PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.

iOS 8.3 Adds Emoji, Touch ID Glitch

 & Chloe Albanesius Executive Editor, News

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

Our Expert
LOOK INSIDE PC LABS HOW WE TEST
65 EXPERTS
43 YEARS
41,500+ REVIEWS

Apple this week released iOS 8.3 with a host of fixes for things like messages and Wi-Fi, though some are reporting trouble with Touch ID.

According to reports, those who upgrade to iOS 8.3 cannot use Touch ID to make App Store purchases. PCMag's Eric Griffith noticed the glitch after upgrading his iPhone 6. "I thought I had screwed up a setting, but I checked, and Touch ID is definitely enabled for app purchases," he said.

Something similar happened with the disastrous iOS 8.0.1, though that killed Touch ID entirely, as well as cellular service, prompting a quick recall by Apple.

Other updates in iOS 8.3, meanwhile, include fixes for screen orientation (not rotating back to portrait after being in landscape mode, for example) and Wi-Fi (getting disconnected intermittently).

Apple says it has also fixed a bug whereby group messages sometime split, or people couldn't forward or delete individual messages. Going forward, you can also now report junk messages directly from the Messages app and filter out messages that are sent from someone not in your contacts.

When sending those messages, meanwhile, you'll now see a redesigned emoji keyboard with more than 300 new characters.

Other new additions in iOS 8.3:

  • Additional language and country support for Siri: English (India, New Zealand), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Netherlands), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian (Russia), Swedish (Sweden), Thai (Thailand), Turkish (Turkey)
  • Italic and Underline format options for iPhone 6 Plus landscape keyboard
  • The ability to remove shipping and billing addresses used with Apple Pay
  • Improved pronunciation of street names during turn-by-turn navigation in Maps
  • Fixes an issue that prevented autocorrecting "FYI"
  • Fixes an issue where selecting Clear History and Website Data in Safari Settings did not clear all data
  • Addresses an issue where Slide to Unlock could fail to work on certain devices

About Our Expert

Chloe Albanesius

Chloe Albanesius

Executive Editor, News

My Experience

I started out covering tech policy in DC for The National Journal, where my beat included state-level tech news and all the congressional hearings and FCC meetings I could handle. I later covered Wall Street trading tech before switching gears to consumer tech. I now lead PCMag's news coverage.

My Areas of Expertise

Getting my start in DC means I still have a soft spot for tech policy; Congressional hearings can sometimes be as entertaining as a Bravo reality show, for better or worse. But PCMag is all about the technology we use every day, as well as keeping an eye out for the trends that will shape the industry in the years ahead (or flop on arrival). I've covered the rise of social media, the iOS vs. Android wars, the cord-cutting revolution that's now left us with hefty streaming bills, and the effort to stuff artificial intelligence into every product you could imagine. This job has taken me to CES in Vegas (one too many times), IFA in Berlin, and MWC in Barcelona. I also drove a Tesla 1,000 miles out west as part of our Best Mobile Networks project. Of late, my focus is on our hard-working team of reporters at PCMag, guiding and editing their robust coverage.

Read full bio