As most of you know, with the 2.0 firmware, there was an issue with a lot of apps crashing and it was generally accepted that it was due to more or less buggy firmware. However, with 2.1, apple claimed to address the crashing apps issue. So the question that I have is, if apps are still crashing with 2.1, can we still pass a lot of blame onto apple, or can we now say it's just crappy programming on the developer's part? Any thoughts? I still have a number of apps that crash continuously, and i believe it to be the developer's fault primarily at this point since 2.1 did eliminate crashes in apps that were crashing with 2.0.
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Who's fault for crashing apps with 2.1 firmware?
- Thread starter diesel
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That's oversimplifying it, and that can be only one of a several possible reasons for an app crash. If an app isn't properly managing ram or if there is a memory leak (fault of developer), or if the OS isn't properly managing ram (apple's fault), then that can cause a crash. I have an app where i get a low memory warning, but the app doesn't crash. I have other apps where i get no warning but an app crash. I have other apps where the developer acknowledges bugs that cause crashes and they have been fixing it, and other apps where dev's try to pass the blame onto apple.
Why worry so much about assigning blanket blame?
I'd be trying to figure why the apps are crashing. Is it them? Is it the software? Operator error?
I'd be trying to figure why the apps are crashing. Is it them? Is it the software? Operator error?
As I was asking.......is it safe to assume that apple fixed their end of things? With 2.0, a lot of blame could be assigned to apple, with 2.1, it's a bit more grey. I'm wondering if the OS could still be at fault.
So what you're saying is that an operating system and third-party applications, both written by humans, are prone to failure from time to time? SCANDALOUS!!!
Notice that these apps don't exactly go through some big beta testing period like PC applications. The people who buy the apps when released are basically doing that, and updates fix bugs as they come along.
diesel, if a certain graphics-intensive app is causing the iPhone to crash, reboot the phone to clear out the memory. That may cause the app to crash. With respect to the low memory warning, I read somewhere that the SDK allows the programmer of an app to either put out a low memory warning or no warning when the memory is low. So the fact that you get a low memory notice with an app doesn;t mean that it is using up more of the memory or that it's using up too many resources. Other apps may also be using a vast amount of resources, but the programmer of that app chose not to have the option to show the low memory notice. It does seem like Apple fixed most of the crashing of apps, so the crashes that are occurring now seem like they are due to the fact that they use up a lot of memory (especially the more graphics-rich apps). As with a computer, if you open up a lot of apps, you should shut down the phone and restart (by holding down the On/Of button and the Home button at the same time) so that the memory is cleared out. Of course it is possible that some apps may have some bugs and that the OS may have some bugs as well. I haven't noticed many apps that crash, although some graphics-intensive apps (like Spore, for example) crash after I have been playing them for a while, most likely due to the fact that the memory is low, and the app can no longer function. I'd rather have that than the issue under firmware 2.0x that would require a restore whenever it took too long for an app to download!
Apple doesn't let apps us that much ram, so the limited space fills up quickly. Then your phone crashes some. Pretty simple. The only thing devs can do is to work hard and fix some leaks.
Lately the update notes for most of the apps that have had new versions have had "Memory footprint decreased" or similar
Memory i think is one of the hardest things to manage ... i guess sloppy code or bad libraries could be causing memory leaks too which will get worse over time hence why other apps also say "reboot phone to clear any problems"
I'm guessing it will improve as Apple further optmise their code and developers do likewise.
From what i understand, if you have used ipod, safari or mail, these apps are allowed to background and therefore eat into the precious ram for other apps.
Memory i think is one of the hardest things to manage ... i guess sloppy code or bad libraries could be causing memory leaks too which will get worse over time hence why other apps also say "reboot phone to clear any problems"
I'm guessing it will improve as Apple further optmise their code and developers do likewise.
From what i understand, if you have used ipod, safari or mail, these apps are allowed to background and therefore eat into the precious ram for other apps.
It's Apple's fault for not specifying an absolutely safe app memory use limit (is it 10 MB, 19.9 MB or ???).
It's Apple's fault for not limiting the app memory available in SDK debug mode to just this amount; so the user's device could end up with less than the developer's.
It's developer's fault for developing memory hog apps and not measuring their memory use.
It's the developers fault for not having a fail safe method for handling really low memory available situations.
It's the developers fault for not testing their apps while simultaneously playing iTunes music, downloading polled or push email, and receiving SMS messages while moving between two different cell towers, etc., all at the same time.
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It's Apple's fault for not limiting the app memory available in SDK debug mode to just this amount; so the user's device could end up with less than the developer's.
It's developer's fault for developing memory hog apps and not measuring their memory use.
It's the developers fault for not having a fail safe method for handling really low memory available situations.
It's the developers fault for not testing their apps while simultaneously playing iTunes music, downloading polled or push email, and receiving SMS messages while moving between two different cell towers, etc., all at the same time.
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It's not all about memory leaks. An app could be perfectly bug free and still crash to the Home Screen from lack of RAM. Part of the problem is the Apps that Apple allows to run in the background - one of those is Safari (so you can start a webpage loading, then hit the Home button and go do other stuff, coming back to a loaded page). If you just came from Safari with a huge webpage loaded, your apps aren't going to have a lot of memory to work with.
As well, some apps just in their nature take up a ton of memory, such as X-Plane 9. From what I understand they can't really do much for that because it was designed for the Mac, and already has been cut quite down to make it work on the iPhone. They even wanted to release more planes in the first or second update to the game, but couldn't because they didn't have enough memory.
As well, some apps just in their nature take up a ton of memory, such as X-Plane 9. From what I understand they can't really do much for that because it was designed for the Mac, and already has been cut quite down to make it work on the iPhone. They even wanted to release more planes in the first or second update to the game, but couldn't because they didn't have enough memory.