WASHINGTON — First there was #bendgate, now some owners of Apple’s just- released iPhone 6 Plus are facing a persistent and mysterious problem — their new mobile device, in some cases, continually crashes and reboots itself.
And it’s got a hashtag to prove it: #crashgate.
Jeff Lauterette, co-owner of Mid Atlantic Consulting, says Apple’s support forum began just days after the popular large-screen phone was released.
Apple has not publicly commented on the unexpected crash problems.
Lauterette, who provides his input to Apple and tests beta versions of software, says the situation is most prevalent on the 128 GB iPhone 6, and affects iOS 8.0, 8.02, and 8.1.
In attempting to recreate the problem, Lauterette and others say the crashes begin when a phone has 700 or more applications installed on it.
“That may seem like a lot, but if you run your life off a phone you can easily have that many apps,” says Lauterette.
With 700 apps, Lauterette says a 6 Plus will crash several times a day. At 800 apps, it occurs about once an hour. At 900 apps, crashes happen once every 15 minutes, says Lauterette.
“At 1000 you may not be able to log into your phone fast enough before it reboots again,” says Lauterette.
Lauterette says he was able to recreate the problem on iPad Air 2, when he went up to 1300 apps.
To see how many apps you have on your mobile device, go to Settings>General>About> and Applications will show how many apps are on the phone currently.
Lauterette believes the problem is a memory issue, and says Apple is working on a fix, but hasn’t mentioned a date — in part because the situation doesn’t affect light and moderate users of the device.
“It’s what’s called a springboard crash,” says Lauterette. “The phone does not actually reboot but you get the Apple logo, and everything is put on hold while it clears RAM and resets everything.”
The misfire is not destructive, says Lauterette.
“It comes back and everything is the way it was, even your email, so you don’t lose data,” says Lauterette.
“It’s just frustrating!”
Lauterette encourages users who experience the problem to report it to Apple’s Bug Reporter page.
