Error 56. Has the iOS 9.3.2 update turned your iPad Pro into a brick?

Yesterday, Apple released the latest update to iOS – and millions of iPhone and iPad users updated their systems.

Today, some owners of the hefty 9.7 inch iPad Pro are probably regretting that decision, finding that their device got stuck at a prompt telling them to plug it into a computer running iTunes, with all attempts to restore failing miserably. In short, it’s no longer an iPad Pro. It’s a very pretty but very expensive brick.

@AppleSupport Hey my iPad Pro is broken after installing ios 9.3.2… Could you help me please? #help pic.twitter.com/mH0oMI68F5

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— Ivan Morote (@ivanmorote) May 16, 2016

iOS 9.3.2 update just bricked my iPad Pro 9.7”, error 56.

Waiting impatiently for Apple to releases a fix. Big day for @AppleSupport

— Steve Miner (@miner) May 17, 2016

According to reports, the problem is described (somewhat unhelpfully) as “Error 56”, which Apple’s support documentation describes as a “hardware error”.

It’s unlikely that all iPad Pro users have been affected by the problem – but judging by the noise on Apple-related support forums and social media, there are enough disgruntled users out there to make it worth Apple’s while fixing the issue smoothly and quickly, rather than forcing all affected users to go to their nearest Apple Store.

Once again, the smuggest people on the internet will be those who sat back and watched as millions of other users rushed to install a non-critical OS update on the day of its release, rather than waiting to see how it would behave in the wild.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.