Major iOS outage sees dozens of apps crash for frustrated Apple users

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Major iOS outage sees dozens of apps crash for frustrated Apple users including Spotify, TikTok, Tinder and Pinterest ‘because of Facebook log in issue’

  • Apple customers have also reported difficulty accessing dozens of popular apps 
  • Experts pointed to a bug in Facebook’s software development kit (SDK) 
  • Facebook said it is aware of crashes on ioS and is investigating urgently

By Jack Elsom and Joe Pinkstone For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Dozens of the world’s most popular apps including Spotify and MailOnline are crashing for frustrated iPhone users in what appears to be a flurry of linked outages.

Apple customers have also reported difficulty accessing Tik Tok, Tinder and Pinterest on their phones amid fears of a Facebook bug grinding them to a halt. 

The spike in complaints coincided with the beta launch of ioS 14, although it is not believed the new software triggered the crashes.

Experts pointed to a malfunction in Facebook’s software development kit (SDK) – the login tool used by apps – which could be corrupting the apps.

Developers at the social media giant acknowledged the problem and said: ‘We are aware and investigating an increase in errors on the iOS SDK which is causing some apps to crash.’ 

A Facebook spokesperson added it was urgently trying to weed out and fix the issue. 

The Down Detector website which tracks reported issues for each major app logged a surge in over 12,000 complaints for Spotify today, with much of the outages concentrated in Europe

Apple customers have also reported difficulty accessing Facebook, Tik Tok and Pinterest (pictured) on their phones amid fears of a bug grinding them to a halt

 Apple customers have also reported difficulty accessing Facebook, Tik Tok and Pinterest (pictured) on their phones amid fears of a bug grinding them to a halt

Spotify suggested it was experiencing a wide-spread outage and tweeted: ‘Something’s out of tune. We’re currently investigating, and we’ll keep you posted here!’

The Down Detector website which tracks reported issues for each major app logged a surge in over 12,000 complaints for Spotify today, with much of the outages concentrated in Europe.

Spotify quickly started trending on Twitter as the social networking site was flooded with complaints from people facing both issues with streaming and complete blackouts.

Exasperated iPhone users shared footage of them trying to open the app but finding it immediately shut down, while deleting and re-installing the app does not fix it.

Other apps then began dropping like flies, including social media platform Pinterest, dating apps Tinder and Bumble, traffic app Waze, and the hugely popular video site Tik Tok, which yesterday revealed it was experiencing trouble. 

Video games which also use Facebook log-ins on Apple including Call of Duty were also reported down, while Android users appeared to escape the outages.  

The wave of crashes echoes a similar mass outage in May, which was caused by a problem with Facebook’s SDK.  

The Down Detector website which tracks reported issues for each major app logged a surge in over 12,000 complaints for Spotify today, with much of the outages concentrated in Europe

The Down Detector website which tracks reported issues for each major app logged a surge in over 12,000 complaints for Spotify today, with much of the outages concentrated in Europe

Europe appeared to bear the brunt of the outages, according to the Down Detector website

But disgruntled IPhone users from across the globe piled on to Twitter to share their frustration about being frozen out of their beloved apps.

One person tweeted Waze: ‘I’m getting an immediate crash when opening the app on latest iOS on iPhone 11. Reinstalled app, rebooted, still happening. Any known issues or fixes?’

What is causing all the apps to crash?  

Many apps are currently crashing and failing to open when requested. 

It is believed the issue is not with Apple, but with Facebook. 

Facebook, the tech giant which owns WhatsApp and Instagram, runs its Software development kit (SDK). 

This is used by a huge amount of app developers who base their own product on this software. 

Any app which uses a Facebook account to log in to an account uses the SDK, such as Spotify, Waze and Tinder.

However, other apps which do not require a user to log in also use the SDK – such as MailOnline and TikTok. 

Facebook admitted it was experiencing ‘an increase in errors on the iOS SDK which is causing some apps to crash’ just after noon BST. 

According to its own report, the issue started about 11:20 UK time.

On the Facebook site, the issue is described. 

Facebook says: ‘The outage seems to have spiked and receded, with a few “aftershocks”, we are continuing to monitor it.’

The crashing is caused by a problem with how Facebook’s servers sends data back to the app. 

When everything is working correctly, the Facebook SDK communicates back and forth with a data server and everything is speaking the same digital ‘language’

However, if the data is sent back from the server to a client app (such as MailOnline, Bumble or Pinterest), in a different format, this new ‘language’ is incompatible. 

This means apps are receiving gibberish from the server and the app tries to process it, but can not. 

It then crashes and causes a fatal error, triggering the entire app to close.  

There is little that can be done by users, as the issue can only be fixed by Facebook’s engineers.