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Apple iOS 7.0.3 update to fix iMessage issues, add Reduce Motion option and more

With Apple launching its long awaited new iPads last night the company has also released another minor update to the latest iOS 7 software in the form of iOS 7.0.3 which will bring a few fixes to Apple’s software including fixes for iMessage and some calibration issues.

iOS 7.0.3 will resolve some of the issues that customers updating to iOS 7 have reported, including the fact that the zooming and parallax feature of the new software had led to many customers complaining of motion sickness feelings when using the software.

See also: Apple iPad Air (5) vs Apple iPad 4: What’s different?

To counter this, the 7.0.3 update will come with a new option to “Reduce Motion” within the accessibility settings menu which stops the zooming transitions when changing between apps or starting them, so instead of the cool zooming in and out effects the screen will just change over to the new app with minimal effects. This will also benefit users with older iPhone devices (iPhone 4) where the transition process can cause a severe slowdown and reduction in battery life as the older processors struggle to handle the new effects.

The update will also address issues with the iMessage service where messages are not being sent over the data channel and there are also touches to resolve the imprecise calibration levels on the iPhone 5S.

Issues with the iPhone 5S’s calibration have been noted by users with older versions of the handsets seeing a different reading on the calibrations.

The full list of the changes is as follows:

  • Adds iCloud Keychain to keep track of your account names, passwords, and credit card numbers across all your approved devices
  • Adds Password Generator so Safari can suggest unique, hard-to-guess passwords for your online accounts
  • Updates lock screen to delay display of “slide to unlock” when Touch ID is in use
  • Adds back the ability to search the web and Wikipedia from Spotlight search
  • Fixes an issue where iMessage failed to send for some users
  • Fixes a bug that could prevent iMessage from activating
  • Improves system stability when using iWork apps
  • Fixes an accelerometer calibration issue
  • Addresses an issue that could cause Siri and VoiceOver to use a lower quality voice
  • Fixes a bug that could allow someone to bypass the Lock screen passcode
  • Enhances the Reduce Motion setting to minimize both motion and animation
  • Fixes an issue that could cause VoiceOver input to be too sensitive
  • Updates the Bold Text setting to also change dial pad text
  • Fixes an issue that could cause supervised devices to become un-supervised when updating software

The update will be arriving as an OTA (Over the Air) download to customers over the next few weeks and is a 92.8MB file. More details can be viewed here.