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eeyack Author

Level 1

5 points

iPhone 6 plus crashes when I download, update or delete any apps

I just got my iPhone 6 plus 128 gb (iOS 8.0.2) on Friday (9/26/14) I started it as a new phone and used it for a day and it all worked fine as far as I could tell (there weren't many apps I tried, but the couple I downloaded to test seemed to work out). I backed up my iPhone 5s 64 gb and then restored the new phone to that backup and have had nothing but problems since. Every time I download, update or delete any app the phone crashes. The white apple appears and it takes a few minutes for it to turn back on. I have repeated this error at least 50 times now and it happens every time. Sometimes it will crash if I try to do too many things in too short a period of time as well. I understand that this is a new phone and a new version of the operating system and glitches are to be expected. I'm not looking to complain so much as I am just looking for some hope that this can be resolved. I have read of similar issues and the consensus seems to be that I will have to start over as a new device and download the apps individually from scratch. This is really not a great option for me though. This is my 5th iPhone (6th if you count the 5s and ran through the washing machine in February) and I have a lot of information saved from over the years that I don't really want to lose. I have already tried re-restoring it from the backup and it's the same result. I don't know, maybe they'll fix it with another update. fingers crossed.

iPhone 6 Plus

Posted on Sep 29, 2014 5:52 AM

66 replies

Oct 4, 2014 1:27 AM in response to MarcOliver

I have noticed, that the white apple crashes and the wrong display of emojis for example are more often hour by hour.

So you have to turn back in normal mode and then in zoom mode again. And the device will work fine for one and half day.

It seems we have to do this again and again til Apple will fix it in an update.

It is a temorary solution and can be explained with the rendering bugs on 6 plus devices.

JasHayre

Level 1

7 points

Oct 4, 2014 3:40 PM in response to BigDave469

I too have a iPhone 6 Plus 128GB, and am plagued with the constant crashing problem.

I just told Apple that if it is not fixed in 2-3 days, I will reject the phone for a full refund.

Oct 7, 2014 4:29 AM in response to drwmorales

Update.... Sad but what the heck...

1) I got my iphone 6 plus replacement four days later and not 2 as told on the phone.

2) I activated it and began the process to reload my data and "crash" .... the new freakin phone crashed just like the one it replaced!!!

3) I did everything from reboot, restart, erase all, etc.

4) I am heading to Genius Bar this Thursday as I have run out of options.

5) On a positive side... I did "remotely" erase it as stolen in order to by pass the 12-14 second window before a crash. All my stuff is back on and working ok.... when I take a pic, the red or blue screen come on and "crash"....

Deeply frustrated....

eeyack Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 7, 2014 6:35 AM in response to MarcOliver

I know several people with iPhone 6 and 6 pluses and no one else is having this problem. They all backed up their phones from a iPhone 5 backup or just started their phones as new. I know that this is a software problem, but it seems to only be a 5s backup software problem, at least in my case. I still have not experienced any blue or red screens. My phone continues to crash when I try to search for anything in spotlight, delete apps or just make it think too quickly. I still can't change the wallpaper and in zoomed I can't use landscape (although, that may not be a function under the zoomed setting). I am going back and forth between zoomed and standard every day as that does seem to slow the crashes a bit.

I chatted with Apple support on Sunday just to make sure that there wasn't a secret trick that they knew to help and to also help continue to bring attention to this problem that no one seems to being paying attention to (which tells me that it is a small problem). The tech had me restore my phone and start it over as a new device (which I told him that I had already done). He told me to play with it to try to make it crash (it did not, and the wallpaper worked just fine). Then he used he share screen program to walk me through restoring my phone from the backup (something I told him that I had done at least 5 times last week, I suppose it's easier to just treat everyone like they are idiots). After an hour of chatting and waiting my phone got to the point where it was reloading all of the apps. When he saw that there were 980, he told me to call back if it didn't work. Well, of course it didn't work and no I didn't call back. I did however check to see if I could change the wallpaper before the apps installed and I could (that's weird, right? I can't change it now, except for when I do it from the camera roll).

I am using my phone now and it's only mildly annoying and inconvenient to have it crash occasionally (I'd say I'm down to 20 times a day or so now, depending on usage). I am waiting as patiently as I can for 8.1 with my fingers crossed that there is a fix. I really hope that the backup didn't become corrupted and it's just a compatibility issue. I will try to continue to post on here occasionally until it's fixed in order to keep the topic fresh in everyone's minds (in case anyone at apple actually reads these things. Squeaky wheel and all that).

Oct 7, 2014 7:02 AM in response to eeyack

I would like to summarize briefly.

- obviously it is not a hardware problem

- obviously the problem occurs above all on 6 plus´

- obviously the problem occurs above all on the 128 GB devices

- obviously the problem occurs if there are more than 800 apps installed

- obviously the problem occurs fewer if the zoom mode is on (with zoom 2-3 crashes per day; with normal up to 10-12 crashes per day)

- obviously with updates of al lot of apps the crashes are fewer

- obviously the problem is localized in the software bugs

So all this explains why there are not so many people with the same problems.

In our case we all have the same requirements.

My opinion is still that updates of the apps, widgets, and the iOS will fix it permantently.

JasHayre

Level 1

7 points

Oct 7, 2014 9:09 AM in response to MarcOliver

I don't believe it is related to widget use. I have not used any yet.

Nor is it related to zoom setting. Mine crashes with zoom and also standard view.

Restoring from iPhone 5 backup also causes the crashes. I did.

iOS 8.1 will not fix it. At least one user running iOS 8.1 still has these crashes.

I strongly suspect it is the number of apps that are the cause. This also explains the low incidence of this problem - not many users have 1,000+ apps installed (yet!).

eeyack Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 7, 2014 9:27 AM in response to MarcOliver

I hope that you're correct that future updates will eventually fix the problem, but I don't think that this is on the app developers as much as it is on Apple. Maybe if the apps were crashing and not the phone I could put some of the blame on the developers. I have to go back to the wallpaper and zoom/standard functions acting wonky. Also, having too many apps installed seems like a big factor that could only be Apple's software. The fact that I could change the wallpaper before the apps were reinstalled and that the spotlight crashes my phone more often than not indicates there are too many apps on my phone. I guess I could try to get it down below 800 to experiment, but that will take some time. If 8.1 isn't the answer I did read that they were working on 8.2 and 8.3 right now as well...fingers crossed.

JasHayre

Level 1

7 points

Oct 7, 2014 10:12 AM in response to eeyack

I agree, it is not the apps that are the cause. It is the operating system that is most likely at fault.

A minor update:

I noticed that I am unable to change the background wallpaper. It simply does not take effect.

I am also unable to take a screen shot (press power and touch button together).

These may be simply "normal" iOS 8 bugs, or may be related to my crashes. I don't know which.

JasHayre

Level 1

7 points

Oct 7, 2014 10:13 AM in response to JasHayre

Sorry for the big spacing above..... I don't know why that happened.

Oct 7, 2014 10:53 AM in response to MarcOliver

Ok, well for me I have met the criteria with about 800-900 apps. My wife has the same iPhone 6p 128gb but does NOT have that many apps.

So Apple's line seems to be "erase it and see if it works with no apps" of corse it does. But who wants to do that?

If you restore the backup it will crash again, not if but when! The funny thing is what seems to set off the crashing...

1) Updates being downloaded and applied

2) Changing Wallpaper (that was like a bomb to me)

3) Going to the springboard to change between running apps

The crap thing about this is WHO gets the 128gb plus, people like us that have a LOT of apps (do we actually use them all?).

I suppose what I need to do is to "clean house" and go through my 800+ apps and say "do I need this" and if not, delete it from my phone.

But this goes against my computer use for the last 33 years (OMG it has been been that long since my IBM PC in the closet!) my understanding is if you have applications that you NEVER used, the ONLY performance hit you would have is "Lack of disk space". Some people try to tell me things like "no wonder why it crashes, you have too much stuff on it" and to my reply I say that as long as there is enough space left on the disk, there should be NO problems with files sitting there for applications that are installed but never used.

But guess what, we have progressed so far that now there is a computing device that will crash when you have "too much stuff" on it and it is my $949 iPhone 6P 128GB. I paid too much extra for the 128GB so that I would NOT have these kinds of problems.

If I had an extra $849 sitting around and some time, I would love to get my hands on a 64GB 6P and see if it has the same problem as the 128GB. I have not heard that there is this problem there, but the people who have 800+ apps don't go cheap on $100 and get less than the maximum capacity or DO THEY? It would be a good test.

Another thing that has me thinking is HOW ARE YOUR APPS ORGINIZED?

I for one hate having too many screens, so I group my apps as tight as the iOS will allow. There is actually a maximum of 15 screens of 9 apps each for a total of 135 apps in a group. How many of these "maxed out" groups does each of you have? I have two and the rest are fairly full. Also, do you have all of your apps in groups on the main home screen or several screens? I hate the several screens thing, so I have ONE home screen with all of my groups and maybe 4 single apps with their own icons on the home screen.

So what are your screen arrangements? I have screen shot of mine (in zoomed view of course). I get just about a crash a day now, which is not too bad as long as I keep it in zoom mode. I do miss the landscape mode for mail and the icons, which is turn off in that view mode, so I hope Apple fixes this issue but I am not holding my breath.

Maybe the 6PS will fix it when it comes out next September? 😁

Oct 7, 2014 12:59 PM in response to eeyack

So, the next two nights I have night shift.

I have now deleted 144 apps on the phone so I have only 745 apps

And I turned on the normal display mode.

Now I will test if this has any effects.

JasHayre

Level 1

7 points

Oct 7, 2014 1:12 PM in response to BigDave469

iOS 4 had the same problem and the crashes could be reproduced. This problem was fixed in iOS5. iOS4 would crash if you had too many apps (about 500).

About screen organisation, I only have 3 sub pages to a folder at most, and I am using all the main pages on my screen, so that is not a cause.

JasHayre

Level 1

7 points

Oct 7, 2014 1:13 PM in response to MarcOliver

This will be an interesting test.

If we are correct, you should see no (or very few) crashes with only 745 apps.

Oct 7, 2014 4:49 PM in response to JasHayre

Until now the test runs positive.

No crashes. And the smileys are displayed correctly in the NC and the banners.

Also no black windows in the app switcher.

This was previously the case.

But there are just 5 hours passed...

Oct 8, 2014 6:27 AM in response to JasHayre

Okay, now have passed around 24 hours.

In these 24 hours, there were no crashes.

Everything runs smoothly and correctly.

I have next week off and will then gradually increase the number of installed apps to 800.

It seems to actually have to do with the number of installed apps.

Now it is time to find out where the line is. 😉

In principle, this is good news and yet frustrating.

Because I think almost everyone has opted for a 128GB model to a lot of apps to install.

So one can only hope that Apple will solve the problem in a timely manner.

iPhone 6 plus crashes when I download, update or delete any apps