iPhones Feel ‘Snappier’ With iOS 10.3 Update, Apple Engineer Explains Why

An Apple engineer has revealed the main reason why iPhones are noticeably faster with the new iOS 10.3 software update. Contrary to a previous report saying that the Cupertino giant’s smartphones have become faster mainly because the update is freeing up more space, the engineer is crediting the evident change on software performance to the tweaks made to the animations.

On Tuesday, Apple engineer Renaud Lienhart — who is directly involved in the development of the iOS operating system — took to Twitter to explain why users are seeing a positive change on the performance of their iPhones since installing the iOS 10.3 update. According to Lienhart the reason why devices feel “snappier” with iOS 10.3 is because of the tweaks they have made to the animations. He also admitted that animations have been shortened for the better.

The Verge points out that though the animations for launching and exiting apps as well as switching between apps do not have significant differences from the ones in iOS 10.2.1, the operating system does feel more responsive with the overall daily tasks on the iPhons 6s Plus. Other iPhone generations and variants are expected to also have the same tweaks, so they are presumed to be more responsive than before as well.

Aside from the tweaked animations, iOS 10.3’s new modern file system is also contributing to the overall faster performance of the operating system. The APFS is reportedly designed to be low latency, and this should enhance the read and write speeds on the iPhone and the iPad. Not only does the APFS boost storage, it also lays the foundation for when Apple fully switches to supporting only 64-bit apps on iOS, a move that is expected to happen with the upcoming iOS 11, as noted by The Verge in a separate report.

On Monday, Apple rolled out iOS 10.3 to the public, keeping its promise of introducing a new Apple File System, Siri improvements as well as the Find My AirPods feature to the public. For users who have yet to update their devices, they are advised to create a backup prior to downloading iOS 10.3.