iPhone, while working this morning, has developed the annoying habit of not launching non-Apple Apps.
I tap on the App, the animated window opening fills the screen, but is empty and after a fraction of a second the empty window animates itself down thru the bottom of the screen.
Opening the App Switcher (swipe up from bottom) shows the App open but tapping on it, it disappears down the bottom.
I don’t know what this is called, and my various keywords attempts have only led to mostly clickbaity dodgy sounding links.
Does anyone know what this is called? is it “third party ios apps crash on launch” or how what?
I’ve launched about four Apple apps and they look normal.
Restarted the phone couple of times, put on wifi, turned it off, vpn on and off, so far nothing has helped. I”m flummoxed to know what could have changed since this morning. Just been carrying it around in my phone pocket all day. Doesn’t seem related to apps that use internet access, just that they are third party and all used to work fine…
I had a moment of hope that it repaired itself, in that the App Switcher view showed content in some 3rd party apps I had tapped, but tapping to bring them to the front made them disappear back into their icons.
Seems odd, that all of a sudden 3rd party Apps would get wonky, like a certificate expired and no one renewed it, that sort of thing, but I have no clue how that stuff works.
Haven’t found a solution yet, I don’t even know what this is called, if it is a crash or has some other technical name.
Lots of search results for apps crashing in relation to OS updates (not done in long time), lack of free storage on device (83 of 128GB available), battery problem (charged to 100% last night), network problems (some of the apps don’t need internet access, and Apple apps are working over data and wifi).
I continued searching with various keywords and what I consider semi-reputable sites had recommended shutting iPhone down with hardware buttons instead of the power icon in Control Centre. Didn’t help. Airplane Mode on/off, didn’t help. Letting Time sync again, didn’t help.
There are at least three Apple Discussions posts, with very few responses and dating back to 2012 with titles similar to this thread.
Common thread was that some connection to iTunes (now App Store) might have gotten out of sync.
In App Store I signed out, immediately back in (was not asked for username or password) and ping ping came the messages in a third party App. Other apps launching as normal now.
Which makes me wonder… some of these have no usage of internet within the app yet would not launch if the App Store connection was not right. Yet on other iDevices I can use sometimes quite old apps while in Airplane Mode, in which they, presumably, cannot check in with App Store Mother Ship.
Now I feel dirty when touching the iPhone, as if every App is checking with Cupertino to prove I didn’t steal the App, and my launching of Apps is being watched from Space Ship Central. Icky.
Also an interesting point @jk2gs , on the Mac one can tell more or less each software to check for updates or not. In iOS only the main device’s updates can be limited. Hm.
If these checks are going on, they’re behind the scenes. I have sometimes poked into the mobile data usage pages and found Apple burning up hundreds of MB behind the scenes for vaguely referenced items. Although I have iOS updates turned off, and I wouldn’t knowingly burn up some of my couple of GB mobile data plan for an update, updates are still shown in the submenus of Mobile Data usage. I’m not aware of any way to turn the long list of items off.
UPDATE 25 Oct: occurred again today. As soon as I launched App Store App and logged in, third party apps worked again. Maybe it’s an Apple technique to discover IP address or something, as my VPN would not launch until I signed in over wifi.
For any interested in this topic, Sunday morn my 3rd party apps again would not launch, giving a little window with ‘login to app store to continue using this app: Cancel/Sign In’.
Unluckily, I was up early to take family to the airport in snowy/icy conditions so could not access traffic and weather and maps sites. Bummer but anyway…
Hopped to the Mac, logged in and got the apple store id ready to enter, tapped the Sign In button on one app’s window, and without any prompt to enter the ID or opening the App Store App (both were expected results of tapping “Sign In”), the app launched and was usable, and so were others.
So it appears Apple is now requiring regular logins to the App Store to use third party apps, and it stores our login info somewhere without having asked for permission to do so.
I’ve never seen this at all, so I don’t think it’s a general case of Apple requiring App Store logins to use third-party apps. It sounds like it’s specific to your situation, which, if I remember right, includes not using biometric authentication. That could be related, but I’m unwilling to turn off Face ID for long enough to test.
I can’t remember where you are in iOS versions, but it’s possible that an update would help. Or it may require setting up the iPhone from scratch, which would be a major undertaking.
Yes, I don’t trust Apple or any big tech company any more so I don’t use biometrics. It would be nice if Apple would explain if that is the case. Perhaps it’s buried in their legalese somewhere but I find it user unfriendly to make a change like this without explaining.
Also in terms of user interaction, the button “Sign In” in Apple products, in my experience, leads to a username/password interface. That the button in this case appears to load my un/pw from storage somewhere, without my permission, is irritating. I wish they would explain significant changes like this, and ask for permission, at least on first use, and surely they have the engineering talent to do that.
Weird that this keeps happening. I did do the 26.2 updates last night over several hours and still have work to do reviewing the macos settings, so we’ll see how it goes. Thanks.
With respect to Apple’s iOS devices, Touch ID/Face ID is entirely local to the device. Your biometrics are stored on your device at the time of registration.
When an app or web site asks for validation, the validation takes place on your device and is simply used to unlock a keychain item (saved password, passkey or other login credential).
As far as remote servers are concerned, Touch/Face ID is no different from other authentication methods, because the biometrics never leave your device.
This is, BTW, the reason you need to re-register your biometrics when migrating to a new phone. The data is stored in the phone’s secure element and can’t be extracted after the fact.
Is this the way other devices do it? I don’t know, so I won’t comment on it.
Face ID is pretty well documented. As far as I can tell, backed up by friends in the security industry, Apple did it right. You’re at FAR greater risk from not using Face ID and allowing people to see your passcode tapping than you are from using Face ID and storing tokens based on biometric data in the Secure Enclave of your iPhone.
@ace , thanks for that. I was maybe not clear enough.
If Apple is insisting on use of biometrics to use third party apps, that should be clearly stated, it shouldn’t be what I’m experiencing, periodic non-launching of the apps with no error message. (User thinks something is wrong with the phone and curses Apple).
And in the dialog I get, there is plenty of space to write “Tap Cancel to quit the app; Tap Sign In an we’ll retrieve the login details from… (secure memory or whatever)”. And maybe an i in a circle to a description like “To avoid this in future, use finger or face ID; (insert link to explanation)”. (Concise, informative, helpful: user gets the feeling they care).
They seem in recent times to assume users know as much as they do about new features and developments. It would be quite easy for the engineering pros to include links to pages describing new features and how to use them and how to turn them off… Maybe they need a Dept of User Friendliness…
I’ve seen some authentication needed for apps occasionally, usually on the map rather than my iPhone. But if the app has a subscription component to it, it may need to be linked to the Apple account in order to function or to check on the functionality. I think the facial ID as it is implemented and local on the device is a very secure system, and I have no concerns using it. Even the touch ID would fall in that category.
The apps I’m referring to are non-subscription ones and when tapped, they expand like usual but their window is blank, displays for less than a second, and genies back into the background. Sometimes they appear in App Switcher but blank (usuallly would show the last state they are in).
Now that I know they can be restored to use by signing in, what’s bothersome is that no error message or info is provided. User is just left to wonder what happened, then sometimes the Cancel/Sign In window appears indicating sign in is needed in order to use the app, and tapping Sign In doesn’t require entering a un/pw, so my login has been saved without my approval.
The other bothersome thing is, in all my previous iPhones (back to simply “iPhone”), purchased (non-subscription) software could just be used. I don’t see what they think has changed about my iPhone, its usage, or why it would suddenly not be authorized to run apps purchased on it. And it happens with many 3rd party apps at the same time, so it seems to be App Store or System related, not just specific apps.
Sigh. Anyway, now we know how to get them going again, regardless of surrounding issues.
This really doesn’t seem like standard behavior at all, which is presumably why it’s not explained clearly. Can you post screenshots of what you’re seeing?
I think what is happening is, that more and more, Apple assume users will do it “their way”. So using FaceID/TouchID in lieu of passcodes or syncing iPhones over iCloud in lieu of direct USB connections, etc.
When users stick to whatever path Apple thinks is the right one, they’re usually okay. It’s when you instead rely on the “alternate” path (sometimes that’s just a legacy path), that stuff starts behaving wonky and/or is very poorly documented by Apple.
I do get where Apple is coming from with this, but at the same time I also feel there is a vast difference between actively deprecating a certain tool vs. just letting it fall to the wayside to rot there.
If something can no longer be maintained to work well, just tell your users and remove that feature. But don’t leave something behind that works only some of the time and nobody can make heads or tails of it because references are lacking or outdated.
Sure, losing a feature we like is a bummer, but retaining it such that it only works some of the time or it doesn’t make sense, ultimately IMHO is far more frustrating. Apple with all their skilled engineers can surely do better here.
Pretty much the sound of hammer hitting nail there, @Simon .
I would only add that the larger a company it is, the more resources they have to continue making sure ‘legacy’ functions and features continue to work properly. Surely Apple has the funds to maintain such a section. For a small developer trying to keep up, I can understand not keeping up and needing to change. So it’s just a matter of will power/true user care/greed for Apple.
I wish they would just be straight with users and say ‘as of os 2x.x, you must use biometrics and iCloud’. Then I could plan my exit from their products. This slow degradation of features is irritating.
I recently canceled our DSL internet since the provider gave clear signals, by disrupting our service for 10 days in Nov and not sending a technician, that they want to get rid of such customers. Something similar is happening in many ways with Apple.
I think Apple has dug itself a big hole and can’t get out. Over the years they gave users many options and new technologies, and now they’re finding those options can’t get along with each other. An appreciable fraction of the senior population has fingerprints that are not reliably readable electronically because they wore off, or so we were told when my wife had to be fingerprinted for her teaching job. The solution was back to old fingerprint ink. I have a similar problem with my iPhone; the fingerprints never with a case, and without a case they are at best erratic. And this is just one of many cases where the tech Apple has chosen does not work for everybody.
Now that Apple has gotten itself into that hole, it’s irritating some users so much they are just getting ornery because Apple won’t let them do what they want to do. I don’t blame you. That’s why many of us have been using Macs. I’m sitting here blocking OS26; it’s partly out of spite but also partly out of the fear it will break something on my Mac and my iPhone. It’s frustrating.
Righto! My uncle, decades ago already, told he had no fingerprints and when I was a pilot sometimes they had a hard time reading mine for IDs. Lately I’m noting iPhone 26’s buttons not reliably noting my taps. Sometimes they hop and take no action, sometimes they don’t react, sometimes they overlap or are behind other elements (I’ve set some larger text/zoom features on) so I have to tap several times.
Haven’t tried it without the Otterbox Defender case though. Maybe it’s time to clean the protector and screen etc.
