ios 9.0.1 crashes frequently

Question

Level 1

9 points

ios 9.0.1 crashes frequently

I have an iPhone 6, and since I installed iOS 9.0.1, I've been having a lot of trouble with apps crashing.

The behavior it exhibits:

It's fine for a while, then it gets into a crashing "mood".
Once it's in that mood, apps frequently shut down dumping me back to the home screen. Sometimes the phone will be black and unresponsive for a couple of seconds. Sometimes the phone is black for longer, then shows the apple screen, then gets me back to the home screen. I experience this both with built-in apps (Podcast, Safari) and third-party apps.
The keyboard tends to be very sluggish while this is going on--I can type but the letters don't show up and the keyboard doesn't respond, then the letters all show up in a rush... or else the app crashes. When the keyboard is sluggish it's a good sign the app is about to crash.

Shutting down the app (by going to the app picker and swiping it up with my thumb) doesn't resolve the issue--once this behavior starts, it keeps happening, with lots of apps. However, fully shutting down the phone and restarting it does fix the problem... for a while, until it comes back.

I did a full wipe of my phone to factory settings, then restored from a backup--it didn't solve the problem. I could try doing a full factory restore and not restoring from a backup--instead, just adding in all my apps and settings by hand--but I'd rather not do that just on "spec", I'd feel stupid doing all that and having the same problem all over again.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions on what I should try? The phone was fine before I installed 9.0.1. I haven't had similar problems with my iPad Air, which also has 9.0.1 installed.

iPhone 6, iOS 9.0.1

Posted on Sep 26, 2015 12:46 PM

Reply

Answer 1

AppleJoe

Community Manager

Sep 27, 2015 12:42 PM in response to Shoutingboy

Greetings Shoutingboy,

Thank you for being a member of the Apple Support Communities and for taking the time to post your question!

I understand that after updating, you are experiencing some apps that do not open or close unexpectedly. To begin troubleshooting this situation, I suggest reading over and working through the steps outlined in the attached article.

If an app you installed unexpectedly quits, stops responding, or won’t open - Apple Support

We know that issues that arise after performing a software can be frustrating, but I want to assure you that we care about these issues and are here to help! :)

Please reply and let us know if these steps were helpful in resolving this situation or to provide any other additional information. We’re glad that you are a part of the Apple Support Communities and can’t wait to hear more from you!

Cheers!

Reply

Answer 2

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 27, 2015 1:55 PM in response to Shoutingboy

Blast it--the whole text of my question got wiped. It was visible yesterday and now it's just two sentences. What happened?

My problem is with ALL apps--including built in apps like Safari, Messages, and Podcasts. A full wipe and restore didn't help. And the article is no help for that problem--how am I supposed to uninstall Safari and reinstall it?

Reply

Answer 3

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 27, 2015 1:55 PM in response to Shoutingboy

I would love to delete this posting and repost it, since almost all my text has been removed. But I don't know how to do that either. This has been EXTREMELY frustrating.

joe_7399, can you either restore the text of my question to the way it was yesterday, or else just delete the whole ****** thing?

Reply

Answer 4

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 27, 2015 1:57 PM in response to AppleJoe

See below--my original post got truncated since yesterday. My problem is with ALL apps, including Podcast and Safari. My phone is almost unusable, and a full wipe and restore didn't help.

Reply

Answer 5

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 27, 2015 7:00 PM in response to AppleJoe

Since my original post got truncated,[*] I've rewritten it. joe_7399, if you have authority to delete this current post, feel free. My new post is at:

iPhone keeps crashing after upgrading to 9.0.1

[*] The story, if you care--While I was writing this post yesterday, It somehow got posted when I'd only written two lines (I'm guessing the 'focus' somehow switched to the 'post' button and it was triggered by my typing). I couldn't figure out a way to delete the abbreviated post, so instead I clicked "edit" and added everything I'd originally meant to write. And that's how my post looked until this afternoon--when it reverted to the two-line version. Which is not, if I may say, a great user experience.

Reply

Answer 6

Sep 28, 2015 3:44 AM in response to Shoutingboy

Podcasts app just doesn't work in iOS 9.0.1 for me which is very very annoying!!

I think it was flagged in iOS 9 by people ( and they thought it would be fixed in 9.0.1

Have done a full restore on my phone, thinking that would fix everything, but no

start Podcasts and white screen with "Updating" for 5 seconds and then crashes.

All combinations of restarts etc. tried.

Fix it asap please Apple. Lots of people have this issue

Reply

Answer 7

AppleJoe

Community Manager

Sep 28, 2015 6:35 AM in response to Shoutingboy

Hi Shoutingboy,

Thank you so much for all of this extra information! I can see why all of the extra information not being posted could be upsetting.

Because you are still experiencing all of these issues after restoring from a backup, I do think restoring and setting up as a new device will be a great way to isolate the issue to either software or hardware.

It sounds like you are familiar with this process, but the attached article covers how to complete this process as well. The article also has information on backing up your iPhone. Please make sure to back up your iPhone before setting up as new. This will be important if the issue is isolated to the phone itself so that you can recover your information if the iPhone needs to be serviced.

How to erase your iOS device and then set it up as a new device or restore it from backups - Apple Support

If the issue continues after restoring and setting up as new and you would like to explore your service options, the next link will give you information on how you can either take your iPhone into an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. If you have questions about the process after reading through the linked information, don’t hesitate to ask. :)

Apple - Support - Service Answer Center

Thanks for being a part of the Apple Support Communities! We look forward to hearing from you more often!

Best!

Reply

Answer 8

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 28, 2015 10:01 AM in response to AppleJoe

Aaand now all my text is back. I'll enjoy it while it lasts. 😉

As I noted above, I've already tried wiping my phone to factory settings (clear back to the "Hello" screen) then restoring from a backup; the problem didn't change in the least. (After I did the wipe-and-restore, I went for a hike yesterday, where I was doing nothing but listening to podcasts while using my Apple watch to track the hike. I had to reboot my phone four times in the three hours.)

Yes, I could try wiping to factory settings then installing the apps one by one--and re-entering all my settings by hand--but that's a lot of work, given that there's no particular reason to think that would solve the problem. (If you'll pardon me, your response reads to me like you have no idea what the problem is, and you're just suggesting standard maybe-it'll-work solutions.)

It could be that I have a hardware problem--but if so, the hardware problem never caused me any trouble while I was running iOS 8. And judging by the press, I suspect it's iOS 9 that's the problem, not my phone.

I ended up restoring my phone to iOS 8.4.1 (good thing I kept a backup from that version!). I figure I'll wait until 9.0.2 or 9.1 then try again. And if it still behaves this way I'll go in to the store to see if they can fix it.

Reply

Answer 9

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 28, 2015 10:07 AM in response to JohnFromUtopia

FWIW, I don't think it's just Podcasts (though I often see the problem there). I've had the same problem just using Safari.

Mind you, there's plenty of other things to hate about Podcasts on iOS 9... 😝

Reply

Answer 10

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 28, 2015 12:37 PM in response to Shoutingboy

...oh, except hey, downgrading my phone to iOS 8.4.1 broke the pairing with my Apple Watch. And when I try to re-pair them, the app says I need to update my phone to the latest version to pair it with the watch. Nnnice!

Okay, I'll try updating my phone back to 9.0.1 and hope it doesn't suck this time. I guess I may have to choose between a broken phone and a useless watch. You are making me one heck of satisfied customer! ➕➕➕

Reply

Answer 11

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 29, 2015 9:35 AM in response to Shoutingboy

And an update--I re-updated to 9.0.1 yesterday (since that was the only way to get my Apple Watch to pair with the phone), and the problem is as bad as ever. On a 20-minute drive I can expect podcasts to crash at least once, and like I said, once something crashes, the phone is mostly unusable until I reboot it.

I don't suppose any Apple rep has any actual information to share about this problem? I mean, anything more specific than "sounds like your phone is broken there, buddy--you might want to see if you can get it fixed"?

Reply

Answer 12

hrng

Level 1

0 points

Sep 29, 2015 5:37 PM in response to Shoutingboy

Had to create an account here just to let you know you're not alone - I get very similar issues and am about to try a wipe and restore too.

The symptoms on my side are hard crashes frequently, exacerbated by high resource usage (CPU/mem). I notice this most with apps that rely on heavy network or disk usage, not sure which is the biggest factor. I've looked through the diagnostic logs and see kernel panics from system processes as well as from the apps themselves. I'll often feel the phone getting extremely hot during these periods, so could be related, or could be a symptom of the high resource usage.

I've also noticed that having my phone in a case affected the heat issues, the Lifeproof case on iPhone 6 - removing the case almost entirely removed the fault (once I let the phone cool down). It would be easy to blame the case, but seeing as it only started after the upgrade to 9.0.1 there's definitely a bug there somewhere. Perhaps in resource regulation, or to do with some of the changes in networking?

Only other thing I've noticed is that wifi seems to be a bit weird now - it'll frequently show as switching between full bars and no bars, even right next to the router. Again, this never happened before the upgrade. I've turned off the wifi assist bollocks as I'm in a low reception area.

For me, the biggest problem though is with the sleep cycles app. The phone reboots 2 hours in to using the app every night, which renders the sleep tracking and alarm function completely useless 😟

Reply

Answer 13

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 30, 2015 11:13 AM in response to hrng

Thanks for all the details! Doesn't solve my problem but it makes me feel less alone-and-crazy. ;-)

I see there's a new 9.0.2 update, we'll see if that helps! (It specifically says "Improves the stability of Podcasts." Doesn't say "Improves the stability of everything else" but let's hope.)

Reply

Answer 14

Shoutingboy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 30, 2015 7:33 PM in response to Shoutingboy

Update--I installed 9.0.2 today, and while behavior might be improved, it isn't fixed.

I went for a 40-minute jog and the podcast app didn't crash once. However, after the run, I walked for 20 minutes, and the app crashed almost immediately--possibly because while I was walking, I pulled my phone out to check Facebook. Multitasking might be the problem?

After that crash, it crashed repeatedly, but not (I think) as bad as it would've with 9.0.1--I could listen to an entire podcast before it crashed. But as before, it gradually got worse until I rebooted.

I have not tried doing a full factory wipe and restore to 9.0.2, and perhaps that would help. I've got a Genius Bar appointment for Friday, so I'll see what they have to say. I'm betting we'll get a 9.0.3 next week or the week after...

Reply

Answer 15

hrng

Level 1

0 points

Sep 30, 2015 7:52 PM in response to Shoutingboy

Similar situation here... upgraded to 9.0.2 and saw some improvement, though not much. Still getting reboots that seem to tie in with the phone heating up. Also seems to be happening while the phone is doing that weird thing where wifi turns on and off repeatedly. Super odd, still haven't tried the wipe and restore, it's so much work for little guarantee that it'll help. Might give it a go this weekend if symptoms persist.

Reply