MacRumours is reporting that the latest iOS update — version 8.3 of Apple’s mobile operating system — breaks a key functionality that may impair your ability to load your favourite Ultima games into iDOS or Power DOS:

Apple has changed security settings in iOS 8.3 that prevent file managers and transfer utilities such as iFunBox, iTools, iExplorer, iBackupBot and PhoneView from gaining access to app directories on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The change breaks current versions of transfer utilities for OS X and Windows, forcing many developers to release new versions of their software with workarounds that restore at least partial sandbox access.

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iFunBox was one of the first utilities to be updated over the weekend with a partial fix, with the latest version 2.95 allowing all apps with “iTunes File Sharing” enabled, such as iFileExpress or VLC player, to be opened for sandbox browsing per usual through the utility. Access to other apps will require jailbreaking…Macroplant has also updated iExplorer to be iOS 8.3 ready for OS X and Windows.

This change won’t impact jailbroken iPhones and iPads…but the users of which likely won’t be updating to iOS 8.3 anyway. For those of us who don’t undertake the effort to jailbreak our iDevices, however, this may cause issues when loading Ultima games into the aforementioned DOSBox ports.

The exception to the rule appears to be that if an app has iTunes File Sharing enabled, iFunBox and other such applications will still be able to access its files. I’m not sure if either iDOS or Power DOS has this capability enabled…but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see it enabled in the near future, if not.

Still…consider thyself duly cautioned.

The First Age of Update: According to a couple of people on the Ultima Dragons Facebook group, iDOS still works with programs like iFunBox after the iOS 8.3 upgrade. So that application, at least, would seem to have file sharing enabled. There’s no word yet on whether the same holds true for Power DOS.