Apple requires iPhone 5 users to get an update for their device to ensure the swift operation of basic apps. In a notice posted on Apple’s website, the tech giant said that iPhone 5 needs to be equipped with iOS 10.3.4 starting on November 3.
The update, Apple said, is necessary to address GPS time rollover issue – a problem with the time and dates affecting GPS-enabled products since April 2019. Without the iOS update, people will be cut off from GPS-enabled services such as App Store, iCloud, email, and web browser.
What is GPS Time Rollover?
GPS time is a time scale to which atomic clocks of satellites and ground control stations of the Global Positioning System (GPS) are set. Since its timing signals are globally available, systems frequently use them as a source of time and frequency accuracy.
When GPS was implemented, its time and date function was defined by weeks using binary numbers that rollovers every 1,024 weeks. The GPS week was started on January 6, 1980, and had a reset on August 21, 1999.
On April 6 this year, the GPS week had a reset for the second time. It impacted legacy systems and the time tags in location data.
Apple said that the iOS 10.3.4 version incorporates the GPS time reset. Without it, GPS-reliant apps will not function accurately.
Guide To iOS 10.3.4 Update
There are two ways you can update your iPhone 5’s operating system. You can either update your device’s software wirelessly or using your computer.
You will need an internet connection for the wireless update. After connecting with Wi-Fi, go to phone Settings, go to General and then tap Software Update. From there, installing the iOS 10.3.4 version will be easy breezy.
If updating wirelessly is not possible, updating your iOS manually from a computer is an alternative. Once your iPhone is already connected on your computer, open your computers’ file manager (iTunes or Finder for macOS) and locate your device. Go to the general setting and check for updates, then download.
What If I Didn’t Get an OS Update?
If you were not able to get the iOS 10.3.4 for your iPhone 5 before November 3, then you will have to back up and restore your device using Mac or PC. This is necessary so you can perform the needed update since over-the-air software updates and iCloud Backup will not work.
Pros of Regular Software Update
Frequent notifications that remind you to get OS updates for your phone can sometimes be annoying. Perhaps most of you are guilty of snoozing them. Annoying they may be, software updates either for Android or iOS are important that we should start making it a habit to follow through their notifications.
Given, you’ll get lots of useful features from a single software update. But the most important reason why you should keep your phone updated is security. There are flaws in any software system and it doesn’t take time for hackers to discover them. The next time you snooze an update notification for your device, remember that that could have saved you from trouble.
