Users report freezing, lagging iPhones with Apple's iOS 7.1, but overall crashes are down

Posted:
in iPhone edited July 2014
While this month's release of iOS 7.1 fixed a number of bugs and crashes that had affected Apple's mobile platform for months, and has reduced the overall number of system crashes, the update has also introduced a number of new and different glitches being seen by some iPhone users.

iOS 7.1


Among readers who have reached out to AppleInsider, as well as various threads (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) on Apple's support forums, the most common issues appear to be instances where apps or the iPhone touchscreen itself become non-responsive. Some users say they seem to more regularly experience freezes when notifications appear at the top of the screen.

Still others say that freezes and system lock-ups with iOS 7.1 have caused their iPhone lock screen to be non-responsive. Some have said they were forced to restart their iPhone in order to prompt the system to return to normal. In addition, there are reports of users seeing the virtual onscreen keyboard in iOS 7.1 freeze and stop accepting inputs.

There's also a growing thread on Apple's site where users are experiencing issues with the Touch ID fingerprint scanner on their iPhone 5s after updating to iOS 7.1. Those people say that after installing the update, nothing happens when their finger is placed on the home button sensor.

Some iPhone owners said they have fixed the problem by rescanning their fingerprints into the system, but still others were unable to resolve the issue by tweaking Touch ID settings.

Though bugs remain, there is evidence that the iOS 7.1 update served to significantly reduce crashing on Apple's mobile operating system. New stats published this week by Crittercism show that while iOS 7 had an app crash rate above 2 percent, that average has fallen to 1.6 percent under iOS 7.1.

Animation


Adoption of iOS 7.1 reached 17.9 percent in just 72 hours after the update launched. The software release fixes previous, well-publicized bugs related to Touch ID and crashes when using Safari or the multitasking interface.

Beyond bug fixes, iOS 7.1 also includes a number of user interface tweaks, further refining the major changes to the platform brought about with iOS 7 last September. For legacy device owners, iOS 7.1 also includes performance enhancements for the iPhone 4, while iBeacon wireless connectivity has also seen improvements.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 98
    jpellinojpellino Posts: 697member
    I know Garmin OnBoard is now pretty crashy on my iPhone4 - was fine before 7.1 and Garmin claims there are no problems. Nothing else has been worse, and with animations off it's pretty snappy overall.
  • Reply 2 of 98
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member

    My phone and iPad haven't crashed once since 7.1 and Safari has maybe once. Very happy with this update.

  • Reply 3 of 98
    Does Safari on iOS 7.1 crash in the Huddler Tech powered forums?
  • Reply 4 of 98
    I haven't had many crash issues. It has worked rather smoothly; however, I am having volume issues with 3rd party apps like Angry Birds Star Wars and a couple of children's games. To basically put it, there is no audio when I go to play the games. The music app works fine and I get audio. I haven't seen anything on the discussion boards, but has anyone else had this issue or have a remedy?
  • Reply 5 of 98
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    No issues at all with the iPhone 4s. Been rock solid and performing better.
  • Reply 6 of 98
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    Does Safari on iOS 7.1 crash in the Huddler Tech powered forums?

    Not at my end, anymore.
  • Reply 7 of 98
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member

    Have iPads shared the same problems with lagging, crashing, and non-responseive screens as the iPhones have?

  • Reply 8 of 98
    koopkoop Posts: 337member
    The update has been excellent for me. Much faster and more responsive.
  • Reply 9 of 98
    gilly33gilly33 Posts: 433member
    So far so good with this update on my 5s. Apps are speedier when loading, improvement overall. Never had any problems with Touch ID and none now. Sad that others are having issues.
  • Reply 10 of 98
    It has worked perfectly for me. I even started using the additive touch software button for convenience at it works perfectly (not that it wasn't working before, it's just that it is another feature that might be non responsive with this kind of issues).
  • Reply 11 of 98
    brlawyerbrlawyer Posts: 828member

    No issues here either.

  • Reply 12 of 98
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member

    No problems of the type described here, though battery life has plummeted on my 5S.

     

    Going to try a full restore to see if that puts it right.

  • Reply 13 of 98
    My safari had no problems on my 5S before the update but on 7.1 it's impossible to use, it crashes multiple times before it finally stays open. I did a restore from backup but it's still happening (I guess I should've known that). I guess I just have to completely restore my phone, *sigh*.
  • Reply 14 of 98
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Does Safari on iOS 7.1 crash in the Huddler Tech powered forums?

    Crashes are gone on my iPad 3 and iPhone 4. This update didn't fix every fault in 7.0 but it is by far a much better revision, like many others I'm very happy!
  • Reply 15 of 98
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    koop wrote: »
    The update has been excellent for me. Much faster and more responsive.
    Pretty much my results, this is very good update.

    However people need to realize that no OS is perfect and to expect so is well, expecting too much. Certainly critical features should work but operating systems by their very nature are works in progress.
  • Reply 16 of 98
    cm477cm477 Posts: 99member

    The numerous crashes I was experiencing on my iPhone 5S and my iPad Air before I upgraded to 7.1 seem to be mostly gone now. I had one crash on iPad Air with 7.1, but I believe I was using a third party app (before, the crashes were mostly from Apple Apps). Also, my fingerprint scanner seems to work much better than before. Also, a weird problem on Maps where I could not look up businesses or addresses is gone also.

     

    It is a shame that it took Apple so many months to fix the crashing problem. Since my first iPhone 3GS  and iPad 1st Gen, I was used to the iPhone and iPad being rock solid and reliable. With 7.0 I never knew whether my iPhone or iPad were going to crash for some random reason. It was especially frustrating to have the iPhone or iPad crash when I was trying to text someone or look up something on Safari (i.e., Apple apps).  Hopefully they can address the major problems of others (e.g., the phone completely turning off at low battery levels but before the battery was completely drained, huge drops in battery levels).

  • Reply 17 of 98

    7.1 has been a very solid upgrade for me as well.  And like cm477, I've noticed fingerprint scanning to be much more reliable now.

  • Reply 18 of 98
    I've had no problems with 7.1 on my iPhone 5. Not keen on the new shift key though - I always feel like it's not selected when it is and vice versa.

    Slightly unrelated - where can I get the wallpaper from the top left of this article?

    A
  • Reply 19 of 98
    inoseyinosey Posts: 89member
    rogifan wrote: »
    My phone and iPad haven't crashed once since 7.1 and Safari has maybe once. Very happy with this update.
    No issues with me on my 5s... Touch ID is way better for me on iOS 7.1
  • Reply 20 of 98
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by APDunne View Post

    Slightly unrelated - where can I get the wallpaper from the top left of this article?

     

    Unfortunately, it’s called “Paranoid Android” and seems to be related to an Android ROM. <img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />

     

    Here’s a proper desktop size for you to crop to iPhone usability.

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