Apple says working on fix for random iOS 7 crashing issue
Apple on Wednesday confirmed it is working on a fix for an issue that causes devices running iOS 7 to randomly crash and reboot; a problem seen by many users since the mobile operating system debuted in September.
When Apple launched iOS 7 last September, it bet big on a completely redesigned and reimagined flagship product. Many of the changes and additions were greeted with praise, but bugs in iMessage, iCloud and other features plagued the mobile OS since release.
One of the more pervasive -- and concerning -- issues involves reports of continual crashing during normal use, which sees devices randomly conduct soft restarts for no apparent reason. After keeping mum on the subject, Apple has finally revealed it is indeed working on a fix that will be included in an upcoming software update, reports Mashable.
"We have a fix in an upcoming software update for a bug that can occasionally cause a home screen crash," said Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller.
In a reference to Windows' "blue screen of death" system failure, the iOS 7 problem has been dubbed by some as the "white/black screen of death" as the OS startup sequence shows either a white or black screen with corresponding Apple logo. As of iOS 7, iPhones with black faces show a black screen with white Apple logo, while those with white faces display the inverse.
Illustrating the extent of so-called "white/black screen of death" problems, the publication points to an Apple Support Communities forum thread filled with similar complaints. As of this writing, the "iPhone 5 with iOS 7 randomly shuts off" thread contains 249 replies and over 89,000 views.
In most cases, users affected by the crash see a sudden and seemingly random reboot sequence. The cause of the soft restart is unknown, though some forum members claim the issue presents itself more frequently when power levels are below 30 percent.
It is not clear when Apple plans to roll out the patch, but an optimal launch period may be on the horizon with the upcoming iOS 7.1 software update. On Monday, developers were provided with a fourth iOS 7.1 beta version for testing, though the seed notes made no mention of a rebooting bug fix.
When Apple launched iOS 7 last September, it bet big on a completely redesigned and reimagined flagship product. Many of the changes and additions were greeted with praise, but bugs in iMessage, iCloud and other features plagued the mobile OS since release.
One of the more pervasive -- and concerning -- issues involves reports of continual crashing during normal use, which sees devices randomly conduct soft restarts for no apparent reason. After keeping mum on the subject, Apple has finally revealed it is indeed working on a fix that will be included in an upcoming software update, reports Mashable.
"We have a fix in an upcoming software update for a bug that can occasionally cause a home screen crash," said Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller.
In a reference to Windows' "blue screen of death" system failure, the iOS 7 problem has been dubbed by some as the "white/black screen of death" as the OS startup sequence shows either a white or black screen with corresponding Apple logo. As of iOS 7, iPhones with black faces show a black screen with white Apple logo, while those with white faces display the inverse.
Illustrating the extent of so-called "white/black screen of death" problems, the publication points to an Apple Support Communities forum thread filled with similar complaints. As of this writing, the "iPhone 5 with iOS 7 randomly shuts off" thread contains 249 replies and over 89,000 views.
In most cases, users affected by the crash see a sudden and seemingly random reboot sequence. The cause of the soft restart is unknown, though some forum members claim the issue presents itself more frequently when power levels are below 30 percent.
It is not clear when Apple plans to roll out the patch, but an optimal launch period may be on the horizon with the upcoming iOS 7.1 software update. On Monday, developers were provided with a fourth iOS 7.1 beta version for testing, though the seed notes made no mention of a rebooting bug fix.
Comments
yup !
exactly, it's exactly that !
But you know... It's happened to me a few times randomly. Not really a huge issue, as it doesn't happen enough to affect my day to day activities. Thanks for fixing it though, Apple.
"though some forum members claim the issue presents itself more frequently when power levels are below 30 percent"
yup !
exactly, it's exactly that !
So the problem is not accurately described as "random". If it was truly "random" then there would be no discernible pattern. Just because something is unexpected or unexplained does not make it "random". In fact, it would be a rare software bug indeed that did anything at "random". It would have to be carefully programmed indeed!
I've had the iPad Air (iOS 7) since day 2 and its noticeably more crashy. More so than the iPad 3 it replaced. Annoying mostly. Kernel panics.
I'm on the most recent iOS 7 with an iPhone 5. Crashes have been much more common over the last week or so. I've also had two or three on my iPad Air.
Until recently, my 5s definitely crashed more often than our iPad 3 (which has stayed on iOS 6). But, since the 7.0.4 update last month, my phone has only frozen once. Maybe three other times, I've had an app randomly quit. Not much difference compared to the iPad.
Certainly a lot more reliable than when I first got the phone with iOS 7.0 installed, and had apps randomly quitting at least once a day, with the phone locking up once every few days to a week. Safari seemed to be the culprit most of the time. Successive updates were a lot more stable, and I think it might help that with most of them, I installed the OS update via iTunes using the full installation file, not the smaller OTA delta file.
If they've got a fix for the random crashing issue, hopefully the fix doesn't create its own instabilities.
Huh... my 4th gen iPad hasn't crashed on me once since I installed 7, in the first week it came out. I'm not going to complain, obviously! Odd that it appears to be keyed to the power level.
About damn time, I have had the phone "crash" about 10 times since the update (iPhone 5), more than it did during the beta stages lol. Still, the crash is very un-Apple-like.
I'm hoping the next update will address this.
Ditto "It's about time."
My iPhone 5S and iPad 3 and iPhone Air all crash randomly with iOS7, usually while in an Apple App (Mail, Message, Camera etc.). I restored both the iPhone 5S and iPad Air (I sold the iPad 3) last week in hopes that it would address the issue. Each has crashed at least once. It does not seem to be related to battery level. I was planning to schedule a visit to the Genius Bar, but now maybe I should just wait to see if the update fixes the problem.
iOS 6 stays until 7.2 at least.
I was holding out on iOS 6 for awhile, mostly because I didn't like the low contrast tiny text, but I now have all my devices on 7, including an iPhone 4. iOS 7 is ok but the transparency and small type is still somewhat annoying. Once you memorize where the tiny text buttons are you don't have to really read them anymore. I don't recall having any crashes at all on any device. I have very few indie type apps, only major titles and I don't surf to any sketchy websites either. All good here. I'd be willing to bet that most crashes are caused by poorly coded apps or poorly coded Javascript in web pages. If Apple can improve the stability in spite of the third party crappy code issues, great.