Apple is having a bad month. Sure, the company launched two new iPhones, introduced the world to their first wearable device, and debuted a brand-new NFC payment system, but for everything that went right something somewhere also seems to have gone horribly wrong.
It started with a heavily-promoted live stream that failed within minutes, then moved to a massive, probably overblown “scandal” over bent iPhones. There was also the sudden discovery of a critical flaw that prevented a key iOS 8 feature from being available at launch paired with the subsequent botched update that was supposed to fix the problem but instead left owners of the latest iPhones potentially stranded without cell service for well over 24 hours.
And that’s not even counting the highly-publicized scandal in which a number of celebrity iCloud accounts were allegedly compromised due to Apple’s insufficient security measures on certain functions. Oh, and let’s not forget about that U2 album nobody wanted but everybody got anyway.
The last thing Apple really needs is one more big problem mucking up its image this month. Unfortunately, that seems to be exactly what the folks at Cupertino are getting today, as a newly-discovered bug in the iOS “reset settings” function runs the risk of permanently deleting all of the iWork documents stored in your iCloud account.
As discovered by MacRumors, using iOS 8’s “reset settings” button may reset more than just your settings. Despite the popup notifying you that no media or documents will be deleted, there have been multiple confirmed reports of users losing all of their iWork documents after using the option. Whether this problem affects other applications has yet to be seen, though the user who first noted the problem has indicated that only Apple’s productivity apps were impacted.
These documents don’t just disappear from the iOS device, either. They vanish from the web-based iCloud Drive manager and computers running OS X Yosemite. If you happen to have a backup for your files (and you should!), you can retreive the files from there. If you don’t have a backup, you’re out of luck. Your documents are gone forever.
According to the original report, Apple support teams are working to attempt to recover data that was deleted by this bug for users who reported it, so if you’ve been affected by this you should try reaching out to the company immediately for help. There’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to get your documents back, though.
Earlier today we reported that Apple was currently working on three significant updates for iOS 8 to be released over the next month and beyond (with the first beta of these updates already available for developers), likely to enable features such as Apple Pay and compatiblity with the Apple Watch. Hopefully this indicates that the company plans to rapidly address issues as the arise in the mobile operating system, though as we saw with the 8.0.1 update, a rapid response may not exactly be preferable to one that works properly.
We’ve (unfortunately) come a long way from the days of “It just works.” Here’s hoping we can get back there sooner rather than later.
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Surely, the other Steve, the great one, is turning and churning in his grave
I think you’re right. It is a shame that Apple has really dropped the execution they were known for.
Mike kindly left out the whole Apple on-line store fiasco on September 12.
It’s taken my wife and I almost 2 weeks to undo what AT&T did when I made the mistake when Apple didn’t open.
Juggling too many devices. It is their fault for being so greedy as to differentiate by limiting features. If each iteration of iPhone and iPad shared the same features they would need not optimize so many different versions of iOS, they could simply mirror one or two.
Apple clearly can’t handle the increasing number of devices in their catalogue, worst of the really have nothing impressive to show any more. It is just disaster after disaster, underwhelming reveals and conferences. Everything is rushed at Apple now, quality control seems a thing of the past.
Just wait until they start dropping support for devices after 2 years instead of 4. They would rather milk features out of their current devices and limit them each iteration that adapt a sensible and fair approach. Why is OIS, Landscape mode and FHD display absent from iPhone 6? Next years smaller iPhone will have this years bigger iPhone’s features.. talk about cheating your customers.
All this “bad news” is just marketing by Apple’s competitors. The fact is that Apple has just released the very best smartphones the world has ever seen, far overshadowing the prior best smartphone on the market: the iPhone 5S.
The competition was yet again caught with its pants down, so all the competition can do is release a load of bull**** in order to hope that the anti-Apple rhetoric will confuse and scare off some buyers. It certainly works a bit, but it is really Apple’s competitor’s last gasp.
Let’s look at the economic situation regarding these anti-Apple pundits: individuals purchased and destroyed new phones and published them on youtube. Why? Because it is PROFITABLE. Regardless of the accuracy of the reporting in the media (“Some users report iPhone 6 has problems”), these anti-Apple folks are making GREAT money.
But that’s just ad dollars. Also consider the marketing dollars that Google or Samsung are likely handing out to these so-called “independent reporters”, either through actual cash, free product, or other means. It most certainly happens, as it isn’t illegal. It’s just immoral. Or, as Google says: Evil.
@ FAME: re: “device support” being 4 years.
Currently software support on iOS devices is two years, not four. Hardware support is just the first month unless you pay, or unless the problem was not caused by you, then it’s a year.
@ Standardpull…… couldn’t agree with you more. It doesn’t seem to be impacting iPhone sales (other than I can’t get my hands on the model I want in my 80,000 population town). And now with China finally certifying them for sale in that country, the sky’s the limit.
The downside to all the B.S. on the internet is that it is wreaking havoc on their stock, though they have bounced back for the most part. had the execution of all that has transpired in the last few weeks come off without a hitch, their stock may have increased by 10% or more. Fortunately analysts with credibility are seeing through all the negative press (which the internet absolutely thrives on) and raising their estimates for the yearly gains.
I’m really eager to see what they are introducing in their Oct. event. What I’m hoping for most is the recently rumored 5K iMac 27. I’ll buy that in a heart beat now that I shoot in 4K. I’ll also jump on the 6Plus as soon as I get to my winter home in Vegas in a couple weeks – where there are at least 5 Apple stores.
Oh puh-leeeeeze… you may SHOOT in 4K, but I can only hope you’re not stupid enough to EDIT in 4K… talk about a complete waste of resources. In which case some Retina iMac isn’t going to offer anything of value as far as that’s concerned either.
When has Apple ever launched a new and major software product without issue even under Steve Jobs? Do you remember Mobile Me or Apple Maps? It happens to the best ones. MS had certainly had their issues (Vista) as did Google, although in Google’s case, they usually release products in many, many small chunks, essentially alleviating the impact bugs have on users.
You realise of course how long Google stays “in beta” for anything they do, right?? Literally YEARS. Talk about a cheap way of covering your ass to have an excuse when something DOES (and DID) happen. “Hey, it’s BETA! Whad’ya expect??”
Google is just such a seething shit-hole of a company. Seriously.
Cmon, do I really need to comment?
I hate to pile on but the brand loyalty and automatically accepting/buying anything Apple does has come home to roost.
If Apple knows you will buy its products regardless why should it invest in R & D or quality control?
Make all companies earn your business with innovative products that work!
And, of course, everyone’s favorite TROLL is here to add his useless comments – like (and I quote) “I hate to pile on but . . .”! Herb – are you like Piochio, did your nose just grow a few inches?
And that’s all the electrons I’ll waste on ‘Ol Herb the Troll!
9to5mac should block him finally…
Actually that post was quite valid.
Hooray! Fresh meat on the Troll-in-Training horizon!
I agree with the notion that Apple’s mobile product quality (both the new iPhones and iOS 8) has suffered a blow this time round (moreso on the software side). It isn’t up to spec. We expect better from Apple. We expect these sorts of issues to happen to “them” (whoever they are), but not “us” (Apple).
I disagree with the notion that this is intentional (that Apple is saying “they’ll buy anyways, so lets not work as hard”). Apple certainly needs to invest more into testing their products and removing the rough edges (like they used to), but I don’t think that the lack thereof we are seeing now is a result of them thinking they can get away on loyalty alone.
or maybe just slow down. Instead of going on a yearly cadence for OSX & iOS, why not go release major x.0 releases every other year with x.1, x.2, etc. releases (a combination of bug fixes and new feature(s)) in between? No need to try and bite off more than you can chew. When major OSX releases were ever 2 years, it wasn’t like people were complaining, at least none that I noticed.
Not sure if the comment was directed towards me but I wasn’t implying that Apple’s mistakes were intentional. Who intentionally screws up? It’s when shortcuts are taken (or funding isn’t adequate) that mistakes happen.
Cultist brand loyalty gives them a free pass.
But at least it’s shiny. For now.
Quite the pathetic little ad hominem troll-turd, ain’t ya Herbyboy? That welfare check STILL hasn’t shown up, eh?
Why can’t Apple build some sort of Time Machine Backup into iCloud data? They push that feature for backing up your Macs but it would be really great to have that for people who depend on iCloud.
On the topic of Time Machine Backups, one thing I wish Apple would do is utilize the Time Capsules for more than backing up your Mac. It should allow me to backup my iOS devices and would also create a more pleasant experience when you need to restore them while on your home network. Those iOS device backups on a Time Capsule should be able to sync during off-peak hours to iCloud so they’ll truly be backed up in the event you needed to restore your iOS device away from your home network.
I also wish there was another advanced feature that you could enable on your Time Capsule: the ability to have Mac OS X and iOS updates for your specific devices downloaded and waiting for you to install while on your home network. I don’t have this problem since I live in the US, but for people in other countries with bandwidth restrictions imposed by their ISPs could greatly benefit from a feature like this.
Or am I the only one who likes these ideas?
What about Apple’s CarPlay?? I have the Pioneer system that was ready to be working with CarPlay since March, but Apple has failed to release it!
Wow… Not embarrassing at all! But honestly…. this has been going on for a very long while. Not sure what the fix is…. either staff up or the need to show people to the door. But I’d say they just blew it big time with business customers. Sad thing is, the writing has been on the wall since iOS 7 / Mavericks beta. Repeated heavily with Yosemite beta at WWDC. Hope they get it together.
It gets even worse than that. This evening, iCloud is no longer syncing calendars. Tim Cook has truly dropped the ball at a company where once upon a time, everything “just worked”.
not that it’s acceptable, but to give credit to TC, Mobile Me & iCloud in 2011 didn’t exactly just work, and that was under Steve’s watch. This is really about culture and Apple’s cultural strengths lie in great hardware / OS integration. Their culture never really revolved around having scalable, cloud-based services as a core strength.
Maybe it’s time for Eddy Cue to step down and let some one else who has cloud services chops to take over the Software & Service side of the company.
It’s probably a safe bet that 2011 wasn’t a very good year for Steve Jobs.
Apparently several million people listening to the U2 album and probably a fair amount of those people actually liking it (shocker!) adds up to “an album nobody wanted.” But hey, keep repeating that line because that’s all anyone will remember.
It doesn’t matter whether or not people liked it. It shouldn’t have ever been added to users’ purchases (which subsequently allowed for it to be automatically downloaded to devices with that option enabled) in the first place. Make it free, by all means. But don’t shove it down my throat.
The premise opens the door a whole new level of music promotion. You thought Facebook promoted posts were bad? Just wait until random music starts downloading itself to your device.
I was only taking issue with the statement that “nobody wanted” that album, which is demonstrably not true.
I know that on my iPhone, it wasn’t “downloaded”, it was in iCloud and I could have chosen to add it to my device if I wanted to.
And I do like the miracle
What a load of BS. Since there is literally no way at all you can tell how many people “bought” the U2 album, nor how many of those actually listened to it, your first statement is a bold fantasy at best. After that, why would I even bother to read on?
U2 hasn’t done anything original since their first album in 1980. A lot of old geezers like Tim Cook still think they are cool, but if Steve Jobs was still here, he wouldn’t have bothered with the giveaway.
At least Jobs always liked *new* music, and was always looking ahead, not nostalgically back to his 80’s party days. If there is a thing that is the exact *antithesis* of what Apple should be, or wants to be, or has been in the past … it’s “nostalgic.”
“What a load of BS.”
Thanks for the spoiler at the beginning there. You weren’t kidding either!
Never mind that Steve was the one to get U2 on board to begin with and even gave them their own iPod etc. etc. etc. and that he only played his favourite OLD music at demos. But DO continue with your utterly clueless blather. It’s fascinating.
Apple is back to pre-Steve era. This actually started way back with Apple Maps and the iOS7 minimalistic aberration.
Please explain this bad week. Leave out the media overhyped fluff please and concentrate on facts.
40,000 users of 10-20 million updating to 10.8.1 might count, but in the overall scheme of things… ?
What else? We talking bendgate?
And how serious do you think this bug really is. How many times does a person do the erase all exactly?
HYPE HYPE HYPE.. lets all pile on to what we call fantasy land.
Apple sells in one weekend what it used to take 6 years (95-2000) of sales to get a similar user base. The stakes are higher.
They are the ones that called themselves out as “it just works” not us. If you call yourself a burger joint and you stop selling burger you deserve the bad press.
And bend gate? “Would you put your MacBook in your pocket? Duh!” NO. I also wouldn’t take my MacBook fishing, mowing the lawn, running, to the doctors office, to the bathroom, to work, on my motorcycle, nor do I sleep with it and never let it leave my site for more than 20 seconds during waking house. The comparison doesn’t make sense. I also don’t carry around my 2,000 LED TV or my 2,500 refrigerator. In fact, since my iPhone at 1,000 and my downstairs LED are the same price and sort of do the same thing let’s compare them too. Why isn’t my iPhone screen 52″? Where is the Included remote control? Why isn’t there an HDMI in/out? Where is the memory card port? (Oh, the last two actually hit close to home). If we are comparing what we do with expensive things why won’t my iPhone cook my dinner?
It’s a portable device. It’s made to be portable. So much like I expect my refrigerator to cool my beer (which is a part of its CORE function much like MOBILE electronics are made to be MOBILE) then I expect my MOBILE electronics to be, gasp, MOBILE. Part of that is being slightly more drop proof than my LED TV, dryer, and massive fish tank which are all in sort of the same monetary ballpark. Oh, and I expect my PHONE to be able to make calls. All the time. If my fridge cut out randomly for a day it would actually probably affect my life less than my phone cutting out for 24 hours.
In short, the MILLIONS of people that now buy Apple products in 2 days have a right to be pissed off. And apple doesn’t have that niche market that is patient with them anymore. Call it a perk of being the largest company in the world and all…
Only problem with your equally idiotic comparisons is: during NONE of those activities could you BEND your phone either, unless you’re a complete DOOFUS to begin with.
And there IS an (optional) HDMI out and your bullshit “memory port” is called “THE CLOUD”. Since ironically the addition of exactly THAT kind of nonsense is, if anything, would make the phone that much LESS ridged, thicker and CRAPPED-UP prone. But hey, no one expects some rabid moron to actually use his HEAD for his “arguments”.
And don’t bother keeping anything IN ACTUAL PERSPECTIVE in your bizarre, solipsistic rant-drivel. Since it has in fact already been proven (scientifically and NOT from some douche with an agenda and his friggen CAP ON BACKWARDS *facepalm*) that the iPhone 6’s are in fact neither the WEAKEST nor the strongest phones out there, so maybe stick a sock in it? And if you’re stupid enough to think (for mindless ranting purposes only) leaving a faulty update up for a full NINETY-MINUTES could have affected an actual RELEVANT amount of people (what? like 100 tops?? *MILLIONS* MY ASS!! LOL!! What brainless nonsense!), then you’re on drugs. As if ANY of this made the iPhone any less “gasp, MOBILE”! LOL… what are you smoking exactly??
But feel free to buy into any and all ad hominem BULLSHIT you’re fed that (factually) has no real merit other than to ride the tired and mind-numbing “Diss Apple” boat for the sake of clicks and self-promotion.
Guess who’s the (douchey) TOOL now?
Absolutely magnificent post!
I know. Thanks.
Guys, it’s about to get even worse. Another new flaw shows that Autocomplete is using your passwords to suggest things!
COMPLETE BS!
Unless you were STUPID enough to write it out somewhere in PLAIN TEXT, then there is *no way* that it could know it. So maybe try not to spread new, BIGGER BS stories?
And learn how to use your phone.
No one has said it, so I guess I will.
If you don’t back up your files, you actually DESERVE to lose them all one day. If on the other hand you do backup your files, then this bug is not such a big deal is it?
Actually most people used their icloud – as their BACK UPs! So maybe you should STFU!
So you’re saying that people deserve to lose their files that they trusted with Apple. While having backups of files is grand in idea, it’s possible that backups were made only once weekly/monthly and maybe not since files were changed last. Or maybe those were the actual backups for some people and maybe the accidentally deleted their working files when resetting their phone thinking it would be safe in iCloud.
Wow. Sir, I hope you one day contract HIV.
The only seemingly logical explanation is, at this time, that Tim is running a “looser” ship than Steve ever did. And while many are anxious to celebrate the change, the downsides are now all popping up at pretty much the same exact time.
Bloggers can spin this however they like, but it’s fairly apparent that Apple is suffering from some considerable internal mismanagement–but the buck stops at Tim. I’m a huge Apple fan, but this is just getting embarrassing to read about week after week.
Perhaps the upsides will emerge victorious and the internal structural changes will eventually be vindicated, as they so often are in well-organized systems and companies like Apple. But as a fan of Apple–and Apple-related media–reading the constant positive spin on blunder after blunder is getting tiresome.
It’s time for supporters of Apple to investigate what’s going on, get some inside scoops, and do the right thing by reporting what’s best for Apple, and not how what they’re doing now is the best for everyone else. Because it isn’t.
What is wrong with all of you? Am I scarred from reading the piece about how Apple fans the blogger fires in their favour or is it just that everyone on here is willing to give Apple the benefit of the doubt NO MATTER WHAT? Honestly, I feel like half the accounts on here are Paid Apple shills.
This is worse than the maps fiasco. I was grilled and toasted over posting negative opinions of maps and then eventually Apple apologized, crazy Scott was fired over it and now everyone agrees it was an Apple misstep.
Look BEYOND the half bitten Apple and think about how you would react if Ford accidentally disabled your new car for 24 hours. Or the city accidentally turned off your electricity for 24 hours. You would all go crazy. Instead this group would be saying “well, I can still use it if I push it down a steep hill. Did those fools who buy GM start all this negativity? Or “I’m sure the city had good reasons. Maybe they were trying to bring my family closer together. I bet Shelbyville citizens used their 24 hours of power to watch TV in seperate rooms from their spouses”
INSANITY!!!!
Numerologically, every September is a very special month, where all open issues of the current year close up so that the transition period to the new year can begin on October 1. So, all kinds of weird situations can happen to allow that. No surprises here for people who follow this particular stream of thought…
Actually, more than anything else, I’m surprised about me talking about this openly – being a software engineer academically. I’m no numerologist but by writing software for a Pythagorean one, I’ve come to learn quite a bit.
So here’s a tiny bit of numerology on Apple… (since I’m not really qualified). I used 1.4.1976 as its birthday. The weird bit (I’m starting to become a believer in this thing) is about its current opportunities and hurdles… (though the terms I’ve been given are meant to apply to humans).
– Up to age 35 (2011) its opportunity lied on “freedom, change, adaptability, open-mindedness” and had obstacles on “creativity, communication, self expression, optimism”. 2011 is the year Jobs died!
– From 35 to 44 it has an opportunity on “harmony, balance” and its obstacles are on “self-discipline, stability, handling day to day (mundane) tasks”. Ha! Rings a bell? 44 is 2020.
– 2014 for Apple is a year for “creativity, self expression, optimism” (or “wasting oneself, pessimism” on the negative side). 2015 is a year for “self-discipline, stability, practicality, handling earthly, day-to-day issues” but can become a bit mundane and boring.
The info above is at best 0.5% of what can be learned. All in all, I can see about 40% of its numerological “psychological” portrait and there’s a lot more after that.
So, the bigger picture is that we’re all on an individual path with its ups and downs, its positive and negative aspects. It’s best to know it and work on manifesting its positive sides, and the same applies to Apple as well.
As for 9.9.2014… that was a not-very-brilliant day to launch any products. Numerologically it was a day for “esoteric wisdom, spiritual perfection, research, analytical thought” and this kind of things and its negative side was “introversion, esoteric chaos” etc. Not good, Apple, not good.
Having said that, 9.9 as a personal day (for Apple) was a day for “communication, creativity and optimism”. Hmmm, maybe they do consult a numerologist, after all…
Yeah… and I’m a Sagittarius and am going to get laid all this week, crap gold coins all next week, and then have triplets. All that of course ONLY if I turn circles to the RIGHT 14 times whilst chanting “OM NOM” every odd numbered calendar day when the sun crests the horizon. Perfect timing is of the essence.
*facepalm*
I totally agree, lin2logger. You do need to facepalm yourself. Multiple times. Go ahead, it’ll attune you better with your state of mind…
LOL… you just keep clinging to your little dream world there, bud.
Doofus.
Reading through all the comments – so far – we have both the Apple Lovers and the Herbs!
Can we all agree that Apple has certainly made some mis-steps – though, nothing fatal. Yes, they still make a great product – from the Aesthetics of the design through the implementation to the final products. It seems that most of the problems I’ve seen it’s been flawed execution of the output, from the streaming of the product introduction through last nights iCloud fiasco.
But I sincerely believe that Apple will correct itself – and we may never know how, but Apple will right itself and get back to the Company and Products that we expect and love.
And as for the bloggers and “bendgate” – see that for the smokescreen it was: FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) from the people who are attempting to compete with Apple and it’s products.
Apple is surely doing something wrong with iCloud Drive. I just can’t understand why it is so difficult for them do create a decent cloud storage solution. http://eldartech.com/news/apple-one-step-away-from-ruining-icloud-drive
A little slimy self-promotion goes a long way. Bravo.