Jobs: Fix for iPhone Apps Crashing in September

[MacRumors]

According to another email purportedly addressed from Steve Jobs, Jobs acknowledged an ongoing issue for many iPhone users that result in 3rd party applications repeatedly crashing:

Many report the iPhone 2.0 firmware suddenly failing to load non-default apps regardless of their nature, briefly loading them before abruptly jumping back to the home screen.

The bug occurs both with freshly downloaded software and with updates, but is reported as never having a definite fix; although some report successfully deleting and re-downloading apps to regain access, others find the solution either having no effect or gradually decaying over time to where the apps again fail to run. Restoring the iPhone also seldom works.

The one line response states "This is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September."

Steve Jobs (or someone acting on his behalf) has been known to respond to emails.

Article Link

[Rybold]

"This is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September," reads the one-line message from the Apple co-founder.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...september.html


September 1st or September 30th ???

We know that every executive in Apple's corporate office, and every software engineer that works for Apple has an iPhone 3G. They are experiencing all of the same problems that we are experiencing. The iPhone3G was released on July11,2008 (almost 6 weeks ago), and yet none of these obvious flaws have been fixed. This is completely unacceptable. In my job, if I design something and it doesn't work, and I don't fix it, I would lose my job! When something you design doesn't work, FIX IT !!!
.

[johnnyjibbs]

great. This is something that HAS bugged me about the iPhone. Steve seems to be acknowledging a lot of bugs relating to the iPhone recently.

[bradl]

Originally Posted by Rybold

September 1st or September 30th ???

Definitely not Sept. 1st.

BL.

[Peace]

One would think Steve has more important things to do than answer email all the time but this is a good sign ( if true ) he's finally got so ticked off he's taking things very serious now.


Perhaps he reads MR too !


Hey Steve !!

[compuguy1088]

Sounds like that the next update, 2.1 will fix this issue, and more?

[bacaramac]

Between this email response, the one from yesterday and Apple admitting a battery issue with the Gen1 iPod Nano's, I would say I respect Apple for taking action and not keeping quite.

Go Steve!!

[IEatApples]

Well, if they fix the crashing & 3G reception I'd be quite happy with my iPhone…

+ maybe longer battery life? … Steve?

[bradl]

Originally Posted by IEatApples

Well, if they fix the crashing & 3G reception I'd be quite happy with my iPhone…

+ maybe longer battery life? … Steve?

Well.. 3G reception is reported to work well in 2.1 Beta 4:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=545951

Could be at the expense of push, though. All remains to be seen.. but so far, so good as far as 3G goes.

BL.

[zombitronic]

Originally Posted by Rybold

We know that every executive in Apple's corporate office, and every software engineer that works for Apple has an iPhone 3G. They are experiencing all of the same problems that we are experiencing. The iPhone3G was released on July11,2008 (almost 6 weeks ago), and yet none of these obvious flaws have been fixed. This is completely unacceptable. In my job, if I design something and it doesn't work, and I don't fix it, I would lose my job! When something you design doesn't work, FIX IT !!!

I know! When the personal computer first debuted it was perfect within 6 weeks and it still is! God!!

[Bubba Satori]

Originally Posted by bacaramac

Between this email response, the one from yesterday and Apple admitting a battery issue with the Gen1 iPod Nano's, I would say I respect Apple for taking action and not keeping quite.

Go Steve!!

Whatever happened to "it just works"?

[Whtddhesay]

I'm no expert on software development, or customer service, or quality control, but it would seem to me that if a computer operating system had as many bugs as the iPhone has, that distributer would be a laughing stock. When each version of OS X, or Vista, or anything else is released, there are inevitable 3rd party incompatibility issues, security holes (big or small), and other vulnerabilities. However, the iPhone OS versions, since the very beginning, seems to have had major functionality issues. Bluetooth connectivity, kernel stability, apps crashing, reception issues, error messages galore. I can't even recall all the issues. Basic functionality issues that a Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, LG, Palm, or RIM would never tolerate. Is this a result of the iPhone being a relatively new platform, or an incompetent development team? Is it my imagination, or is the iPhone an innovative, yet incomprehensibly immature total package?

[IEatApples]

Originally Posted by bradl

Well.. 3G reception is reported to work well in 2.1 Beta 4:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=545951

Could be at the expense of push, though. All remains to be seen.. but so far, so good as far as 3G goes.

BL.

Hmm… yea… I've read through that thread, but they seem "uncertain" if the reception actually IS better…

I really hope the next "fix" will make us all happy! (…and maybe the GPS will work without me having to move around? )

[Hooka]

Steve not here man....

[oticon6]

You guys are so negative -_-

This is a new set of programming libraries that were developed incredibly fast (and are surprisingly complete). It's been LESS THAN TWO MONTHS since they were released to all developers, and the problems appearing are pretty minor. What you have to remember here is that, unlike other platforms, this provides almost all functionality the phone can offer. Most mobile phones force third party stuff into a little box with a translator that only understands 100 words and is different for every model.... and this is why the apps suck nuts.

Yes, I need to restart my iPhone once a week. How tragic... I needed to restart a primitive Windows 3.1 every few hours, and Windows 95 would force daily resets with a wonderful blue screen. 13 years later we are only now seeing XP with the stability it should've always had. I would say it's on par with Leopard (but obviously far behind in a lot of other areas).

And one more thing... why is everyone assuming Apple screwed up? Some apps are perfect, others are not... wouldn't that logically imply that it's the apps that have the faults and Apple simply hasn't decided on the best way to poop-scoop yet? Since apps can restore their previous state, I wouldn't be surprised if this whole problem is purely due to memory leaks triggered when the app closes: Specifically, I know Super Monkey Ball works fine if I only exit from the main menu... if I exit from within the game, it breaks. Sounds to me like someone broke their memory management.

Give Apple a break. No company has infinite resources or 100% perfect developers. If it's still problematic by the end of the year, then it's worthwhile complaining.

You could always... buy a different phone? OH WAIT, they all suck nuts

[View]

Originally Posted by Rybold

"This is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September," reads the one-line message from the Apple co-founder.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...september.html


September 1st or September 30th ???

We know that every executive in Apple's corporate office, and every software engineer that works for Apple has an iPhone 3G. They are experiencing all of the same problems that we are experiencing. The iPhone3G was released on July11,2008 (almost 6 weeks ago), and yet none of these obvious flaws have been fixed. This is completely unacceptable. In my job, if I design something and it doesn't work, and I don't fix it, I would lose my job! When something you design doesn't work, FIX IT !!!
.

I'm sure they have been working on other issues as well. They would have to prioritize the issues, and to me the reception issue is far more critical than occasionally apps crashing. Give them some time As you probably know how frustrated debugging can be! (sometime it takes me like 2+ hours to find a very stupid bug in the software I wrote... yea, I guess I'm just not very good at it haha)

[dotcommie]

Originally Posted by IEatApples

Well, if they fix the crashing & 3G reception I'd be quite happy with my iPhone…

+ maybe longer battery life? … Steve?

With my 1st iphone and now 3g, there were some weird crashes after I quit out of apps abruptly or after months of use but it was always fixed by restoring it and setting it up as a new phone.

I have lots of friends and coworkers with iphones and when they were at their wits end on how to fix it I told them to not use the itunes backup and guess what, it worked for everybody. After 1.1.4 I never had crashing or restart issues until 2.0 came out. Now after 2.0.1 it seems most of that is fixed as well.

2.0.2 seems to have given me another bar or two of 3G at my house as well so I believe all of those issues are on their way to being fixed.

*Oh and the battery life does test better than most other 3g phones also*

[robbyx]

iPhone 2.0 and MobileMe are what happens when you rush something to market. Apple has never been so sloppy. I seriously hope they learn their lesson. I'd much rather have waited until September for iPhone 2.0 (and MobileMe), than deal with all the bugs, crashes, lost emails, and other headaches.

The whole tech industry needs to cool it a bit and focus on quality quality QUALITY instead of always feverishly rushing things to market. Seriously...would a month or two have really hurt the iPhone? Apple would still have sold millions of units - only without all the frustration.

[mciarlo]

Originally Posted by oticon6

Yes, I need to restart my iPhone once a week. How tragic... I needed to restart a primitive Windows 3.1 every few hours, and Windows 95 would force daily resets with a wonderful blue screen. 13 years later we are only now seeing XP with the stability it should've always had. I would say it's on par with Leopard (but obviously far behind in a lot of other areas).

Defending the iPhone OS with a 13 year old operating system with a reputation for instability and poor performance isn't necessarily the greatest way to portray a brand new platform that 'just works.'

[gkarris]

The iPhone Apps are crashing in September?

(***runs off screaming***)

[Tobiwan]

Originally Posted by mciarlo

Defending the iPhone OS with a 13 year old operating system with a reputation for instability and poor performance isn't necessarily the greatest way to portray a brand new platform that 'just works.'

What would you rather compare the iPhone to? There isn't any other device out like it. Sometimes when you lead the pack, you have to deal with growing pains as you are traveling down new roads. If your unhappy with your iPhone, you could always sell it and then wait like like 5 years till someone like Microsoft comes out with something similar that is plagued with just as many hiccups as they play catch up.

[bytethese]

Originally Posted by Peace

One would think Steve has more important things to do than answer email all the time but this is a good sign ( if true ) he's finally got so ticked off he's taking things very serious now.


Perhaps he reads MR too !


Hey Steve !!

Maybe he IS reading his email, they probably fixed his MobileMe first.

[mrr]

This last week many of my apps were crashing at start, so I had to do a complete restore, and as good luck would have it, the 2.02 release came out at the same time and since yesterday my iPhone has been rock solid (where is that knock on wood app!) So things are getting better, but yes the iPhone 3G feels like a Mac 128k when it came out (at least that had cut and paste). It has lots of great possibilities but a ways to go. A little frustrating on the bleeding edge to say the least but the future looks bright.

[NorCalLights]

Okay... enough with the "Steve Jobs" emails. Seriously.

It used to be "my friend who works at Apple," then it was elevator photos, then it was photoshoped iPhones.... now this.

[akac]

Originally Posted by Rybold

This is completely unacceptable. In my job, if I design something and it doesn't work, and I don't fix it, I would lose my job! When something you design doesn't work, FIX IT !!!
.

Agreed they need to fix it and they are fixing things. But if they fired everyone that hasn't fixed what needs to be fixed they'd be in a worse predicament because all the knowledgeable people would be gone.

Just because you're an expert, a guru, or knowledgeable doesn't mean you don't screw up sometimes.