Filed under: Bad Apple, Developer, iPhone
Did Apple set developers up for failure?
As I'm sure many of you have noticed, many of the applications from the App Store are crashing frequently. Basically, an app I want to launch opens a blank screen, pauses for a moment, and then drops me back to my home screen without so much as an apology. Worse, it may even reset the phone. I've found with most of them that a simple reboot will allow them to launch again, but that's getting old and doesn't always help. You're probably, like me, thinking that it's a shame that so many developers rushed so quickly to make the App Store deadline and ended up putting out unstable applications. According to the development community, though, it's not their fault ... it's Apple's.
Anonymous developer sources are reporting that they've been poring over crash logs and discovering that the reported crash has nothing to do with their application. There's a growing consensus that Apple has released a highly unstable "final" version of the 2.0 firmware. So, maybe it's more of a shame that Apple, who laid the groundwork for a multitude of useful and exciting applications, rushed development and failed to build a better foundation.
Personally, I haven't seen the crash logs, and I am -- legitimately, in my opinion -- accepting the word of veteran developers. I also can't speak for individual applications, there are some pretty shoddy offerings in the App Store which may have their own reasons for crashing (i.e. "I look like I was written by a Windows developer, I can't show my face!"). There are also several applications whose requisite servers were overloaded initially, but are getting back on their feet now. But for a lot of the random crashes, it has nothing to do with the app itself ... so, before you write that complaint email, check your tone ... you might be getting snarky with the wrong party.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Joseph Merlino said 7:07AM on 7-14-2008
I've had some crashes, yeah. Most of the time it doesn't bother me that much. I just hope apple gets the 2.0.1 firmware out soon.
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David Reed said 8:10AM on 7-14-2008
My old iPhone with 2.0 just crashed and is stuck trying to power down. Just running the little circle and nothing else for the last 10 minutes.
Ryan Trevisol said 8:25AM on 7-14-2008
well when ALL my apps started crashing in the above manner, including apple's Remote, I concluded it must be something with the firmware.
I did a restore, and downloaded all my apps from the app store on my computer and synced it. That seemed to do the trick. Not a single crash since then.
David said 12:37PM on 7-14-2008
Had similar issues and seemed to have resolved the same way, restore and resync. I did a manual sync of music and settings instead of from the backup that was made. Using a macbook, itunes still seems to take awhile before it attaches my 32gb touch device, not sure if that is a possible firmware issue. Perhaps its normal for the 32gb, my 16gb loads bit faster. Either way pretty happy with the update.
mattsmee said 3:24PM on 7-14-2008
It crashed so many times that I decide to restore again. After the restore, it runs smooth and for two days now not even one freeze or crash.
So I think iTunes goes not actually wipe off 1.1.4 and do the restore to 2.0, but in stead does part of it and rewrite 2.0 on to 1.1.4. I did the restore on 2.0 to 2.0 took much longer time. Just my thought. Again my 1st gen iphone does not crash once for two days of crazy use. (game and app non-stop)
Brian Burns said 7:14AM on 7-14-2008
Oh, I can certainly say fw2.0 is unstable. :(
I have had so many problems with the firmware, and I've even reflashed three times.
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Bryan Liles said 7:20AM on 7-14-2008
Highly unstable? I know you guys aren't journalists, but the sensationalism on this site is sometimes a bit much.
My iphone did crash when launching some of the appstore apps, but I wouldn't classify the entire phone itself has highly unstable.
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Jon said 9:40AM on 7-14-2008
I would! My iPhone has been HIGHLY unstable since upgrading to the 2.0 firmware.
I've had multiple problems, from apps crashing, freezing, restarting the iPhone, and just taking FOREVER to do anything. Apps that are completely local as well, not network dependent. I will forgive the network problems (extremely slow) for a week or so while AT&T gets things ironed out, but the firmware problems are all apple and I really hope they get things fixed asap.
Also, why does it take so long for the iPhone to sync now? Every time I plug it in, iTunes runs the backup function and it just takes an incredibly long time.
It can't be just copying data for that long, when nothing has changed. I wonder if it is doing some DRM trickery that makes it take so long?
If so, add that to the pile of fixes needed for 2.0.
The good news is that I trust apple actually will fix all of this. I had the same problems with Treos and WinMo phones in the past, and they NEVER got fixed.
Hopefully a patch will be coming within the next few days.
David said 12:47PM on 7-14-2008
Jon I've notices same sync backup issue on my 32gb touch. Backup for me seems to occur primarily when adding or removing any apps. Adding music photos etc.. doesn't force the backup. I don't know if this is an actual problem. Pretty sure either way it's not backing up entire device, I haven't noticed a dramatic change in HD space. It took more patience getting through all day apple server down up down up.....down up to get the firmware so slower sync and backup issue hasn't bothered me yet.
GenericWhiteGuy said 3:18PM on 7-14-2008
I've had 3rd party apps crash maybe a dozen times on my 3g and a couple times where the device completely rebooted. Last night though, I turned on Wi-Fi, the screen became scrambled and the vibrate turned on. It stayed like that vibrating and unresponsive to attempts to reset for about 10 minutes until it finally rebooted itself.
Turning on wi-fi is not a 3rd party event. I think they have a few things that still need to be fixed in this firmware.
Wade said 7:23AM on 7-14-2008
I'm not an expert on any of this stuff... but i when i read this, i just have to use plain logic here for a second...
Ok, so.. you're saying that the Dev's are coming out saying that the crash logs are pointing to it being 2.0's Fault? right?
Well if that's the case then why has my Facebook APP, my AIM App, my Myspace all all never crashed once, oh yeah and twitterific as well. All 4 of those have been working fast, and perfect since friday.... So why is that?
Just trying to use some logic here on that one...
I just think it's the Apps' the devs had hardly enough time to finish them, so the apps are just that buggy...
Yeah actually come to think of it... Texas hold em and Super monkey ball have not crashed once either..
just my 2 cents.
~Wade
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Brian Burns said 7:32AM on 7-14-2008
AIM has crashed on the very first launch. Then it crashed and reset my phone.
Twitterific has locked up and half the UI went blank white when I set the phone down (not using it) and waited for it to auto-lock.
Super Monkey ball has crashed on me twice.
Enigmo has crashed on me once.
Cube Runner, once.
NetNewsFire, once and VoiceNotes once.
Simon said 7:35AM on 7-14-2008
Hmm well so far I've had both the facebook app and super monkey ball crash on me. Not just when starting up the app but when I'm in the middle of using it.
Wade said 7:39AM on 7-14-2008
@Brian Burns,
Are you at 5A347 Firmware? or 345? I'm not making this up when i say they have NOT crashed on me once yet... *knock on wood* im sure they may crash, but it has yet to happen to me. (Im on 5A347 btw.)
Tony said 7:59AM on 7-14-2008
The iphone mail app crashes on me about 15 times a day (and then there's the 'delete random message' bug).
Plus anything that can cause the phone itself to crash is 100% down to Apple - we're not talking about DOS here these are sandboxed apps running in their own memory space - they should not be able to crash the entire system no matter what they do.
J Thrash said 8:33AM on 7-14-2008
Mine hasn't crashed either. Not once as yet.
I have to wonder several things, like... are these phones previously hacked phones or are they complete virgins like mine? Since only some of the people are complaining, maybe it's a combination of apps causing some of the problems.
I'm sure there are bugs in a brand new firmware, but I think it's irresponsible to blame Apple for the whole shabang. People who develop apps are often quick to point the finger to the SDK or the creator when they don't fully understand the development process.
The coming months will be interesting indeed.
doc said 7:24AM on 7-14-2008
It's 3 days old for gawd's sakes people. stop all the bitchin about these little things... it's a phone, it makes calls. its an ipod that play music and video. as far as the apps go its the same as the first month of any new os release. let it go and stop crying... they will fix it soon... they are apple. they always do.
Not related but related is the fact that people are already crying about the battery life... the same a$$holes who asked for a GPS and 3g this time last year. When we all said it was due to battery life the bitches said we were just being fanboys. serves them right..
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richard said 7:35AM on 7-14-2008
Well facebook has crashed on me three times...
Wade said 7:36AM on 7-14-2008
@Doc.
I agree with you, i already knew that would happen, and that's why during the day i keep location services turned off and 3G turned off, unless i am using the phone's apps. then i turn it back on. =)
I have no problems with the battery life, the hardware platform is either the SAME or better, Apple would never making a generation 2 worse. However the software platform has obviously changed....get used to it people.
Kelmon said 7:44AM on 7-14-2008
@doc
I'm sorry, but I just don't find this attitude to be acceptable. One of the supposed benefits of Apple's vertical nature is that they control hardware and software so that it all works together. It is not acceptable that they ever release bad software, OS or not, for the simple reason that they should be able to test it fully before release because they already know what it will be running on (unlike Windows or Linux). This is even worse when you consider that the iPhone is effectively closed - there are no strange hardware or driver combinations to consider. If the reason for the crashes is bad software delivered by Apple then this is something to get angry at.
In Belgium the iPhone will cost me EUR 525 minimum, and I'm not paying that to beta test a product. Get it right before release.