Are your iOS apps crashing on your iPhone or iPad? You’re not alone, and there is an answer as to why this is happening.
It’s been a chaotic Friday for Apple users, who are reporting that several iOS apps are crashing when they try to use them on their iPhone or iPad. The broken apps include Spotify, Pinterest, Tinder and TikTok, according to a report by The Verge.
A search on DownDetector appears to confirm the issue, with spikes appearing for the impacted apps. So, what’s going on?
It seems we have an answer to at least why this is happening, even if we don’t know when exactly it will be fixed. Back in May I reported a very similar issue was causing chaos for iOS users. At the time, multiple apps were crashing including some of the same ones such as Spotify, Tinder and Pinterest.
It was caused by an issue in the Facebook software development kit (SDK) used by many apps for sign in. Even if you don’t use Facebook to sign into apps—which I don’t recommend you do for security reasons—you might still find your apps are having issues. The reason for this is that the SDK might be part of apps as an option even if it’s not being used, so the issue will still affect you.
The evidence that this same problem is happening again is pretty compelling. Facebook confirmed the issue this morning, saying on its Developer Platform: “We are aware and investigating an increase in errors on the iOS SDK which is causing some apps to crash.”
Facebook sent me a statement via email, which reads: “We’re aware that some applications are currently affected by an issue in our Facebook iOS SDK. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.”
It’s certainly annoying, but the good news is, Facebook knows something is up and is working on a fix. As for the bad news: We don’t know how long this will be.
I’ll update this story when I have more information on when a fix is coming.
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Update July 10 at 09:29 PT
Facebook has now fixed the issue. It sent me a statement which reads: “Earlier today, a code change triggered crashes for some iOS apps using the Facebook SDK. We identified the issue quickly and resolved it. We apologise for any inconvenience.”
I’m a freelance cybersecurity journalist with over a decade’s experience writing news, reviews and features. I report and analyze breaking cybersecurity and privacy
I’m a freelance cybersecurity journalist with over a decade’s experience writing news, reviews and features. I report and analyze breaking cybersecurity and privacy stories with a particular interest in cyber warfare, application security and data misuse by the big tech companies. In addition to Forbes, you can find my work in Wired, The Times, The Economist and The Guardian. Contact me at [email protected].