iPhone Clock Bug Prevents Alarm Triggers after New Year's

[johneaston]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148a Safari/6533.18.5)

To all you people saying not to be so angry and if it's important, get a stand-alone alarm clock, I have to disagree.

Firstly, people pay good money on the understanding that the product they buy will do what it's advertised to. Yes, all products can have faults but the iPhone has had more than its fair share and to have the same fault twice in a few months really is unacceptable.

Secondly, to take that attitude to it's extreme, should I also take with me everywhere I go a paper diary, notebook, personal GPS, address book, nokia mobile phone, calculator etc. just in case my iPhone develops a random bug? No, I bought an iPhone so I didn't need to carry all that everywhere and, in the same way, that's why I no longer have a physical alarm clock.

Apple really need to buck up their ideas. They're at the top at the moment, but things can change very quickly.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I'm confused by this claim. I went to bed last night at 10:50. Set an alarm for 7:40 this am and it went off without a hitch?

What am I missing?

Same here, kind of confused. I set both a reoccurring alarm and regular as I normally do 10 minutes before just incase it failed and the regular one went off fine.

 

[brop52]

I always have multiple alarms. I also have an iHome with my iPhone so two alarms are through the iPhone. Then I have a standalone alarm for backup.

But my iPhone alarm wouldn't go off today. I set it after midnight. Doesn't work at all.

 

[thoryamaha919]

Same here, kind of confused. I set both a reoccurring alarm and regular as I normally do 10 minutes before just incase it failed and the regular one went off fine.

Well i set a regular one at 6:00 am and 6:15am at around 12:15am. I woke up to a phone call from the person I was to relieve at work. Neither of the alarms that I had set never went off.

Now I have iPhone 4 32Gb with iOS 4.1 on it.

What happened is beyond me but mine didn't go off as it normally would.

 

[jclardy]

Perhaps if Apple did a little less patrolling of apps for small infractions (Eg using volume buttons to take pictures) and more testing of the OS, then they might not have lost the mobile space to Android.

Android's market share is growing faster than iOS, but Apple is still gaining many users every day...

And while these Clock.app bugs should have been pretty obvious when writing the code it is not what is making Android grow faster.

Android is growing faster because it is free to license and is starting to be put on phones that would be crappy feature phones with crappy software. Now it doesn't make sense to pay people to write a crappy feature phone OS when you can get Android for free and already support all basic phone functions plus have applications.

That plus on the high end smartphone side they have more carriers, and each carrier with more devices. Android as a platform is outpacing iOS, but there is no single Android device that is outpacing the iPhone 4.

 

[MacApple21]

I guess you ignore the constant freezes, bad UI, lags...

I'm not experiencing freezes and I personally like the UI. I'm not troubled by any lacks either. Are we running the same version on comparable hardware?
iTunes 10.1
iMac 2,8 i7, 4 GB RAM and 11" MacBook Air 1,6 C2D, 4 GB RAM

 

[*LTD*]

Perhaps if Apple did a little less patrolling of apps for small infractions (Eg using volume buttons to take pictures) and more testing of the OS, then they might not have lost the mobile space to Android.

What?

Apple owns the mobile space with iOS devices. They provide the way forward for the entire industry.

The reason Apple provides a superior User Experience is due to control, and control of the App Store ensures that garbage stays out.

Perhaps the also-rans might want to take yet another page from the Apple playbook and exercise a little more control as well. That way, copycats like Google can improve their buggy, in-perpetual-beta software that seems to constantly put users at risk. Never mind the never-ending fragmentation that makes developing quality apps a frustrating process.

http://www.neowin.net/news/android-bug-playing-russian-roulette-with-text-messages

http://www.neowin.net/news/geinimi-trojan-infecting-chinese-android-devices

Seems there's a new one every week.

But hey, it's open. So it's all good, right?

Any way you slice it, Apple's way is, as usual, the ideal. The problem is the also-rans are addicted to the race to the bottom. Whoring out your OS to whoever can slam together a box shows monumental disrespect for your own product and your user base. And of course, with Android, it shows.

A clock bug? Is that all? The competition would love to have such a problem, rest assured. They have more immediate concerns, such as figuring out novel ways to hide the fact that their products are just poor imitations of Apple gear. Just ask RIM and HP.

I'm confused by this claim. I went to bed last night at 10:50. Set an alarm for 7:40 this am and it went off without a hitch?

What am I missing?

All the FUD.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I do NOT blame Apple for this. It is VERY hard to debug programs that are to sense future clock/calendar readings. The answer, and not just for this reason, is reform of our clock settings and calendar readings to permanent universal constants (easy to do technically, but not administratively). Here's the page:
http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/calendar.html

I would fully blame apple for this. They made some very stupid STUPID mistake multiple times over with their alarms.

You first had DST screw up. Now this. One was not OK but both is inexcusable this close together. Apple screwed up and how they did the alarms.
Trick is you do not base alarms on the date. You base it on the what time the clock says and then maybe the day if you have it set for weekday or weekend only.

But I do have to say I think it is pretty funny the Apple apologizes coming up with some very week reasons to justify this screw up.

 

[WiiDSmoker]

It amazes me how some people in this thread with defend Apple until their dying breath; even if Apple was the cause of their demise.

 

[OzyOly]

Have apple acknowledged it yet?

 

[WiiDSmoker]

Have apple acknowledged it yet?

Of course not. If they ignore it; it'll go away.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I think we found the number one technology failure of 2011.

 

[0098386]

It amazes me how some people in this thread with defend Apple until their dying breath; even if Apple was the cause of their demise.

Sad, isn't it.

I've always relied on my mobile phone as an alarm clock. My Motorola in 1999, my Siemens in 2000, my Razr in 2004, my ****** £10 phone (new and PAYG too!)... I relied on them for my alarms and they've been perfect every time.
An additional salute to my Siemens phones that used to still keep the alarm enabled even when the phone couldn't be turned on due to an almost empty battery! Trooper of a phone that.

Stories like this are why I still use that ****** £10 Alcatel phone as alarm instead of my £320 iPod touch. Also: customised alarm tones (nothing wakes me up like Brahms) and customised sleep timer length.

 

[meatballs]

All the FUD.

No FUD, reality http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2702635&tstart=0

 

[OzyOly]

No FUD, reality http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2702635&tstart=0

My son has type one diabetes and is on an insulin pump. Because of this I have to check his blood sugar levels every two hours at night. I rely heavily on my iPhone 4 alarm. Last night went to bed with all my alarms set as usual. None of them went off. I woke up at 8 am in a panic not knowing what I'd find in my sons room. Thankfully he hadn't gone low in the night and died. Instead he was extremely high, which is also bad but not fatal in the short term. But still carries health problems.

Just a small bug, insignificant when you consider all that the phone can do? Bloody apple fanboys.

This will be my last iPhone. I only upgraded from my 3g because apple made it unable to make phone calls or text when they forced the iOS4.0 update on me. Sure it could multitask, but it was unresponsive to me tapping 'answer' when anyone rang me.

 

[avanpelt]

First it was antennas, then the proximity sensor, and now alarms.

This latest alarm problem wouldn't look so bad were it not for the fact that they had another alarm problem a few months ago. The fact that a new problem exists in the same area of the software tells me that instead of examining the entire code for additional problems in the clock/alarm area of iOS when the DST bug occurred, they used a quick "bandaid" approach. Sometimes bandaids work in programming; and sometimes they come back to bite you in the ass. Apple has now experienced the latter.

 

[OzyOly]

First it was antennas, then the proximity sensor, and now alarms.

This latest alarm problem wouldn't look so bad were it not for the fact that they had another alarm problem a few months ago. The fact that a new problem exists in the same area of the software tells me that instead of examining the entire code for additional problems in the clock/alarm area of iOS when the DST bug occurred, they used a quick "bandaid" approach. Sometimes bandaids work in programming; and sometimes they come back to bite you in the ass. Apple has now experienced the latter.

I know, it's getting as bad as when Vista was first released.

 

[knightlie]

Well, I said it when the Zune had this problem, so it seems only fair to say it here. It's the 21st century, and Apple software can't tell the time.

Fail.

 

[rivertrip]

So many comments bitching at or defending Apple, but no curiosity about the the faulty algorithm.

 

[OzyOly]

Well, I said it when the Zune had this problem, so it seems only fair to say it here. It's the 21st century, and Apple software can't tell the time.

Fail.

Definitely. I'm getting a BB as my next phone. At least OSX is still smooth as.

 

[Apollo21]

As an American I'd really like to know if we can sue over this.

 

[OzyOly]

As an American I'd really like to know if we can sue over this.

Haha, well it's not as bad as when apple bricked nearly all iPhone 3g phones with an update so I doubt you'd be able to sue over an alarm. They'll be something in their T&C saying that they wont take responsibility over loss of earnings.

 

[knightlie]

What?

Apple owns the mobile space with iOS devices. They provide the way forward for the entire industry.

The reason Apple provides a superior User Experience is due to control, and control of the App Store ensures that garbage stays out.

Basic functionality - in this case the alarm working as per its settings - is part of that "superior" user experience. And my experience of iOS 4 has been rubbish - constant freezes and resets, and Safari is more unstable than ever before. And now my alarms don't work and I have to find an alternative way of getting up in time for work. Is that what you mean by "superior?"

Perhaps the also-rans might want to take yet another page from the Apple playbook and exercise a little more control as well. That way, copycats like Google can improve their buggy, in-perpetual-beta software that seems to constantly put users at risk. Never mind the never-ending fragmentation that makes developing quality apps a frustrating process.

Those "also-rans" can tell the time. iOS can't.

http://www.neowin.net/news/android-bug-playing-russian-roulette-with-text-messages

http://www.neowin.net/news/geinimi-trojan-infecting-chinese-android-devices

Seems there's a new one every week.

But hey, it's open. So it's all good, right?

Any way you slice it, Apple's way is, as usual, the ideal. The problem is the also-rans are addicted to the race to the bottom. Whoring out your OS to whoever can slam together a box shows monumental disrespect for your own product and your user base. And of course, with Android, it shows.

Everything I've seen about Android - on an HTC desire - has been superior to iOS 4. And it can tell the time accurately.

A clock bug? Is that all? The competition would love to have such a problem, rest assured. They have more immediate concerns, such as figuring out novel ways to hide the fact that their products are just poor imitations of Apple gear. Just ask RIM and HP.

Only you, LTD, can turn a gaping bug in Apples flagship operating system into a way of bashing the competition. In case you've missed it, Apples software can't tell them time. For those of us without a Steve Jobs shrine, that's a serious problem.

 

[thetexan]

I know, it's getting as bad as when Vista was first released.

That maybe a good thing. Vista was a disaster, but Windows 7 is, in my opinion, the best consumer OS on the market today. I find myself using Windows 7 on my Macbook Pro more than I use OSX.

 

[OzyOly]

That maybe a good thing. Vista was a disaster, but Windows 7 is, in my opinion, the best consumer OS on the market today. I find myself using Windows 7 on my Macbook Pro more than I use OSX.

I really like W7, it's definitely the best windows since NT. I still prefer OSX/Linux though, W7 seems to perform slowly on the same machines and get's me pretty frustrated at times.