iOS 12.2 update crashed Apple News app, annoying users
What's the story
Just a day ago, Apple unveiled its Apple News+ service to offer a humongous assortment of magazines and newspapers for a price as low as $9.99. The service, integrated with Apple News, launched with iOS 12.2 but failed to make a good impression on the first takers. Basically, Apple News kept crashing repeatedly, annoying all those who installed the latest update. Here's what happened.
Issue #1
Apple News crashing after update
After installing iOS 12.2, Apple customers were eager to try out the new Apple News+ service. However, as it turned out, the update broke the app, with many claiming that it crashed soon after launching while others saying it worked for a while and then crashed. The issue seemed to affect most iPhone and iPad users, regardless of the model or location.
Twitter Post
Here's what an annoyed user said
@AppleNews @AppleSupport opened up News this morning and it crashes. Reopened ... crash. Hard reboot then open News ... crash. I guess no news this morning. It did work yesterday though.
— Eric Cirone (@ericcirone) March 26, 2019
Fix
Server-side fix issued
After users started complaining, expressing concerns about the issue, Apple pushed a fix, 9To5Mac reported. The company didn't specifically say what caused the problem but pushed a server-side change to fix the repeated crashing. Now, reports indicate that the Apple News app is working properly, even when you launch the app repeatedly or use it for long.
Issue #2
There is also a problem in Apple News for Mac
While the MacOS version of Apple News did work normally, developer Steven Troughton-Smith discovered that the app doesn't come with necessary protections. He found that the magazines downloaded from Apple News+ service are stored on MacOS filesystem without any kind of encryption or copy protection. This means that a user could access/share a few pages of PDF magazines without actually paying for the subscription.
Benefits
Free access for one month
Apple has not commented on the MacOS issue, which means it might be a while before the security loophole is fixed. However, the company would hope that the initial problems don't affect the future of the service. Apple News+ offers a collection of more than 300+ magazines, including GQ, Esquire, National Geographic, Vogue, for just $9.99 and comes free for the first month.