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Apple is pushing out corrupted apps, remains silent on the matter (Update: Apple responds)

Update: Apple has now responded to developers complaints regarding the issue in its Developer Forums and according to TechCrunch told one developer a dedicated team is working on a fix. The following statement is from Apple’s forums:

“We are aware of the issue related to apps crashing after update. We are currently working on resolving the issue. Stay tuned for updates.”

As highlighted by Instapaper developer Marco Arment, Apple appears to be pushing out corrupted updates that cause a number of apps to crash immediately after launching. The issue was first noticed by Arment following an update to version 4.2.3 of Instapaper late last night, and Apple has yet to issue a statement or a potential fix for the problem.

[tweet https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/220881862271320064]

Arment described the issue and provided a list of known affected apps:

Characterizations of this issue:

  • The app crashes immediately on launch, every time, even after a delete and reinstall as long as the corrupt file is being served by the App Store.
  • It doesn’t even show the Default.png before crashing. Just a split-second of a partial fade to black, then back to Springboard.
  • It may only affect customers in some regions.
  • If updating from iTunes, some customers might get a dialog citing error 8324 or 8326.
  • Mac apps might show this dialog:
    “[App] is damaged and can’t be opened. Delete [App] and download it again from the App Store.”
  • The console might show:AppleFairplayTextCrypterSession::fairplayOpen() failed, error -42110

Arment noted a couple hours after he started raising the issue online, a functional version of Instapaper appeared to be distributed after reinstalling the app. However, he is not sure if Apple fixed the problem or if it is “simply because time passed, which may, for instance, expire a cache with the bad data.” Needlessly to say, Arment suggested developers wait a few days before issuing update. Known affected apps are listed below. We will, of course, keep you updated as we learn more:

[tweet https://twitter.com/marcoarment/status/220888569735159809]

Developers of Readdle noticed the issue with update 4.1 of its Scanner Pro app and provided some more information:

The problem was in the App Store distribution system. iTunes servers were sending corrupted application packages to many users, mostly in the US and UK. Sometimes immediate reinstall worked. For others, it took several hours to receive a valid archive… Less than 1% users downloading the update faces the problem for now.

Known affected apps:

    • Instapaper, obviously
    • Aboalarm
    • Angry Birds Space Free
    • Angry Birds Space HD Free
    • AroundCal
    • Bird Song Id
    • Bunker Buster
    • Checkout Helper
    • CincyMobile
    • CLM iPlanner
    • Cocktailpedia
    • CommBank Kaching
    • Cubemen
    • DocuNotes+
    • Dolphin HS Browser
    • Dosecast
    • Dunno
    • Festival d’Avignon OFF 2012
    • FlattrCast
    • Flick Soccer
    • Flight International
    • Gaia GPS
    • Gluddle
    • GoodReader (more)
    • Heart Booth Free
    • Heart Booth HD Free
    • Huffington
    • iBike Moto
    • Ice Age Village
    • iCoyote Europe
    • iDesign
    • iMieiFarmaci
    • iPronto To Do
    • iPronto To Do HD
    • iPronto To Do Lite
    • iPronto To Do Lite HD
    • iQIF
    • iQuikDoF
    • iTankster
    • Letris 2
    • Letris Power
    • Lords & Knights
    • Lucky Slots
    • M6
    • Mag+ Reviewer
    • Maps 3D
    • Maps 3D Lite
    • Mayvio Budget
    • Measure Map
    • Measure Map Lite
    • Meetup
    • Melodies Pro
    • MemoryBrands
    • Metronome+
    • MoPho
    • OrderPat Server
    • outdooractive
    • Pair
    • PDX Bus
    • Phoster
    • Pinball Maniacs
    • Please Stay Calm
    • Qwak
    • Readdle Scanner Pro (more)
    • Redshift
    • Samurai vs Zombies Defense
    • Ski Safari
    • Skoobe
    • Slotomania
    • SMARTReporter (Mac)
    • SmartScan+OCR
    • Stack the States
    • Stat E&M Coder
    • Tap Sonic
    • Tap’N Ride
    • TEDiSUB
    • The Early Edition 2
    • The Magic of Reality
    • Threadnote
    • @View
    • W9
    • Wakaru
    • Word Lens

Updated list on Marco’s blog…

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Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.