Apple Preparing Fix for Glitch Causing Lightning EarPods Remote to Stop Working

[HEK]

Kudos to Apple for revealing the defect and jumping on a fix so quickly. Very commendable for something that doesn't explode and burst into flames.

Just saying not all companies will own up so fast to a small intermittent problem.

 

[Abazigal]

Had they stuck to 3.5mm jack this never would have happened.

If Apple had continued to support flash, there wouldn't have been any controversy either (because Apple would simply be reflecting the then status quo), but then we would never have had HTML5 or better native apps subsequently.

You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. We as individuals are generally shortsighted by nature and incapable of seeing beyond our own immediate needs. If not Apple to remove the headphone jack, then who and when?

 

[chabig]

Here's the difference between the floppy and the 3.5mm jack. Apple wasn't pushing a proprietary standard that even it didn't integrate across its own product line as a replacement for the floppy disk.

They didn't drop the analog port across their entire product line. Apple still sells the iPhone SE and the iPhone 6S.

 

[jonnysods]

I'm sure when the technology that replaced the gramophone was called bunk and didn't work 100% initially.

Records, 8-track, tapes, CD's, phones been out 4 days and people are lighting Apple up. Get over it guys, 3.5mm jacks are dead and if it isn't dead to you use the dang adapter.

 

[HEK]

If Apple made cars:

"The steering wheel won't turn left."

Macrumors responders:

"Why don't you just make right turns?"

All right turns save gas. FedEx and UPS plan routes with right turns only. Myth busters did a calibrated fuel test and even if the distance was longer, all right turns save fuel.

 

[Soni Sanjay]

If Apple had continued to support flash, there wouldn't have been any controversy either (because Apple would simply be reflecting the then status quo), but then we would never have had HTML5 or better native apps subsequently.

You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. We as individuals are generally shortsighted by nature and incapable of seeing beyond our own immediate needs. If not Apple to remove the headphone jack, then who and when?

Except the solution isn't better, Lightning isn't better than the 3.5mm analog port. Your ears are analog. The audio quality isnt better... There was no improvement.
[doublepost=1474332434][/doublepost]

I'm sure when the technology that replaced the gramophone was called bunk and didn't work 100% initially.

Records, 8-track, tapes, CD's, phones been out 4 days and people are lighting Apple up. Get over it guys, 3.5mm jacks are dead and if it isn't dead to you use the dang adapter.

Read above.

 

[IlllIlI]

Not really no. There isn't an improvement on quality and Lighting is not an open standrard. So no. Not at all.
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Oh really? Enlighten me. Please, I beg you.

sure "lighting audio" etc is not standardized at this point, however now the path from 2 channel will be widened. not saying that 5.1,7.1 etc are comping in the next lightning EarPods but now apple has an i/o plan to bring at least audio to the next level.. i also wouldn't be surprised if apple will showcase one of their own 'apple music' exclusive titles at the launch of their airpods displaying multichannel audio via lighting / w1. just a thought

 

[alexxk]

This happened to me today!!

 

[truthertech]

The 3.5mm jack will be around for another 100 years...

So far the removal of the jack has been nothing but a pain in the ass all around.

Jester my friend. What am I missing? I have set of great, high end headphones with the legacy 3.5mm, and if I just put that free, included, two inch adapter at the end, can't I just sit back and listed to great tunes after that two second task while I gaze at the "visually indistinguishable from perfect display?"

https://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-7s...e-from-perfect-says-testing-firm-displaymate/

And, as far as your prediction that the 3.5mm jack will be around for another 100 years, you'll be in good company for the bad predictions hall of fame. But don't worry, you will be in good company:

"In 1977, Ken Olson the founder of Digital Equipment Corp (DEC) was quoted as saying, "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."

 

[poppe]

My experience so far:

• Remote on headphones works 50% of the time.
• Power chord on iPhone disconnects and reconnects constantly when I hold the phone while charging.
• Apple Upgrade Program was complete ****.
• Thumb Print works 75% of the time on wake up -usually needs 3-4 clicks to recognize (no problem on iPhone 5s or 6S)
• Apple Upgrade Program people said they'd give me an answer at 48 hours. Only to tell me they would get back to me in 72 hours after the 48 hours.

What a joke.

 

[pat500000]

When people at the office gets irritated by apple's behavior.

 

[developer13245]

The above three posters have no idea how complex software development is. Apple likely knew about this bug and had a fix in testing already.

Case in point...
Facebook is written in PHP (actually a fork of it now). Each month, a new version of PHP is released that has many bug fixes, some of which were first added to the bug database many years ago, and they've remained in the bug database this whole time because other issues were more important, or a fix just wasn't possible until now. Apple's software development is the same... bugs are identified, a ticket is created, solutions are discussed and tested, and only when they are ready do they get released to the public.

There's always going to be bugs to fix. Even if something worked one day, something else may break it, so a fix is needed. These are Apple's first Lightning-based EarPods, so bugs are bound to exist.

This isn't about defending Apple. It's about being realistic that software (and hardware) development is a complex process that doesn't always go perfectly or on schedule. Every leaf that gets turned over reveals more bugs that may have otherwise remained hidden and unknown. Switching to Lightning was a big leaf!

Comparing Facebook (web) development to device development just shows your ignorance.
Also consider how stupid it was to ship with a known bug when Apple is making the big change of removing the 3.5mm jack - doesn't really increase confidence in them when they can't get the most important things right when it matters the most, does it??? You're really reaching far up a very dark hole to pull out your rationalization.

I've been a professional software developer for 30 years, and started my career in an organization that obtained ISO software quality certification, so I know all products ship with bugs.

And yes, I'm bashing Apple's software quality because it is going downhill fast. I've worked on shipping professional products in their ecosystem since the early days of OS X (including kernel drivers), and have written many bug reports on issues I've found in their software. The stupidity of breakage they're shipping with now would have never happened years ago. The most frustrating part is how their declining quality is hurting their external partners, and they don't seem to care. I've seen crash bugs that I reported on early iOS 9 betas just ignored. Their behavior is ultimately just hurting them, but it is sad to watch.

 

[Thunderbird]

This happened to me today!!

You're plugging it in wrong.

 

[TMRJIJ]

If Apple made cars:

"The steering wheel won't turn left."

Macrumors responders:

"Why don't you just make right turns?"

Not sure you been very active here but a good 70% of MacRumors members are Apple Haters, Steve Jobs worshippers, and whiners.

 

[truthertech]

Correction: best LCD display, not the best display. Big difference. You can get the best display AND 3.5mm jack on Samsung phones.

You're being selective. First off, you can't group all Samsung phones together as their screens vary widely. Yes the Note 7 has an excellent display, but some of DisplayMate's testing showed the new iPhone to have best in class for any smartphone, e.g., here are two factors that are very important to consumers

"The iPhone 7 has a record low screen Reflectance for Smartphones."

"It is the most color accurate display that we have ever measured. It is Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect, and is very likely considerably better than any mobile display, monitor, TV or UHD TV that you have."

As you can see, the iPhone 7 can deservedly take a bow in front of all of us.

 

[dtich]

Whoever is doing software testing at Apple is pretty rubbish. Tim Cook if you are reading this, hire me and I will teach you the ways of the software test.

Apple is in total software fail mode at this point.. but of course they are because Apple is a hardware company.

lol. .... LOL.... oh my. the internet. such fun.

i wish, i really, really WISH there was a game show that would take people who write comments like this and drop them in the situation they're lambasting and see how well they do. it could be called 'Here's How It's Done', and it would feature goof after goof completely embarrassing himself when he tries to back up the drivel his mouth shot off with attempting the actual work in the real world. oh man. THAT would be a great show.

 

[Whimseh]

I've had a call earlier where the microphone wasn't working either through the lightning earpods, then once when app switching the sound blasted through the speakers instead.

 

[hiddenmarkov]

All right turns save gas. FedEx and UPS plan routes with right turns only. Myth busters did a calibrated fuel test and even if the distance was longer, all right turns save fuel.

Did they test in england or Japan? Think I could guess why is asking.

I'd gather this is due to US drives right side of road. By and large you can make that right faster waiting for one lane of traffic vice 2 to make the left. Less wait time. residential areas you can cruise in neutral more than apply the gas as well. Unless a lead foot race to the stop sign you know is coming up and slam the brakes idiot anyway lol.

England or Japan it be different. We drive left side. lefts an easier turn. I'd wager left run only would save gas here lol. Places I go I do this sometimes since 1 minute side streets creeping all lefts better than several minutes for not 1 but 2 lanes to have a people nice enough to let me in.

rest of this....just going to laugh really. 3.5 was a backup for when this happens. I work IT, IT people like their backups. My usual rant...these already support BT, like those BT buds/phone...you had them. 3.5 didn't need to go. It replacement is now hardware/software based...now its 2 teams going wtf. And when this happens its usually both teams spending more time proving its not their section than working to actually fix the problem.

 

[iMi]

You don't need the headphone jack, they said. This will be so much better and you won't miss it, they said.

 

[developer13245]

lol. .... LOL.... oh my. the internet. such fun.

i wish, i really, really WISH there was a game show that would take people who write comments like this and drop them in the situation they're lambasting and see how well they do. it could be called 'Here's How It's Done', and it would feature goof after goof completely embarrassing himself when he tries to back up the drivel his mouth shot off with attempting the actual work in the real world. oh man. THAT would be a great show.

Better yet, why don't you ask Apple to just publish all the bugs we write against their software, and run quality metrics on the data to see how bad it's become over the last few years? Such bug data analysis is very common for mature software companies.

I would welcome such an open system and even agree to be publicly identifiable on the bugs I've opened during the last 15 years. But Apple will never agree to such visibility. If their quality is so great, what do they have to hide? They're the ones spewing drivel at this point.

 

[a.gomez]

You've never seen this happen with an analog jack? Because, FYI, there are two types of control sets for analog jacks and you will find that it's already way more complicated than you thought.

No, ive never had my remote stop working on my iphone - it just works. I also never had any issues with my 3 year old Xperia z3 - that not only has an inline remote (with 96/24 Flac support) it also can do active noise cancelation All from inside the phone over a regular analog jack.

 

[Abazigal]

Except the solution isn't better, Lightning isn't better than the 3.5mm analog port. Your ears are analog. The audio quality isnt better... There was no improvement.
[doublepost=1474332434][/doublepost]

The replacement for the audio jack isn't Lightning but Bluetooth. That's what the Airpods represent. The missing link tying your Apple Watch and iPhone together, and a wired headphone has no place in this ecosystem at all (it's not like I can plug a pair of wired headphones into my Apple Watch).

The improvement Apple is seeking here is in terms of connectivity, not necessarily sound quality. The people claiming that the audio jack offers better sound quality aren't wrong. It's just irrelevant as far as Apple is concerned.

 

[JesterJJZ]

Talking to people who support the jack removal is like talking to a wall.

 

[Squuiid]

I experienced this and it's a joke that Apple didn't catch this in QA testing, given the impact of removing the 3.5mm jack.

 

[gkarris]

Why they REALLY took out the headphone jack:

get over it...