Apple Big Oops

Just a couple days ago (Monday? Sunday?) we got a major new operating system update (to iOS 9.0) for mobile devices that had a few noticeable improvements -- the way multiple pages were displayed in Safari for one. Some changes to Calendar and alarms and stuff. Everything worked swell for me.

Then today, ANOTHER new update, iOS 9.01, to deal with several bugs in the old one. I can't recall Apple EVER having to release a bug fix update within days of a major OS update before.

Big oops.

Incidentally, here's a list of what was improved in iOS last week (for free I might add):

Quote :

iOS 9.0

With this update your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch become more intelligent and proactive with powerful search and improved Siri features. New multitasking features for iPad allow you to work with two apps simultaneously, side-by-side or with the new Picture-in-Picture feature. And, built-in apps become more powerful with detailed transit information in Maps, a redesigned Notes app, and an all-new News app. And improvements at the foundation of the operating system enhance performance, improve security and give you up to an hour of extra battery life.

Intelligence

• Proactive assistance
◦ Presents relevant information even before you start typing
◦ Notifies you when you need to leave for appointments using traffic conditions
◦ Learns what you listen to in a certain location or at a particular time of day and can automatically display playback controls for your preferred music and audio apps
◦ Suggested events and contact details are added to apps based on information found in Mail
• Siri improvements
◦ Search your personal photos and videos based on dates, locations and album names
◦ Ask Siri to remind you about things you’re looking at in your apps, including Safari, Mail, Notes and Messages
◦ Request directions via public transit
• Spotlight search improvements
◦ Get sports scores, weather conditions and stock prices
◦ Simple math calculations and conversions
◦ Initiate messages, phone calls and FaceTime calls from contact search results

New iPad Features

• Slide Over
◦ Quickly use a second app without leaving the one you’re in
◦ Easily switch between Slide Over apps
◦ Support for Apple apps and enabled third party apps
• Split View
◦ View and interact with two apps at once
◦ Ability to resize your view to give equal attention to both apps or prioritize one app over another
◦ Support for Apple apps and enabled third party apps
• Picture in picture
◦ Continue watching a video while using your favorite apps
◦ Support for Safari video, FaceTime, Videos and Podcasts and enabled third party apps
• QuickType improvements
◦ Multi-Touch gestures for easier text selection on iPad
◦ Quick access to text editing tools with Shortcut Bar on iPad
◦ Support for hardware keyboard shortcuts
◦ Support for all Unicode emoji flags

Built-in Apps

• Map improvements
◦ Support for public transit lines, station details with exits and entrances, schedules and directions in select major cities
◦ Browse for places around you by category, including Food, Drinks, Shopping, Fun and more
◦ Apple Pay support is indicated on place cards at participating retail locations
◦ Place cards include Wikipedia information for landmarks and cities
• Redesigned Notes app
◦ Add photos to your notes with the built-in camera or from your Photo Library
◦ Create useful checklists and check off completed items with a tap
◦ Sketch a quick thought using just your finger
◦ Save interesting items directly from other apps using the Share menu
• All-new News app
◦ Read your favorite newspapers, magazines, and blogs, or choose from over a million topics
◦ Beautiful typography and layouts, photo galleries, videos, animations, and more
◦ Browse articles that are chosen based on your interests in For You. Find channel and topic recommendations in Explore. News gets more personalized the more you read
◦ Easily share articles with friends or save them to read later — even when you’re offline
• Mail improvements
◦ Search improvements help you quickly find what you're looking for by filtering results based on sender, recipient, subject or a combination of options
◦ Support for Markup lets you annotate an image or PDF attachment with text, shapes and even your signature, then send it back — without leaving Mail
◦ Easily save the attachments you receive or add files from iCloud Drive or other document providers while composing a new message
• Apple Pay and Wallet improvements
◦ Support for Discover cards
◦ Support for rewards cards and store credit and debit cards
◦ To check out even faster, you can prepare an upcoming payment by double-clicking the Home button from the Lock Screen and keeping your finger on Touch ID
• New iCloud Drive app
◦ Easily search for a file or browse in the new iCloud Drive app by date, name, or tags you added on your Mac
◦ Open files in any compatible app or share with those you choose
◦ Organize folders and files
◦ Get the iCloud Drive app in Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive and select Show on Home Screen
• CarPlay improvements
◦ Plays back audio messages, letting you hear from people in their own voices
◦ Full support for car knob controls, so you can tilt and spin to scroll through lists or pan around in Maps
◦ Support for CarPlay apps from auto manufacturers

Foundation

• Longer battery life
◦ Up to one hour of additional time before you need to charge your battery
◦ Facedown detection for turning display off when not in use
◦ Low power mode optimizes device performance to extend battery by up to an additional three hours
• Software updates require less space to download and offer an option to install later
• iOS apps and user interface now use Metal to deliver faster scrolling, smoother animation, and better overall performance
• Improved security with two-factor authentication support and a default 6 digit passcode support for Touch ID devices

Other improvements

• New San Francisco system font
• Leave a message option if recipient isn't available for a FaceTime call
• Share voicemails from the Phone app using the share sheet
• Flight and package tracking for data detectors
• Health app adds support for reproductive health, UV exposure, water intake and sedentary state data types
• HomeKit adds support for motorized windows and shades, motion sensors and home security system accessories
• Podcasts has an all-new design, makes it easy to find the latest episodes of your favorite shows and notifies you when new episodes become available for you
• Support for Wi-Fi calling on iPad, iPod touch and Mac, without iPhone in proximity on participating carriers
• Wi-Fi Assist to automatically use cellular data when Wi-Fi connectivity is poor
• Transfer content from an Android device with the Move to iOS app, visit http://www.apple.com/move-to-ios for more details

Expanded language support

• New PingFang Chinese system font
• Improved predictions, learning and autocorrection for Chinese in QuickType
• Redesigned punctuation input on 10-key Chinese keyboard
• Redesigned User Interface for right-to-left languages
• Added Siri support for Austria, Belgium (French and Dutch), and Norway
• Added Spotlight search support for Mexico
• New keyboards for French (Belgium), German (Austria), Gujarati, Hindi (Transliteration), Hinglish, Punjabi, Spanish (Mexico), and Telugu
• Predictive input for French (Belgium), German (Austria), Korean, Russian, Spanish (Mexico), and Turkish
• Dictation support for Dutch (Belgium), English (Ireland, Philippines, South Africa), French (Belgium), German (Austria), and Spanish (Chile, Colombia)
• Spell check for Finnish and Korean
• Definition dictionary for Hindi, Norwegian and Swedish
• Bilingual dictionary for French-English and German-English
• New Japanese autocorrection and improved predictions and learning in QuickType
• Option to switch between number systems for Arabic and Hindi

Enterprise & Education

• Assign apps directly to iOS devices without needing to have an iTunes Store account configured
• Improved calendar reliability for customers using Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync v16
• Expanded Per App VPN support for the built-in IPSec and IKEv2 VPN clients
• New networking controls for managed apps to help limit international data roaming costs
• New restrictions to prevent changes to passcodes, device names and wallpapers, or to disable AirDrop on managed devices
• Third party app extension support for VPN, advanced content filtering, and captive Wi-Fi networks

Accessibility

• Touch Accommodations provides additional touch control for those with physical motor limitations
• Switch Control Recipes to customize features or create your own
• Support for Siri Voices for VoiceOver users
• Additional customization of AssistiveTouch
• Hardware keyboard support for Key Repeat, Slow Keys and Sticky Keys
• Improved MFi hearing aid audio routing to choose where audio is played

Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas, for more information visit: http://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability and http://www.apple.com/ios/whats-new

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

NoCoPilot wrote:

I can't recall Apple EVER having to release a bug fix update within days of a major OS update before.

Didn't they do the same thing with the last major update?

I don't see a thing on that list that I care about.

_Howard wrote:

Didn't they do the same thing with the last major update?

Huh, I guess you're right.  I did not remember this.

Wikipedia wrote:

iOS 8

HealthKit: Shortly after the release of iOS 8, Apple released a statement pointing out that a bug had been found in the operating system which prevented HealthKit-compatible apps from being released alongside iOS 8.[187] Apps already released that included Healthkit functionality were withdrawn from the App Store. iOS 8.0.1/8.0.2 included a fix for this issue.

Cellular: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users who updated to iOS 8.0.1 wirelessly had cellular service of their iPhones disabled due to a software issue. Over-the-Air downloads of iOS 8.0.1 were stopped within an hour of the release of the software, but many early adopters had been affected. This issue was fixed with the release of iOS 8.0.2 a day later.

Touch ID: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users who updated to iOS 8.0.1 wirelessly had Touch ID disabled due to a software error. Over-the-Air downloads of iOS 8.0.1 were stopped within an hour of the release of the software, but many early adopters had been affected. This issue was fixed with the release of iOS 8.0.2 a day later.

Users who updated phones with Touch ID enabled to iOS 8.3 found out that they could not use Touch ID to make App Store purchases.[188] A workaround has been devised by users to repair this issue.[189]

Performance: Many users of older generation devices such as the iPhone 4s and the iPad 2 reported performance issues with iOS 8. Apple has since released iOS 8.1.1 in attempt to fix the problem.

Keyboard: Several issues with the new Keyboard API in iOS 8 were reported, including problems with custom keyboards crashing or not appearing, or being replaced with the default keyboard. Apple has since released iOS 8.3 in attempt to fix the problem.

iMessage: When a specific set of Arabic, Unicode, and English characters are sent through iMessage to an iOS device running iOS 8.0 or later, it causes the device to crash. This bug was discovered by a reddit user in May 2015. Apple has since released a software update (iOS 8.4) to fix this issue.

_Howard wrote:

I don't see a thing on that list that I care about.

I can't believe you could be so cavalier about THIS:

Quote :

Spell check for Finnish and Korean

Or this:

Quote :

Definition dictionary for Hindi, Norwegian and Swedish

How have I managed to get along without that?

Well, you did before because you never had it. Everything's changed now.

Okay. I upgraded to 9.0.1. The only difference I notice is the display of open programs and the battery charge icon is a different color. And Apple added a couple more useless programs that I had to move to the junk folder because they don't let you delete them. And, of course, they changed a bunch of settings which I had to reset. I don't know why they feel compelled to do that.

My wife has an iPad Mini that she uses for business when out of town. Both the Mini and her iPhone are still on version 7.1 and have never given her any trouble at all. If I could go back to 7.1 on my iPhone, I would. It was much faster.

Apple really should do something about the manner in which these upgrades are handled. I think I have probably spent as much of my time in the last few years updating the iPhone as I spent in the past ten years updating the PC.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Then today, ANOTHER new update, iOS 9.01[/url], to deal with several bugs in the old one.  I can't recall Apple EVER having to release a bug fix update within days of a major OS update before.

And now ANOTHER update, 9.0.2. Has Apple hired staff from Microsoft?

Quote :

• Longer battery life
◦ Low power mode optimizes device performance to extend battery by up to an additional three hours

I don't know how long the battery life is extended when one uses low power mode, but it sure acts funny when recharging. I normally plug the phone into a USB port to recharge it. If I have it set on low power mode, the charge stops early - as early as 85% charged - and the phone pops up a message saying that the charge is sufficient. It doesn't tell you that it has turned off the low power mode, but it has. You have to go into settings and turn it back on. That seems like a strange way to do things. So I just turn off the low power mode before recharging.

That is a LOT of bug fixes for Apple.  Dunno who's asleep at the wheel since Steve died.

Why would you use low power mode; are you routinely going a couple days between charges?

Quote :

In real world testing we found the iPhone 6's battery lasted 35 hours of low mixed usage (including standby) and 14 hours of heavy usage, with the brightness set to 50%.

All this means that you can eek two days of life out of it if you're very careful, but on most days you'll head home after work with between 30-60% of your battery left depending on how much you use it.

NoCoPilot wrote:

That is a LOT of bug fixes for Apple.

Those are just fixes for bugs they introduced with their previous updates.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Dunno who's asleep at the wheel since Steve died.

Oh, fuck Steve!
These are the same programmers making the same errors they made while his holiness was alive. Dear Steve probably would not have allowed them to issue the fixes. It shows that they are capable of error and he spent his life denying that. He would have surreptitiously included them in a later "upgrade."

NoCoPilot wrote:

Why would you use low power mode; are you routinely going a couple days between charges?

Why would I not use low power mode?

_Howard wrote:

Why would I not use low power mode?

My apologies.

I forgot for a moment who I was talking to.

_Howard wrote:

These are the same programmers making the same errors they made while his holiness was alive. Dear Steve probably would not have allowed them to issue the fixes.

Or, they may have done some beta testing. Who knows.

If the errors were there all along, they couldn't have been too impactful. One never heard about them.

NoCoPilot wrote:

If the errors were there all along, they couldn't have been too impactful.  One never heard about them.

Unless one took the time to read the internet articles about the problems.

Apple published this about the low power mode:

Quote :

Low power mode optimizes device performance to extend battery by up to an additional three hours

I decided to look on the web about the low power mode. Turns out that it also slows the processor speed and reduces performance by up to forty percent. On a device that is weak to begin with, that is unacceptable. That answers the question of why would I not use low power mode. I've turned it off.

Yes, if you hobble a horse it won't win any races.

Especially if the horse only had three legs to begin with.

Of course, if all the horses in the race are hobbled, you still have a chance.

TRANSISTOR-GATE-GATE: Apple admits some iPhone 6Ses crappier than others

Quote :

Samsung-made mobe brains chomp through battery charges faster than TSMC chips

I'm getting really tired of this shit. Time to start considering an Android phone.

Yeah good plan

Are you saying that you don't get tired of the constant "updates"? Jesus H. Double-clutching Christ. It's worse than Windows updates.

I plugged my iPhone in to download the update via iTunes. It started out showing "11 hours remaining" and quickly worked its way up to "52 hours remaining" and has finally settled at "29 hours remaining." Time to quit.

I like to download the updates with iTunes and save them on disk while I wait to see if there are any significant problems reported before installing them. This is no longer viable, as the iTunes method has become - obviously - too slow. If I unplug the phone and let it update, it takes a reasonable amount of time. Even though it is using the same internet connection.

Sure I get tired of updates.  We've had, what, three now in thirty days?  That's unforgivable.

But they're free.  They take five minutes to download.  And I've never had a virus slip through.

Last time I checked, Windows always has a dozen or more "security bulletins" released the second Tuesday of every month.

Yes, they are free. Only a small portion of the population have access to the kind of internet connection speeds you enjoy. Five minutes? It takes longer than that for the damn phone to start up again after the download and installation.

I hate to say anything positive about Microsoft, but in this case, I must bite my tongue and go head on.
They actually released patches much more often that every second Tuesday. They were available on almost a daily basis, although the less-important ones were saved for that schedule.
We all know that Microsoft was subject to more problems because of the huge installed base. Microsoft was very good about releasing security patches as soon as a  new problem popped up and was resolved.
If one's computer was set for automatic updates, the user time involved in downloading updates was exactly zero. On rare occasion, the updates required a reboot of the computer to install, but this could be delayed until the next time the computer was started.
Overall, I found the Microsoft model of updating to be less intrusive than Apple's model.

Apple also has automated updates. You have to intentionally turn them on though, because the updates are so rare, and so quick, that most people don't need to run the automation process every night.

Unlike that OTHER company.