App Store glitch crashes some Mac, iOS apps

An issue with Apple Inc.'s App Store is being eyed behind the crashing of some newly updated apps for the iOS and Mac platforms, a creator of one such app said.

 

Marco Arment, developer of the Instapaper app, said he sensed something wrong when he was "deluged" by users' email and tweets complaining his app crashed.

 

"Lots of anxiety and research led me to the problem: a seemingly corrupt update being distributed by the App Store in many or possibly all regions. And this is happening to other apps, not just Instapaper, updated in the last few days," he said.

 

He said his investigation showed the affected apps would crash immediately on launch, even after a delete and reinstall - so long as the corrupt file is being served by the App SAtore.

 

A separate article on tech site The Next Web said the issue appeared to have affected users in the US and UK though not in Australia.

 

It said Instapaper's issue was fixed when Arment reached out to Apple with details of the problem, but Apple "provided no feedback to him and is yet to comment or acknowledge any issue publicly."

 

"We’ve found that a number of other newly update apps work fine, despite the crash issues that these apps are facing," it added.

 

On the other hand, it said even a free version of Rovio’s Angry Birds series app may have been affected.

 

The Next Web also posted a partial list of apps being affected by the issue. As of 7:50 p.m. Manila time, these include:

 

 

 — TJD, GMA News