Apple devices locked after upgrading to iOS 9.3

Users have been locked out of older Apple devices after upgrading its operating system to iOS 9.3.

FILE - In this Dec. 23, 2013, file photo, a woman using a phone walks past Apple's logo near its retail outlet in Beijing. Even while it fiercely opposes the FBI’s demand for help unlocking an encrypted iPhone used in the San Bernardino mass shootings, Apple has never argued that it isn’t capable of doing what the government wants. While the FBI may have found an alternative solution in the San Bernardino case, experts say it’s almost certain that Apple and other tech companies will keep increasing the security of their products, making it harder or perhaps even impossible for them to answer government demands for customers’ data. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

Users have been locked out of older Apple devices after upgrading its operating system to the latest version, iOS 9.3.

Apple support has confirmed that some users can’t activate their devices after installing or being prompted to install iOS 9.3.

The fault is apparently linked to device owners having to enter the original username and password used to set up the device, which many probably have forgotten. Some however reported the upgrade falling over with an activation error.

Apple has posted a warning about the issue which includes ways to remedy the problem under the heading “if you can‘t activate your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch after installing iOS 9.3”.

“Updating some iOS devices (iPhone 5s and earlier and iPad Air and earlier) to iOS 9.3 can require entering the Apple ID and password used to set up the device in order to complete the software update. If you can’t recall your password or can’t sign in, try these steps,” Apple says.

It is understood Apple ceased rolling out the problematic upgrade to older devices and a new version is starting to roll out.

The Apple enthusiasts website 9to5Mac reports that the company has released a new version of the upgrade carrying the build number 13E236 that fixes the issue. The problematic build was labelled 13E233 and 13E234.

Earlier Apple confirmed the issue via a statement to the website imore.com.

“In some cases, if customers do not recall their password, their device will remain in an inactivated state until they can recover or reset their password.

“For these older devices, we have temporarily pulled back the update and will release an updated version of iOS 9.3 in the next few days that does not require this step,” an Apple spokesperson told the site.

Reports of a problem have been posted on the web for around 5 days, since the release of iOS 9.3 at Apple’s launch event last week at Cupertino.

“Cannot activate iPad 2 after upgrade to IOS 9.3. Error message: Your iPad could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable. Tried also connecting to iTunes via a PC without success,” reported a user on that day.

Problems posted there were related mainly to iPad 2 with users connecting their iPads to iTunes on a laptop and downgrading their operating system.

Meanwhile other users have reported in Apple forums that Google search links no longer work for them after the upgrade. Some have managed to fix this problem by turning off JavaScript, others say the fix doesn’t work for them.