iPhone OS 3

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<div style="font: bold 2em/1.2 -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'SF Pro Display', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: var(--wiki-color);">iPhone OS 3</div>
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! class="ios-lab" | Developer
| class="ios-val" | [[Apple]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Announced
| class="ios-val" | March 17, 2009
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! class="ios-lab" | Initial release
| class="ios-val" | June 17, 2009
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! class="ios-lab" | Final release
| class="ios-val" | 3.1.3 (February 2, 2010)<br>3.2.2 (iPad branch, August 2010)
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! class="ios-lab" | Launch device
| class="ios-val" | [[iPhone 3GS]] (and iPad, on 3.2)
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! class="ios-lab" | Preceded by
| class="ios-val" | [[iPhone OS 2]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Succeeded by
| class="ios-val" | [[iOS 4]]
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{{iOS Version Navbox}}

iPhone OS 3 is the third major release of what is now [[iOS]], released on June 17, 2009, two days ahead of the [[iPhone 3GS]]. It was the platform's great catching-up release: copy and paste — the omission that had headlined two years of criticism — finally arrived, implemented with the tap-and-drag selection handles still in use today, alongside MMS, Spotlight search, landscape keyboards across core apps, and push notifications for third-party apps, the stopgap for the multitasking the hardware couldn't yet afford.

It was also the last release to carry the "iPhone OS" name — and the first to run on an iPad: the tablet launched in April 2010 on the 3.2 branch, whose iPad-only interface conventions previewed the split that eventually became iPadOS.

= Features =

The 100-plus additions ran deep: cut/copy/paste with the magnification loupe, MMS (carrier permitting — AT&T delayed it months in the US), system-wide Spotlight, voice memos, a Find My iPhone service via MobileMe, in-app purchases, peer-to-peer Bluetooth gaming, tethering (again, carrier permitting), and the Voice Control that shipped with the 3GS. Point release 3.1 added Genius app recommendations; 3.2 was the iPad's launch branch with popovers, split views, and the tablet home screen.

= Supported devices =

[[iPhone 3GS]], [[iPhone 3G]], the [[iPhone (1st generation)|original iPhone]], all three iPod touch generations (paid upgrade for the older two), and the original iPad (3.2 branch). 3.1.3 was the final release for the original iPhone and first-generation iPod touch — ending the 2007 hardware's software life at two and a half years.

= Legacy =

iPhone OS 3 completed the platform's feature parity with the smartphones it had disrupted, and its unglamorous additions — selection handles, Spotlight, push notifications, in-app purchases — became permanent infrastructure. The in-app purchase API in particular reshaped the App Store's economics toward the freemium model that dominates it still. With the iPad's 3.2 branch it also began the platform's multi-device era, setting up the rename that followed: [[iOS 4]].