When you submit a crash report, where does it go?

I've wondered that too. I'm not sure where they go, but I think they do help. I've submitted countless crash reports over the years. I don't know if it really is cause-and-effect, but in nearly every case a fix appeared within a month or two (usually in an Apple software update).

I would imagine that the bugs that get the most notice are those that have a wide occurrence. If thousands of people are submitting crash reports all based around the same program, I would guess there'd be a pretty quick fix.

 

I'd assume they check the statistics of crashes - if there is a high number of Safari crash reports, then it'll be something worth investigating etc.

 

I am sure the crash reports are analysed to see if there are common causes. However this information is sent to apple and used by apple. There is an add-on for the crash reporter called Smart Crash reports, which if the developer supports it, will send the crash report to both apple and the 3rd party developer.

I have found that more and more applications are adding in their own crash reporters as well.