Have You Crashed Your Magazine App Today?

[responsive]questionmarkapp[/responsive]If you publish digital versions of your magazines on the Apple Newsstand, you’ve got some work to do. According to D. B. Hebbard in Talking New Media, the latest iOS 8 updates from Apple are causing crashes and other malfunctions with publisher apps.

“While many publishers are just now releasing their first iOS 8 related updates, others are finding that bugs are requiring them to issue minor bug updates,” writes Hebbard. “Other bug fix updates issued include one for The Wall Street Journal, which issued its iOS 8 update on September 17, but now has issued another to fix bugs.”

We’ve seen this show before, Hebbard reminds us.

“Following the release of iOS 7, publishers struggled to fix their apps, issuing bug fix update after bug fix update,” Hebbard recalls. “The launch of iOS 8 promised to be a smoother transition, and many publisher/developers worked with the beta versions of iOS 8 to make sure their apps were ready at the time the new software was released by Apple.”

That’s a lot of work for a medium that is supposedly cheaper and easier to produce than print.

It’s frustrating for the readers too: As publishers work to release updates to their apps, many of their customers are ticked off enough to pan them in their reviews and even cancel their digital subscriptions.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my print copies are doing just fine. No batteries to charge, no Wi-Fi to worry about…print rocks.