iPad Pro Can Update Accessory Firmware, iOS 9.3 Beta Reveals

Apple perceives the iPad Pro as a computing device that can serve as a replacement for your PC. While we have reasons to not completely trust Apple’s claims, the hybrid device is getting a new feature that does make it feel like a PC – your iPad Pro will soon be able to update its connected accessories.

Apple released iOS 9.3 beta earlier this month to developers, as well as the general public. Among other features such as Night Shift and Shared iPad, it appears the Cupertino-based company also made the iPad Pro capable of feeding firmware updates to the accessories meant to connect to its Smart Connector.

The feature was discovered by Stefan Wolfrum, a German developer, who said that he was able to push a firmware update to the Logitech Create keyboard. The Logitech’s keyboard utilises Apple’s Smart Connector to work with the iPad Pro. The connector also feeds continuous energy to the keyboard, ensuring that the device doesn’t have to carry its own battery pocket.

Many people have since reported that they are also seeing an update alert on their iPad Pro upon connecting it to the device. The prompt, however, in this case, doesn’t offer any changelog.

Prior to iOS 9.3 beta, if a user needed to update their iPad Pro accessory, they had to connect it to a Mac computer. The addition definitely gives users one less reason to go to their desktop or laptop computer.