Date Bug in iOS 11.1.2 Causing Crash Loop on iPhones as December 2 Hits [Updated]

[MacRumors]

A date-related bug in iOS 11.1.2 appears to be causing iPhones and iPads to continually crash or respring when time-based local notifications are received after 12:15 a.m. on December 2, according to reports on Twitter and reddit.

The problem seems to be tied to local notifications received from apps that offer daily or repeat reminders. For example, meditation app Headspace, one of the affected apps, sends daily reminders to users to encourage them to take some time to meditate. Any app using local (as in not pushed from a remote server) notifications that repeat will cause a crash.

If you have an app that has local notification with repeating settings, it will crash iOS Springboard on Dec. 2 (Tomorrow!) Here is a reproducible app by @takayamahttps://t.co/ecEoxFN2hM - Yoshimasa Niwa (@niw) December 2, 2017

On reddit, users have had some success fixing the issue by disabling notifications and turning off background app refresh, while Apple's support staff appears to be recommending a manual date change to a time before the problem occurred as a temporarily solution. Reinstalling apps and restarting does not fix the issue. The problem looks like it's limited to devices running iOS 11.1.2 -- devices on the current iOS 11.2 beta aren't affected.

Apple Stores in Australia, where it is late afternoon on December 2, are reportedly being inundated with support requests from customers who are experiencing the issue.

PSA from ?staff: if you have an iPhone, it will likely crash due to a date bug when date rolls over to 2 December, depending on time zone.The temp fix is to manually set date/time to a date prior to 2 Dec. This will make some apps unusable due to date checks on server. - J (@jeremybank) December 2, 2017

Apple will undoubtedly fix this problem quickly through an iOS update, but as people wake up on December 2 in the United States and other countries throughout the world, there's likely to be quite a lot of confusion when devices begin inexplicably respringing over and over again.

If you're experiencing continual crashing, the first thing to try is disabling notifications for apps that send regular reminders. It can, however, be difficult to tell which apps are responsible, so a secondary solution is to set the date on your iPhone to before December 2 as you await a fix from Apple.

If you aren't experiencing any crashes, there's no need to turn off notifications or adjust the date on your device.

Update: Apple has released iOS 11.2 to fix this problem, along with an accompanying support document outlining steps to take if you're experiencing crashes. Apple recommends turning off notifications and then installing the update.

If your device with iOS 11 unexpectedly restarts repeatedly on or after December 2, 2017, learn what to do.

Use these steps to turn off notifications for all the apps on your device, then update your device to iOS 11.2:
1. Tap Settings > Notifications.
2. Tap an app, then turn off Allow Notifications. Repeat this step for each app.
3. Update your device to iOS 11.2.
4. After updating, tap Settings > Notifications and turn Allow Notifications on again for each app.

Article Link: Date Bug in iOS 11.1.2 Causing Crash Loop on iPhones as December 2 Hits [Updated]

 

[wesk702]

QC Head needs a spanking.

 

[haruhiko]

Not happening on my iPhone but both of my iPad crashes repeatedly. I reset the settings for one of the iPad and fixed it. Turned off another.

 

[fairuz]

I always turn off automatic time setting because of things like this. Attackers can spoof NTP servers and trigger known bugs, and there are lots of time-related bugs because there are so many edge cases involving time. Luckily this one isn't too bad. Last time it was the "permanently bricking your iPhone if UNIX time = 0" bug.

 

[macsba]

Australia, the ultimate beta testing country.

 

[miniyou64]

Absolutely unbelievable. Apple used to be untouchable. Is Android better now? This is sad.

 

[Cankoda]

For gods sake why is iOS 11 such
A mess, it’s like they released a half finished update for f sake

 

[aohus]

this is sad... i swear quality control is going down the drain, and its not just apple. not even within technology companies. this seems to be a trend for any corporation

 

[j4m13]

Thats a terrible solution to set your clock back to a different date. That will render the device absolutely useless for anything other than calls or texts. Calendars, alarms and every online app will be affected!
I have an iPhone X personally but I think Apple are just loosing it. Seriously!

 

[nutmac]

I wonder how folks will update the eventual fix when their phone is rebooting every 30 seconds.

Asking user to quickly disable automatic date setting and rollback to December 1 or earlier would be ridiculous.

 

[seanmcbay]

The bugs in iOS 11 have been pretty embarrassing so far. The calculator being straight up wrong if you enter digits too quickly is my favorite and it’s still not fixed. lol

 

[mlenger]

Apple SW has been going down the hill for some time now, but this is embarrassing - are we back to the old windows wisdom - don’t upgrade a working system?

 

[TMRJIJ]

Lol...MR Editors got interrupted during their nap time.

Also, you’d think Apple would’ve addressed this in an update yesterday considering it’s not affecting iOS 11.2 beta. Clearly, those engineers knew this was going to happen.

EDIT: roommates with iOS 11.1.2 at 1:14 AM EST don’t seem to be affected. Wish the victims the best. Night y’all...

 

[DakotaGuy]

Android for mobile and Windows for PC seem to be the more stable and reliable operating systems these days... come on Apple... you used to be better then this.

 

[Dogmess]

Blew up in China this morning. Expect a fix once the US wakes up.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I’m not entirely understanding how 11.1.2 is affected, but 11.2 isn’t. Seems odd.

 

[partydorm]

Apple's love of bling is turning itself from a tech company into a luxury goods company.

 

[Sedulous]

As disconcerting as the recent Apple bugfest is, I wonder if problems are a consequence of increasingly complex code doing more while supporting the ever-more-fragmented iOS based products.

 

[mistasopz]

Apple is giving 90's-early 2000 Microsoft a run for their money. May as well call it macOS Vista and iOS ME.

 

[AppleZilla]

No problems on my iPhone X, EST.

Going to sleep, chicken littles.

 

[ILikeAllOS]

Holy ****, the macOS/iOS bugs keep pouring in!
At this point I'm starting to wonder if some employees are intentionally slipping in bugs in order to wreak havoc and hurt Apple's brand?
Maybe some of the employees that Apple has poached from other companies?

 

[cerote]

Not a good week for Apple software.

 

[mate007]

Australia, the ultimate beta testing country.

correction* New Zealand is the ultimate beta testing country

 

[nezr]

Time to upgrade to beta. LOL

 

[Cole Slaw]

Un-effing real.
Apple software is really going to the dogs.
Too bad nobody in the upper echelons seem interested in top quality software anymore.
Time to clear these old, rich clowns out and get some enthusiastic new blood in.