iPhone OS 2.0.2 Crashes: Too Many Applications?
We previously covered an issue apparently caused by iPhone OS 2.0.2 in which some third-party applications crash or do not launch, for many users. We've now received reports indicating that the problem is almost universally eliminated by reducing the number of applications installed on the iPhone.
Reader David Sternlight writes:
"After reviewing this further and discussing it with Apple support, it appears the quit on launch after splash screen problem with iPhone 3rd party apps is caused by a bug triggered by having 'too many' such apps on the iPhone. Reducing the number from 6 pages worth to a bit under 3 pages worth seems to provide a temporary fix. Apple is aware of the problem; it is high on their priority list."
A less-than-desirable fix to be sure.
Meanwhile, the following laborious process may also provide relief:
- On the iPhone go to Settings, General, Reset, and Erase All Content and Settings.
- On the host computer, in iTunes, navigate to Applications on left-hand bar.
- Click on any application, select all (command-A),and delete them (command-click on any one). When the options window comes up, select move to trash. Empty the trash.
- In iTunes, Sync the iPhone without any music or video selected.
- In iTunes, reinstall all desired apps.
- In iTunes, sync again.
- Add back desired music, video, etc via another sync
See our previous coverage for more fixes.
Some users have even had all apps working and audio and video show work again by adding a new song that has never been on the iPod or iPhone before.
Most users have run large numbers of apps with no problems for a long time before this problem happens so the number of apps does not seem to be the problem. More than likely having a large number of apps means that there is more of a chance that iTunes 7.7.1 will write back a corrupted DRM wrapper to an app back to the iPod or iPhone. Users of iTunes 7.7.0 are not having these problems and Apple has posted a link to iTunes 7.7.0 in the iPod Touch discussion group.
macfixit.com seems to be a little behind the curve on this one despite me posting the problem to them several days ago.
I have PWnaged V1 Iphone with 2.0.1 and Safari is crashing quite often.
I have less than 2 1/2 pages of Apps !
Also it take time to find my two Wifi spot !
I get a few messages and 1 minutes after I am attached ! it was not doing this in 1.x
Best
Cyril
so far, i have opened up nearly 20 apps - i will stress test to 60 - and all is good.
but the real acid test is the wink links - utube & safari which normally crash avery 2 or 3 minutes.
i will report the final results accordingly.
it would be sooooo nice if app designers would follow the standard "widget" style.
(normally, selecting the "i" badge/icon causes a well-behaved widget's interface to be flipped over so that the user can manage setup in-place instead of being dumped out into the browser .... and the the crazy part about that is that (a) the local browser has no way to communicate back with any the app (via IPC) and (b) the browser doesnt proxy its config data back up through the cloud so that it is automatically acknowledged by the local app -- which does NOT require the unreleased 'push' service for o/s ver2.1).
apple needs to introduce a reg/config framework that does more than just sign the app for security! (it needs to handles the normal conventions of an in-place UI).
Surely its better to leave the applications where they are and simply chose what you want under the 'Applications Tab for the iphone' going form 'Sync All' to "Sync Selected Apps" then select which ones you want to sync.
the itunes leaving backup copies on your hard drive is not a major issue nor is it an iphone one!
some apps don't work as they are not installed on the iphone properly in the first place. simply remove all apps form the iphone. (set to sync nothing) then add them in batches of 5 or so from itunes and you'll find they work.
throwing away a ?50 app makes no sense at all.
I have only had 2 apps not work on me - delete them from the iphone then sync them again reinstalling them and they will often run on the second install. there is no need for overkill or a 4 hour erase of the iphone form the " Erase All Content and Settings" settings either.
this is akin to throwing away the vehicle when the ashtray is full!!
"Deleting the applications in itunes may work but if these are PAID applications getting them again form the itunes store requires you to BUY them again."
This is not true. If you've paid for an application, you can delete if from both the iPhone and iTune. You may then go to the App store and "purchace" the application again. You'll be presented with a note that you've already paid for the application and it will download again for free.
I've had to do with an application that wouldn't launch I I did not have to buy it again.
WOW! This is really a badly conceived conclusion because it sure sounds like that a good chance that on those 3 removed pages of iPhone apps may have been the apps that are the real culprits so removing them of course will make things better.
The ONLY WAY to have tested this hypothesis would have been to delete and then reload every app that was also included on those 3 pages worth so during the course of testing all those apps were still loaded on the iPhone if only to the 3 page capacity. I bet no one has done that tedious amount of variable testing yet?
Hope this is clear? To say it was the number of apps vs the choice of apps that are on the iPhone one would have to make sure that what was removed was installed as well but only using up 3 pages worth.
-Peter
However, he is wrong on one point: man290663 says, "Deleting the applications in itunes may work but if these are PAID applications getting them again form the itunes store requires you to BUY them again."
This is NOT true. If you delete an app that you've bought, iTunes remembers that you've already purchased it and you can download it for free as many times as you want?even if you've deleted it accidentally or purposefully.
Well, not only did it fix that app, but it fixed ALL the other applications. They all launch properly, now.
So, to reiterate: The only thing I did was uninstall, then reinstall a single application. All the other failing applications started working. No restart was needed.
I haven't been able to repeat the fix, and I'm hoping I don't have to [before 2.1 comes out], but it looks promising.
- by boochkn December 16, 2008 7:03 AM PST
- I had this problem a while ago with 2.5 pages of apps...I reinstalled the apps I cared about to fix. Then over time I built back up to 2.5 pages with no problems...until after the latest update to itunes/iphone now it happened again!! I am using OG iPhone.
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