.3. It will ruin your perfectly working device . Thanks again.
Thanks.. You’re a genius!! Your instructions helped my ipad2 come back to life!!!
Thank you George. So far, this has worked better than anything else I’ve tried. At least now the iPad is ON. Waiting for the sync to start. Hoping this goes well. I love my iPad but it’s losing more and more functionality (crashing while using the Facebook app for instance). It’s starting to feel as though I own an expensive Kindle.
There must be a mistake – iOS 8 and everything after it already bricked the iPad 2.
My Ipad2 was bricked by it too. Had to do a complete restore. Its working on 9.3 but the night shift isn’t on it. Does the night shift not work on Ipad2?
Doesn’t work on the iPad 2, needs the 64-bit chipset.
These iOS devices will not support it.
iPhone 5
iPhone 5c
iPod touch 5G
iPad mini
iPad 2
iPad 3
iPad 4
9.3 bricked my iPad 2; took it to the “Genius Bar” and after an hour of wiping and trying to reboot, they couldn’t fix it nor restore it to 9.2.1 “So sorry we tried everything–not worth much but you can trade it in on a new iPad”
I’d report that store to Apple ASAP! (800) 692 7753. Run iTunes, plug the iPad into the computer, put it in DFU mode and restore from a backup. That should have you up and running.
Remember to always back up your iOS devices to a computer and avoid OTA updates like the plague.
Like I said – leave it a couple of weeks, install 9.3.x when they have fixed all the foul-ups.
Just finished upgrading @ 1PM in Oregon. No problems….
I updated a Retina iPad (Version 3) — works fine.
I had the same issue where the iPad could not reach the activation server (release day). As it was the businesses device and was unsure of when the device had been backed up last, I called Apple Care and the operator wasn’t aware that it was an issue. He checked his side and everything stated that the device was still on the previous release.
Solution we worked out between us was to enter recovery mode, and reinstall 9.3 through iTunes (PC) which brought up the option to setup as a new device. Only way to recover from any backup was to disconnect the iPad from the PC at this stage and then manually setup on the iPad itself.
Restoring via iTunes allowed the device the get past the first step of the activation (which has changed in iOS 9.3) and then the device was able to take over from where iTunes itself could not. After this everything is now back up and running.
I believe it is definitely a iPad 2 issue as I was able to update 3 other device in the whole 2 hours that the device attempted to activate.
I have not been able to activate my iPad2 after the upgrade to iOS 9.3, and I can’t use iTunes, because I run Linux on all my computers. It tells me that the upgrade was “successfully installed.” It’s like in the hospital when they tell you, “The operation was a success, but the patient died.” I tried getting help from the Apple support center, but it tells me that they no longer support the iPad2, so I’m just out of luck. I know the fact that I will never buy another Apple product won’t make even the slightest dent in their business, but it feels good to be free. I think I’ll opt for an Android tablet, or maybe just forget tablets altogether. It’s too bad. I really liked that iPad.
iPhone won’t activate after update.
I was installing the iOS 9.3 update and after an hour or so I realized that it was frozen. So I interrupted the download with a restart. Now I have the ITunes icon and nothing that I do will get me past that. I have never used ITunes and I do not have an IMac computer to plug into. Am I just out of luck now? Has anyone had this problem?
I should have said that mine is an older IPad 2. It has been operating beautifully until now.
If you’ve never backed up your iPad to iTunes, your best bet would to install iTunes on whatever computer you have and restore as new and then restore from an iCloud backup. If that’s not possible then take it to an Apple store.
Lots of people have this problem, it comes from not backing up their iPad to a computer running iTunes prior to doing an update.
I actually had a hard time with my apple tv download. had to try 3-4 times.
Typical apple $hi+
Has Apple solved this yet?
Still waiting on a fix for the bricked iPad 2, c’mon apple don’t go the route Microsoft goes
iTunes won’t even recognize my iPad 2 after I downloaded the 9.3 iOS
my iPad Mini begins to download ios 9.3 but I consistently get a message that it can’t verify the update because I am no longer connected to the internet. this is not the case, but it continues to send that message. I tried updating through iTunes but iTunes tells me I am up-to-date.
IOS 9.3 erased my cellular service from my iPad 2. Anone ideas?
Updated to 9.3 on my iPad2. Touch screen doesn’t work now so I can’t even slide power bar to turn off so I can reboot it.
I tried to gonthrough iTunes on my MacBook Pro but it won’t let me access my iPad unless I go into it (which I can’t because it’s stuck on lock screen).
Put it into DFU mode, set it up as new in iTunes and when that’s done restore from a backup. Avoid OTA updates. I thought they were cool at first but they took longer and required far more free space on the phone. I then had one brick my phone and I was forced to put my phone in DFU mode and fortunately had a day old backup. Always do tethered updates after making sure the phone is freshly backed up.
You can always try a hard reset first, it doesn’t require the use of the touch screen.
Did a factory restore in itunes on my ipad2 after ios update failure. White bar gets stuck everytime at the 60% mark, ends with a error 1 message. Second night trying this. Heeeeelp!