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Warning: iOS 16.1 Beta Breaking GPS on iPhone 14 Pro Models

rgwebb said:
Individual developers or software shops with any level of maturity are not going to get sidelined by software regressions in a beta.
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Give me a break. Just what amazing code change caused the GPS to break? You know how this happens? Garbage quality code management. They have had a growing problem with this for YEARS and it’s only gotten worse with every additional branch they create with deviations from a standard code base for all iOS devices and then with multiple teams running in tandem developing in parallel. Obviously someone did a bone headed code merge that replaced functional code with non-functional code in an area that likely wasn’t even touched for any reason in the beta.

They should be working on code changes only in the areas they are actually intending to implement changes. Not doing massive code merges that inadvertently overwrite functional code with redundant code.

This is software dev 101 and ANY mature shop will know how to do this. This wreaks of a half baked operation.
 
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wanha said:
Sure, but it's not like this is in any way unprecedented or even that unusual in software. It happens to all companies that deal with complex operating systems that are crammed with thousands of interdependencies. It will inevitably happen from time to time.
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It’s not about it not happening. That’s expected. It’s the crowd that tries to pretend like this warning isn’t useful or helpful to people who aren’t them.
 
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Dr@g0n said:
Dont know why people want beta versions to be bug free. Its called beta because people expect it still has bugs =))
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And then when final versions roll out, often still with bugs first encountered in beta versions, the “ItS a BeTa!!1” people go eerily quiet or, better yet, try to pretend the issues aren’t there, or they insist that they’re actually the mark of intentional, intelligent design, or they try and shame whoever is pointing the issue(s) out (“Did you REPORT it??! You didn’t report it, did you?! This is all YOUR fault!”).

Rinse and repeat :)
 
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Rule #1 regarding beta software. Do NOT install it on your primary device, EVER! If you do you’re a complete fool. Every tech blog I visit strongly recommends that users DO NOT install iOS betas on their day-to-day devices.

Yet many do and then have a meltdown when they get hosed. We should not have even a scintilla of sympathy or compassion for these individuals. They did to themselves and have no one else to blame. They were warned.

So all the hand wringing and criticism over this bug is unwarranted, period.
 
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bmustaf said:
Oh great, the “but it’s a beta” crowd again.

Betas are actually for devs to build and test apps before release. This is a pretty big impediment for testing GPS functionality as it’s one of the things that you can’t test well in the simulator, or down level versions if you’re developing against the newer APIs.
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Exactly. I'm a software developer, so it's totally expected that in betas there can be minor and/or massive bugs. The entire point of releasoing betas is to help uncover and track bugs like these. This is not just an Apple thing, folks. If you're using betas on your personal devices and get upset when you have issues, the joke is on you.
 
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Dr@g0n said:
I think with beta versions, bugs are expected. Because beta means still in development and Apple expect there are bugs so they release beta versions so users or other devs can help identify the bugs faster. This means when you use beta versions, you should find bugs and report to Apple.
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Well sure, that’s a risk you take with beta software. But in this case; the bugs were severely debilitating to reliable everyday use of the device, not minor nuisances or quirks, they were reported numerous times since the very beginning of the beta cycle with no signs of being patched, and they persisted all the way through the beta to the final release. There are “mostly stable” or usable beta cycles, and then on the other hand there was iOS 16 which was shockingly bad and never improved the major bugs even a little.
 
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atomic.flip said:
Give me a break. Just what amazing code change caused the GPS to break? You know how this happens? Garbage quality code management. They have had a growing problem with this for YEARS and it’s only gotten worse with every additional branch they create with deviations from a standard code base for all iOS devices and then with multiple teams running in tandem developing in parallel. Obviously someone did a bone headed code merge that replaced functional code with non-functional code in an area that likely wasn’t even touched for any reason in the beta.

They should be working on code changes only in the areas they are actually intending to implement changes. Not doing massive code merges that inadvertently overwrite functional code with redundant code.

This is software dev 101 and ANY mature shop will know how to do this. This wreaks of a half baked operation.
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Right. You're the perfect software developer that has never shipped broken code. Give me a break and step off your high horse.
 
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thadoggfather said:
its Apple. Software quality control has been terrible for a while now.

Sometimes I wonder if the employees even use iPhones and iOS
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Where’s the evidence for this?

In 2009 Apple released Snow Leopard primarily as a bug-fix and polish release because, they admitted, Leopard wasn’t up to standard.

In 2001, the original OSX release, and its immediately successors, regularly suffered grey-screen kernel panics. Something that’s incredibly rare today.

On the mobile side, iOS 5, release in 2011, suffered from several battery drain bugs which weren’t fully resolved until the release of 5.1.1.

I make no apologies for major bugs appearing in software releases but I’m tired of this repeated narrative that Apple’s software QA is somehow declining. There have always been buggy releases and always will be.

It’s one thing to complain about them but it’s quite another to complain about bugs in beta releases. You’ve made a conscious decision to install a less-tested release on your device. You have clicked through the warnings that are apparent when you install the beta profile. How can you then blame Apple for any kind of inconvenience?

Now, if you’re an actual developer who relies on functionality like GPS, who wishes to develop for iOS 16.1, do you know what you should do? File a bug report and either wait for the next beta release or spend the time implementing and improving your error handling code for GPS functionality.

Apple deserves a lot of criticism for a lot of things. Bugs in beta releases is not one of them.
 
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MrRom92 said:
Well sure, that’s a risk you take with beta software. But in this case; the bugs were severely debilitating to reliable everyday use of the device, not minor nuisances or quirks, they were reported numerous times since the very beginning of the beta cycle with no signs of being patched, and they persisted all the way through the beta to the final release.
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This is the first 16.1 beta. Where was this reported previously?
 
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Saturnine said:
Where’s the evidence for this?

In 2009 Apple released Snow Leopard primarily as a bug-fix and polish release because, they admitted, Leopard wasn’t up to standard.

In 2001, the original OSX release, and its immediately successors, regularly suffered grey-screen kernel panics. Something that’s incredibly rare today.

On the mobile side, iOS 5, release in 2011, suffered from several battery drain bugs which weren’t fully resolved until the release of 5.1.1.

I make no apologies for major bugs appearing in software releases but I’m tired of this repeated narrative that Apple’s software QA is somehow declining. There have always been buggy releases and always will be.

It’s one thing to complain about them but it’s quite another to complain about bugs in beta releases. You’ve made a conscious decision to install a less-tested release on your device. You have clicked through the warnings that are apparent when you install the beta profile. How can you then blame Apple for any kind of inconvenience?

Now, if you’re an actual developer who relies on functionality like GPS, who wishes to develop for iOS 16.1, do you know what you should do? File a bug report and either wait for the next beta release or spend the time implementing and improving your error handling code for GPS functionality.

Apple deserves a lot of criticism for a lot of things. Bugs in beta releases is not one of them.
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The evidence is my personal experience.
Why would you be “tired of this narrative” are you on their PR team?

Why is striving to put out better releases a terrible thing again?
 
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thadoggfather said:
The evidence is my personal experience.
Why would you be “tired of this narrative” are you on their PR team?

Why is striving to put out better releases a terrible thing again?
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Just admit that you don't know or care about what the purpose of a beta is and move on. People complaining about bugs in a beta clearly have nothing better to do in their time.
 
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thadoggfather said:
The evidence is my personal experience.
Why would you be “tired of this narrative” are you on their PR team?

Why is striving to put out better releases a terrible thing again?
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I’m trying very hard not to say “it’s a beta” so I’ll phrase it like this: I have no expectations of quality when I’m specifically told, prior to installation, that the software may be unstable and is provided specifically for the purpose of testing.

And no, I’m not on their PR team. A PR team wouldn’t spend any time defending something which, frankly, needs no defence.

But yes, I’m pretty bored of people like you suggesting that the quality of Apple’s software is in decline. It’s not. It’s always had problems but no more or no fewer than most software companies with similar sized ecosystems. And none of those applies to beta releases anyway.
 
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Saturnine said:
I’m trying very hard not to say “it’s a beta” so I’ll phrase it like this: I have no expectations of quality when I’m specifically told, prior to installation, that the software may be unstable and is provided specifically for the purpose of testing.

And no, I’m not on their PR team. A PR team wouldn’t spend any time defending something which, frankly, needs no defence.

But yes, I’m pretty bored of people like you suggesting that the quality of Apple’s software is in decline. It’s not. It’s always had problems but no more or no fewer than most software companies with similar sized ecosystems. And none of those applies to beta releases anyway.
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I’m not speaking about their betas to be fair

I am talking about shipping versions and broadly.

I can see why you’d think that’s what I was referring to given the thread is about 16.1 beta gps issues

Agreed beta are gonna be buggy.

Still imo as a side note - something fundamental like a gps shouldn’t break. I understand changes and fixes can introduce new issues but that’s a big one. In any case I have no real hub bub about beta versions. Talking about shipping versions feel like betas and sometimes even extended alphas in the darkest times.
 
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thadoggfather said:
I’m not speaking about their betas to be fair

I am talking about shipping versions and broadly.

I can see why you’d think that’s what I was referring to given the thread is about 16.1 beta gps issues

Agreed beta are gonna be buggy.

Still imo as a side note - something fundamental like a gps shouldn’t break. I understand changes and fixes can introduce new issues but that’s a big one. In any case I have no real hub bub about beta versions. Talking about shipping versions feel like betas and sometimes even extended alphas in the darkest times.
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This is a pretty fair take; it does seem like more bugs have been creeping into final release versions. Hopefully we don't see anything as major as breaking GPS in an official release.
 
lkrupp said:
Rule #1 regarding beta software. Do NOT install it on your primary device, EVER! If you do you’re a complete fool. Every tech blog I visit strongly recommends that users DO NOT install iOS betas on their day-to-day devices.

Yet many do and then have a meltdown when they get hosed. We should not have even a scintilla of sympathy or compassion for these individuals. They did to themselves and have no one else to blame. They were warned.

So all the hand wringing and criticism over this bug is unwarranted, period.
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Beta software is just that, a beta.
But the fact this is on the heels of iOS16 having a bug and needing a day one update for 16.0.1, the very next beta which comes out blocks GPS.... thats not a great recent quality control record.
 
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