Let’s admit it, everyone makes mistakes. It’s human nature. But when you become the most valuable company in the world you can’t afford to make mistakes. Not as big as pushing an update that renders an iPhone useless and disabling a security feature.
Yesterday Apple pushed iOS 8.0.1 to the public. This update brought a handful of fixes, but at the same time broke two major features that make the iPhone unique. With iOS 8.0.1 Touch ID — Apple’s fingerprint sensor — was ultimately broken, and more importantly the update broke support for general cellular support. Users who’ve updated to iOS 8.0.1 have noticed that their device was stuck in a permanent “No Service/Searching….” loop.
Fortunately Apple has since pulled the update, preventing any further damage. Apple has also left the signing window open for iOS 8.
The company has also published a support document documenting how to downgrade from iOS 8.0.1 to iOS 8. It’s also worth noting that the update only affects iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users. This support document also notes that iOS 8.0.2 should be released in a couple of days which should resolve these issues.
This situation was a bit blown up in my opinion. Most users don’t update as soon as a new version comes out. In fact, most users wait until they get notified to update. We’re geeks, we want the latest and greatest but we don’t make up the entire population. The iOS 8.0.1 fiasco is probably a smaller issue than the #BendGate nonsense going around. Which shouldn’t be an issue in the first place.
[…] Wednesday’s fiasco with iOS 8.0.1 breaking thousands of users phones, Apple has finally pushed iOS 8.0.2 to the public. In this […]