Apple Aiming to Improve Software Quality With iOS 16 by Encouraging Beta Testers to Submit Bugs

[PsykX]

Then actually respond and fix the bugs.

I've gotta say I did submit a critical SpriteKit bug in iOS 9, and Music feedback in iOS 7 because I wanted back the Artist ➜ Album ➜ Song hierarchy (which came back a year or two later I think), and I was so disappointed by the replies.

For example, this happened to me twice : they released a new beta with absolutely no note whatsoever regarding the Music app in the release notes, and he was asking me : could you confirm your feed-back is still valid in this beta?
Hum.
DUH it's still valid, you didn't change a single thing at all in the app.

I hope it's different today.

 

[No5tromo]

I've gotta say I did submit a critical SpriteKit bug in iOS 9, and Music feedback in iOS 7 because I wanted back the Artist ➜ Album ➜ Song hierarchy (which came back a year or two later I think), and I was so disappointed by the replies.

For example, this happened to me twice : they released a new beta with absolutely no note whatsoever regarding the Music app in the release notes, and he was asking me : could you confirm your feed-back is still valid in this beta?
Hum.
DUH it's still valid, you didn't change a single thing at all in the app.

I hope it's different today.

These are outsourced 1st level "tech" ticket handlers (usually located in countries with cheap human resources). 99% of the time they are as clueless as they come and all they care about is closing the ticket to clear their ticket queue. All tech companies do that in order to create the illusion that there is a channel of communication with end users.

 

[Apple_Robert]

How is this year any different than past years in this regard?

 

[sorgo †]

I suspect you’d be surprised how many members on this very site are on ‘Beta 1’ not reporting/documenting anything to Apple, only just to experience ‘What’s new’ in iOS.

I’ve been testing betas since iOS 4 and I’ve never submitted a bug report. My device, my rules

 

[Arguyle]

What’s the purpose of downloading a beta if you are not going to provide feedback?

Developing apps for the next version, we don't work for Apple. We run our software businesses.

 

[JM]

What’s the purpose of downloading a beta if you are not going to provide feedback?

Exactly. Why do people download a beta and then not provide feedback to Apple. Unbelievable.

At least they’re making people more accountable and helpful by giving them popups.

 

[Arguyle]

Exactly. Why do people download a beta and then not provide feedback to Apple. Unbelievable.

At least they’re making people more accountable and helpful by giving them popups.

Developing apps for the next version, we don't work for Apple. We run our software businesses. Am I on mute here? 🤔🤣

 

[JM]

Developing apps for the next version, we don't work for Apple. We run our software businesses. Am I on mute here? 🤔🤣

No I just knowingly responded like I didn’t understand what you meant. Purposeful ignorance for character. 😆

I, too, believe I have a few spots on people’s mute list 🤣

ANYWAYS: the developer account that allows beta testing has always had a place in the release of new OS: exactly for giving dev’s a chance to test their new apps AND providing valuable PROGRAMMER/DEVELOPER feedback to Apple.

With the public beta, they opened the floodgates to every Tom, Dick, and Mary (what?) to “GET YER’ APPLE’S NEW OS EARLY AND PLAY!” (Courtesy of The Verge), without ever expecting or encouraging the masses to do anything for Apple by providing feedback.

In other words: until now, the public beta seemed to be advertised and allowed as only a “have access to new OS, caveat emptor. Isn’t that cool!?”

And I, because of this new pop up and encouragement from , think that they were not making an effort to make the public beta a legitimate bug finding exercise.

(This of course, has to assume that Apple was always doing exactly what they intended to do.)

 

[Arguyle]

No I just knowingly responded like I didn’t understand what you meant. Purposeful ignorance for character. 😆

I, too, believe I have a few spots on people’s mute list 🤣

ANYWAYS: the developer account that allows beta testing has always had a place in the release of new OS: exactly for giving dev’s a chance to test their new apps AND providing valuable PROGRAMMER/DEVELOPER feedback to Apple.

With the public beta, they opened the floodgates to every Tom, Dick, and Mary (what?) to “GET YER’ APPLE’S NEW OS EARLY AND PLAY!” (Courtesy of The Verge), without ever expecting or encouraging the masses to do anything for Apple by providing feedback.

In other words: until now, the public beta seemed to be advertised and allowed as only a “have access to new OS, caveat emptor. Isn’t that cool!?”

And I, because of this new pop up and encouragement from , think that they were not making an effort to make the public beta a legitimate bug finding exercise.

(This of course, has to assume that Apple was always doing exactly what they intended to do.)

Ahh right! With you on that. The public should know that what they get is a buggy experience and should provide feedback. Yet I am aware myself, who from the public does that? Near nobody! 🤣

 

[StudioMacs]

Developing apps for the next version, we don't work for Apple. We run our software businesses.

Seems like it’s in your own self-interest to report bugs.

 

[DrJR]

Our speed is done in mph and imperial is still used by most. I’m under 70 and mostly use both imperial and metric.

Most people also don’t understand the strengths or weaknesses of each mathematical system. The majority of people doing anything usually means they are wrong. This is why democracy is a failure.

 

[Arguyle]

Seems like it’s in your own self-interest to report bugs.

Given I have been reporting a significant Siri bug in every version of iOS since iOS 8 and never has it been fixed there is no priority in me submitting bug reports out of kindness. Additionally I'd only report ones if the specifically related to the work I was doing. I, as a software engineer working on my own apps, do not need to test out and report every element of an iOS beta nor do I have time.

This is clearly not a subject you are knowledgable of, move on.

 

[StudioMacs]

Given I have been reporting a significant Siri bug in every version of iOS since iOS 8 and never has it been fixed there is no priority in me submitting bug reports out of kindness. Additionally I'd only report ones if the specifically related to the work I was doing. I, as a software engineer working on my own apps, do not need to test out and report every element of an iOS beta nor do I have time.

This is clearly not a subject you are knowledgable of, move on.

I’ve had engineers reach out to me about my bug reports, so perhaps I know more about it than you…

 

[bigchrisfgb]

A big problem has been that BETA users have moaned about problems online rather than reporting the big, or mistaken something as a bug.
Last year someone in the U.K. was slating one our challenger banks because their app did not work on the iOS15 BETA. Of course this is a designed restriction of using the app on unstable software for security reasons and the bank as well as others have history or not supporting BETA OS’s but having their app working upon the release of the new OS’s.

I tried to reason with this person saying that they shouldn’t be running the BETA as a daily driver, Apple even says some apps may not work during the BETA phase. Like many people though they signed up to the BETA process because they couldn’t wait until the official launch.

Apple used to and possibly still have developer accounts just so people can download the latest OS’s before the official launch, and not for developer reasons.

Like the person I mentioned, many people would just complain online about bugs or misunderstanding security protocols during the BETA phase and not actually report the bugs to Apple. This is what leads to the OS’s having bugs.

 

[JM]

Given I have been reporting a significant Siri bug in every version of iOS since iOS 8 and never has it been fixed there is no priority in me submitting bug reports out of kindness. Additionally I'd only report ones if the specifically related to the work I was doing. I, as a software engineer working on my own apps, do not need to test out and report every element of an iOS beta nor do I have time.

iOS 8 🤮

It would be great if Apple could reward the public, who have no motivation to report bugs other than the goodness of their hearts, in some way.

Even a show-off sticker would suffice. Mailing a pin, or real sticker, or thank you note even would show Apple cares about the value public beta testers can provide.

Apple is still about going above and beyond in customer care, right?

 

[anthogag]

I am in the beta program. It is very easy to send a bug report using Feedback. The process used to be kind of slow but now it is quick.

Apple can also visit Apple fan sites to get feedback from people not in the beta program...a.k.a chickens 🐓

 

[StudioMacs]

Given I have been reporting a significant Siri bug in every version of iOS since iOS 8 and never has it been fixed there is no priority in me submitting bug reports out of kindness. Additionally I'd only report ones if the specifically related to the work I was doing. I, as a software engineer working on my own apps, do not need to test out and report every element of an iOS beta nor do I have time.

This is clearly not a subject you are knowledgable of, move on.

I see other people in this thread responding to you that the “bug” you reported isn’t actually a bug, so maybe the problem is you?

it looks like you joined macrumors just to complain in the comments section of this article about a bug that isn’t actually a bug.

Move on.

 

[Razorpit]

Do you have any idea how many submissions Apple probably receives from beta testers? What I think others are not taking into consideration (Including you), is how could they possibly respond to every person that might report the same issue, across thousands of beta tester‘s? Like, what do you want them to do for you? Personally message you or something? It doesn’t mean that they aren’t acknowledging or aren’t looking into the issue, it just means that they can’t probably respond to every person that submits a complaint, especially for the same problem over and over again.

I can understand the frustration, but let’s try to be reasonably understanding too.

I see that as a sign that things need to change. We all know there are going to be bugs. Apple should be happy people are reporting them. How hard would it be for "the neural engine" to start categorizing them in to buckets and when work is done to that bug send a quick update out to that bucket to verify?

AS many have said not only are responses rare from Apple, I received one once. I worked with the engineers and after 3-4 beta releases and the problem still wasn't fixed they disappeared. 😂 Eventually it was addressed, but it was outside the scope of our conversation.

Developing apps for the next version, we don't work for Apple. We run our software businesses. Am I on mute here? 🤔🤣

So you don't want your customers submitting bugs for the software you create?

 

[Dustin10]

Anyone else having the CarPlay issue when listening to anything through a corded connection, play back gets choppy… if you activate Siri it stops for a few min then comes back😡

 

[StudioMacs]

Anyone else having the CarPlay issue when listening to anything through a corded connection, play back gets choppy… if you activate Siri it stops for a few min then comes back😡

I've only experienced that with a bad cable. It was fixed by switching out to a new one. You might get more help on the CarPlay forum.

 

[Dustin10]

I've only experienced that with a bad cable. It was fixed by switching out to a new one. You might get more help on the CarPlay forum.

I’ve tried that, 2 Apple cable=no resolution

 

[Rookbird¥]

I've restarted my Mac Studio running Monterey about 3 times since getting it set up in April, and that was due to shutting down because there were thunderstorms.

I do a lot of photo and video editing. Seems like there are a lot of memory leaks in macOS. Finder memory usage will ballon to close to 10 GB of memory usage among others. Eventually I have to restart just to clear the memory.