Apple just released a new update to fix all those bricked iPads
When Apple released iOS 9.3 earlier this week, a handful of iPad 2 owners complained that the update process failed to work and bricked their iPads in the process.
Indeed, prior to releasing its fix on Thursday, Apple temporarily pulled the iOS 9.3 update from some devices and acknowledged the bug in a statement to iMore:
Updating some iOS devices (iPhone 5s and earlier and iPad Air and earlier) to iOS 9.3 can require entering the Apple ID and password used to set up the device in order to complete the software update. In some cases, if customers do not recall their password, their device will remain in an inactivated state until they can recover or reset their password. For these older devices, we have temporarily pulled back the update and will release an updated version of iOS 9.3 in the next few days that does not require this step.
If you own an iPad 2 that was bricked by the bug, you can plug your device into iTunes and update the firmware from there. Or, if you're able, you can go into the iPad's Settings app and click General > Software Update and update that way.
We first learned about the iOS 9.3 bug fix on 9to5Mac. You can learn more about the great features in iOS 9.3 here.