Apps Crash More on iPhone Than Android: Report

AppyGeek ^ | 11/17/16 | Tom

[ThunderSleeps]

New data from the Blancco Technology Group (BTG) says that 62 percent of all iOS devices suffered from software failures, compared to 47 percent of Android devices. What's more, 65 percent of iOS devices suffered crashing apps in the third quarter of 2016, more than doubling the 25 percent of Android devices that experienced the same trouble.

While BTG didn't dig too deeply into why iOS might be failing more often than Android, it did point a finger at the exceedingly successful augmented reality game Pokémon Go.

[ThunderSleeps]

I think the excerpt points at the rub... A popular but slightly flaky app can skew the numbers. They didn't provide any long-term trends.

[freedumb2003]

I thought Pokemon Go already went.

[VanDeKoik]

We are fast past the golden age of apps.

Now they are being churned out by the thousands per week. Most of them just trashy things created from online templates, just to display ads.

[ThunderSleeps]

One survey claims iOS apps crash more often than Android - ANDROID PING!
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My take: yea Android but... Then engineer in me realizes that either OS is at the mercy of poorly written apps in this regard. A good OS keeps a faulty app from taking down the whole system, but the app is still going to crash.

Also the statistics may be skewed if they are reporting raw numbers, not say rates of crashes per hour of use. Hmm, does anyone know, do iPhone users use their devices more/less per day than Android? That'd be kind of interesting.

One final note, they must not have included anyone on the Android side who uses AT&T's Digital Life App. It gets my vote for absolute worst Android app - ever. I've had it for a couple of years, across at least three upgrades (in the app), and two different Android devices. It still seems to crash/lockup/or simply fail to connect several times a week. This when I'm in wi-fi and/or I have plenty of signal and other networked apps work fine. SMH, rant over...

[ThunderSleeps]

We are fast past the golden age of apps.

You make an excellent point. Most apps out there are worthless or worse. I finally upgraded my phone a few weeks back from a Galaxy 5 to 7 (not the exploding note ;-)... I just looked, by actual count I added 10 apps to it. One of them is a game I'll probably get tired of and remove in a week or two. Two or three others I'm realizing I don't need/use and I'll probably remove them soon. Though the geek in me does like the GPS status app just to fool around and see altitude, fix accuracy, etc.

[mmichaels1970]

Well, I think the iOS has been going downhill for quite some time. Three different users in my family, myself included, have experienced our morning alarm clocks suddenly going to “vibrate only” mode and not sending an audible alarm. Nothing to do with ringer on/off, volume level, etc. Just stops working and only works with a phone reset.

Also, I’ve had numerous reports from my users that their battery level will go from something like 80% down to 5% and down to 0% almost instantly. They plug it into the charger for 5 minutes, and it goes back up to 80%.

iOS has become like Windows of old. Rather than spend their time perfecting buggy portions of their OS, they constantly role out new features that very few actually ask for.

[ThunderSleeps]

I thought Pokemon Go already went.

Don't know...I never played it. But I did get some enjoyment from it - watching all the people wandering around heads down looking at their phones... Then again, people still do that...

[WayneS]

I am not a fan of Apple. I have been an Apple user for 5 years (currently using an iphone 6) because my employer issues me Apple devices. Left to my own devices, I would rather have an Android.

However, I have to give credit where credit is due. The Apple iphones I have used have been extremely reliable and virtually issue-free.

Just my anecdotal two-cents.

[raybbr]

My son's iPod has been having a problem. Can't access iTunes or the web. Tried rebooting, resetting, etc. I think I finally got it after having to completely reset the whole thing. It still won't automatically set Date/Time. I backed it up and have restored it but it's still not right. I can't really explain a lot since I don't use apple unless it's for his iPod. I really don't like the idea that everything you do on an iMachine requires iTunes to be attached.

I can hook my Fire phone to a PC and the PC sees it as an external drive and I can do whatever I want to it. The Apple products only allow access to photos.

The only real bugaboo about the Fire phone is no one is making apps for it anymore. I can't log it into Google play to add apps.

[ctdonath2]

Indeed, the usage numbers are different. iOS users generate significantly more network traffic, reflecting more use and more complex use. Users of expensive phones are more likely to buy more apps and use them; AFAIK Android users are more prone to buying cheap phones which they use for little more than email/web/text/calls.

Another factor occurs to me:
iOS updates are rapidly accepted by users, leading to old apps being broken (needing functions which the operating system no longer supports). These abandoned apps manifest obsolescence by simply crashing. These crashes then get counted in the iOS vs Android crash statistics. Also, frequently updated apps may see more crashes from coding errors but will also be sooner fixed and users enjoy more modern functionality.
Android updates are far from rapidly accepted, leaving old apps relying on obsolete operating system functions still running; old apps still run because so many users still use old Android versions.

Point: Android users see fewer crashes because they’re more often doing less or using older (obsolete but stable) software.

[ctdonath2]

Fast dropping battery levels, with absurdly fast “recharge”, is a sign the battery is nearly worn out. Lithium batteries do have a finite lifespan, and after a couple years use that’s several hundred recharges - the battery limit. It happens. Get the battery replaced.

[JimRed]

What’ a APP? I use my iPhone to make phone calls, send and read texts and email, take and store photos and occasionally as a little flashlight.

[Swordmaker]

This really made little sense to me. . . but then it did, when I did a little digging about the company. I asked myself why would anyone use this Blancco Technology Group, with their first line of technicians located in Pune, India, for any problems on any Apple product when Apple provides the services at any of their stores for free as long as you own the product, and on the phone for free for the first year? Blancco Technology Group IS NOT AN APPLE CERTIFIED REPAIR FACILITY. They really do not know what they are talking about with Apple products.

The other issue I found is they cover support calls from CHINA. . . where it is very common for iPhone users to side load apps from third party app stores that have uncurated apps that are NOT on the Apple App Store and are essentially unvetted for any quality at all. In fact, the China version of PokemonGo was heavily pirated on these third party app stores.

Their statistics are therefore quite suspect, as they were last year when they came up with the same report showing Android being more reliable than the iPhone against all other reports showing the opposite. — PING!

Blancco Technology Group says Apple iOS
App failure rates worse than Android device rates.
Ping!

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[ProtectOurFreedom]

Making phone calls? You are using the Phone App for that. The phone uses its phone app to emulate a phone so you can make phone calls while using the app.

[Vision Thing]

It’s gotta be because of the apps, not the apple or android operating systems.

[JimRed]

The phone uses its phone app to emulate a phone so you can make phone calls while using the app.

OK, so the "phone" is not a phone, but an app holder? Got it!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Bingo! By Jove, he’s got it.

[Mark17]

I use my iPhone 6, to surf the net, virtually all the time now. About the only time I get on my Mac Book Pro, is to watch hockey games on NHL Game Center.
The google earth app on the IPhone crashes occasionally, but I can't remember if others do. I guess it's not a big problem if I can't remember about other apps.
I don't do games, and I deleted many apps that I thought were useless, which is many.

[Mr. Jeeves]

I can hook my Fire phone to a PC and the PC sees it as an external drive and I can do whatever I want to it. The Apple products only allow access to photos.

Apple just has a different philosophy: use iCloud (or Dropbox) for file storage. It used to bother me, too, but I gave up fighting it - and found that cloud storage is secure, fast, and works very well. Just keep copies of the critical stuff on local computer drives (automatically done with Dropbox).

If the Internet goes down for any lengthy period of time, we are all going to have bigger problems than trying to retrieve a backup of last month's sales report. :)

[King Moonracer]

When java came out we had “craplets” for a browser, now we just have “crapps”.