Apple Stops Signing iOS 12 Following iOS 12.0.1 Launch

[MacRumors]

Following the release of iOS 12.0.1 on October 8, Apple has stopped signing iOS 12, the previous version of iOS that was available to consumers.

iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch owners who have upgraded to iOS 12.0.1 will no longer be able to downgrade to the release version of iOS 12. iOS 12.0.1 introduced fixes for a Lightning charging issue and Wi-Fi problems, improving performance over iOS 12.

Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date.

iOS 12.0.1 is now the only version of iOS that can be installed on iPhones and iPads by the general public. Developers and public beta testers can download iOS 12.1, an iOS 12 update that's being beta tested.

Article Link: Apple Stops Signing iOS 12 Following iOS 12.0.1 Launch

 

[martyjmclean]

I’m so impressed by iOS 12 and macOS 10.14, I haven’t even felt the need to downgrade to an earlier version.

 

[ruger]

I'm impressed with IOS 12 because, unlike last year, they aren't having to patch it every week.

 

[C DM]

I'm impressed with IOS 12 because, unlike last year, they aren't having to patch it every week.

And at the same time there are plenty of posts with people experiencing this or that who are hoping that updates will be released as soon as possible to get those resolved for them. So there are definitely things to patch, as there always are essentially, just that releases aren't being pushed out as often/quickly.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

And at the same time there are plenty of posts with people experiencing this or that who are hoping that updates will be released as soon as possible to get those resolved for them. So there are definitely things to patch, as there always are essentially, just that releases aren't being pushed out as often/quickly.

There will always be that. There are hundreds of millions of iOS devices out there.

Remember that these problems are generally impacting only a small percentage of the users. Rarely do they even impact more than a double-digit percentage of people. If they did, they'd be national news. We're not talking MacRumors reports but New York Times/USA Today reports if something like battery drain was happening on a wide-scale. Every large news outlet knows that stories about Apple bring far more viewership than others like Microsoft, so they're hoping for something that can be really newsworthy for them.

Research has shown that online forums like this make problems appear bigger than they generally are. You see a thread with even a couple hundred replies about a problem and think it's widespread. What you don't consider is that that's just a couple hundred people, out of hundreds of millions of devices. You'd be talking less than 0.001% of users impacted. On top of that, you have no way of telling how many of those replies are multiple posts from the same couple people. So even a post with 1000 replies often turns out to be largely due to several individuals, rather than 1000 people with a problem.

Just something to consider when thinking about problems with iOS. All in all, it's pretty well done. There will always be some people with issues, as with every single operating system out there. But for the vast majority of us, things are pretty darn good.

 

[C DM]

There will always be that. There are hundreds of millions of iOS devices out there.

Remember that these problems are generally impacting only a small percentage of the users. Rarely do they even impact more than a double-digit percentage of people. If they did, they'd be national news. We're not talking MacRumors reports but New York Times/USA Today reports if something like battery drain was happening on a wide-scale. Every large news outlet knows that stories about Apple bring far more viewership than others like Microsoft, so they're hoping for something that can be really newsworthy for them.

Research has shown that online forums like this make problems appear bigger than they generally are. You see a thread with even a couple hundred replies about a problem and think it's widespread. What you don't consider is that that's just a couple hundred people, out of hundreds of millions of devices. You'd be talking less than 0.001% of users impacted. On top of that, you have no way of telling how many of those replies are multiple posts from the same couple people. So even a post with 1000 replies often turns out to be largely due to several individuals, rather than 1000 people with a problem.

Just something to consider when thinking about problems with iOS. All in all, it's pretty well done. There will always be some people with issues, as with every single operating system out there. But for the vast majority of us, things are pretty darn good.

My comments were simply about the nature of it all where a lot of updates one year get people on commenting on how bad things are because there are too many updates, while fewer updates another year get comments about how good things are, while both years there are still plenty of discussions about all kinds of issues nonetheless.

 

[groovyd]

Rarely do they even impact more than a double-digit percentage of people. If they did, they'd be national news.

lol... you mean 100%?

 

[JosephAW]

Apple didn't read my post about changing the package icon.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

My comments were simply about the nature of it all where a lot of updates one year get people on commenting on how bad things are because there are too many updates, while fewer updates another year get comments about how good things are, while both years there are still plenty of discussions about all kinds of issues nonetheless.

People complain about everything. Heck, they complained a bunch about how Apple was releasing updates. It seems some would rather they just released updates once a month rather than when they're ready.

Apple now offers the ability to have their phone auto-update while they sleep, so they aren't inconvenienced at all but they go and turn that off, just to complain that they have to run the updates too often. These people look for reasons to complain and expect absolute perfection.

 

[neliason]

There will always be that. There are hundreds of millions of iOS devices out there.

Remember that these problems are generally impacting only a small percentage of the users. Rarely do they even impact more than a double-digit percentage of people.

I don’t disagree with any of this. But even a small percentage of users is a lot of people given the popularity of iOS devices. I have at least two issues with iOS 12. One is very annoying. My issue is Apple controls the hardware and software, and they have a very limited array of devices they have to support.

 

[fairuz]

I'm impressed with IOS 12 because, unlike last year, they aren't having to patch it every week.

What they had to do to iOS 11 is git revert and git push --force
Was broken day 1 and is still broken now.

 

[C DM]

I don’t disagree with any of this. But even a small percentage of users is a lot of people given the popularity of iOS devices. I have at least two issues with iOS 12. One is very annoying. My issue is Apple controls the hardware and software, and they have a very limited array of devices they have to support.

I'd say that it's not a very limited array of devices, especially if you factor in variety of models for each type of device, and variety of configurations and ways that people use their devices. There are plenty combinations and possibilities in play. It doesn't mean that it's as hard as it is for those who don't control the hardware too, but it's certainly not really as simplistic as something like "very limited array" makes it sound.

 

[neliason]

I'd say that it's not a very limited array of devices, especially if you factor in variety of models for each type of device, and variety of configurations and ways that people use their devices. There are plenty combinations and possibilities in play. It doesn't mean that it's as hard as it is for those who don't control the hardware too, but it's certainly not really as simplistic as something like "very limited array" makes it sound.

To me it is limited compared to many others. Certainly it is nothing compared to what MSFT and Linux have to contend with.

 

[Big Ron]

If all iPhones are made equal then why are there any problems, other than with a users own choice of installed software?

 

[otternonsense]

iOS 12 is fine and dandy, except when it comes to the iPad. The changes they did there are atrocious and I hope they roll back to a uniform multitasking overlay like in iOS 11.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

I don’t disagree with any of this. But even a small percentage of users is a lot of people given the popularity of iOS devices. I have at least two issues with iOS 12. One is very annoying. My issue is Apple controls the hardware and software, and they have a very limited array of devices they have to support.

They have hundreds of devices to support. With the XR along, you have differences between the model for Sprint, and Verizon, and AT&T.... there are thousands of different variations to support. It's not so simple.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Does Apple really still use an image of the clickwheel iPod for that icon?

The last device they introduced using that was the 5th Nano (September 2009-September 2010) and the last device they discontinued using that was the 6th Classic (September 2007-September 2014)... arguably you could mention the 4th Shuffle (September 2010-September 2017) but that didn't have a screen which the icon clearly shows.

Also, Music icon is a poor choice, too. That app is optional - I and most of the people I know of have uninstalled it.

 

[neliason]

They have hundreds of devices to support. With the XR along, you have differences between the model for Sprint, and Verizon, and AT&T.... there are thousands of different variations to support. It's not so simple.

How do you get they have ‘hundreds of devices’?

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

How do you get they have ‘hundreds of devices’?

Let's use the example of Bendgate. How many actual devices were reported to Apple? Less than a dozen. Seriously. That entire huge media explosion over less than a dozen phones experiencing a problem.

The same has been seen with the 2012 Mac mini video issue. The forums here exploded (heck, it impacted me and my dual monitors on my 2012). How many actually reported the problem to Apple? Around 1000. That's it. Forums make problems appear far larger than they actually are.

 

[neliason]

Let's use the example of Bendgate. How many actual devices were reported to Apple? Less than a dozen. Seriously. That entire huge media explosion over less than a dozen phones experiencing a problem.

The same has been seen with the 2012 Mac mini video issue. The forums here exploded (heck, it impacted me and my dual monitors on my 2012). How many actually reported the problem to Apple? Around 1000. That's it. Forums make problems appear far larger than they actually are.

I don’t think we are talking about the same thing. I am saying Apple has a very small number of different hardware they have to support with their software. So errors should be far less common.

As for reports of problems I think it reasonable to expect far more people experience a problem than formally report it.

 

[C DM]

I don’t think we are talking about the same thing. I am saying Apple has a very small number of different hardware they have to support with their software. So errors should be far less common.

As for reports of problems I think it reasonable to expect far more people experience a problem than formally report it.

But, again, it's not very small. It's smaller in comparison to something else, but it's not very small in itself.

 

[mrzz]

I’m so impressed by iOS 12 and macOS 10.14, I haven’t even felt the need to downgrade to an earlier version.

With what??? Basically I haven't noticed any real improvement comparing to iOS 11.4.2. The only benefit I see is the new authentication system and ability to easily integrate with 1Password. As usual the new major MacOS version contains bugs and my colleagues are fighting with some remote customer access/citrix issues. Last couple of years I have always had some problems affecting my work when stupidly jumped to a new MacOS, so not gonna do this mistake again and waiting for couple of FPs at first. I'm definitely not impressed.