iPhone 2.1 Update Arrives, Compatibility Issues Surfacing
posted September 12th, 2008 12:38 PM EDT by blakespot in Featured, NewsApple, today, released the much anticipated iPhone 2.1 firmware update. This is a major update that addresses a number of issues, not the least of which is the app crashing problem plaguing certain users that have lots of 3rd party apps loaded on their device (myself included).
Features include:
- decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
- significantly improve battery life for most users
- dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
- improve email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
- faster installation of 3rd party applications
- fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes if you have lots of 3rd party applications
- improved performance in text messaging
- faster loading and searching of contacts
- improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
- repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
- option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
- Genius playlist creation
Any significant OS update brings with it the chance that certain applications will break due to under-the-hood changes. The iPhone is no exception to this rule, and so far we’ve seen one application break under firmware 2.1: Zen Pinball: Rollercoaster from ZEN Studios.
Seeing this, we expect to find a number of other apps similarly afflicted by this latest update. Developers of applications so affected will certainly post updates that restore compatibility soon, and we will keep readers updated of which apps require an update as we encounter them.
Please let us know of any such incompatibilites you encounter.
( Thanks Raphael Salgado for the initial report )
September 12th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
The sound effect (SFX) of Toy Bot Diaries seem to be affected as well. The background music is not affected.
September 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
ack! Good to know. Just got that game.
September 12th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
You can take 10% of my apps away from me until they get updated. Just keep me protected from unexpected-quits. Do we have a deal?
September 12th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I’m sure lots of developers are going to love the extra work they now have to do. I’m going to wait a bit before updating and see how this pans out…
looks like a good update though
September 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I can confirm the Last.FM app is useless until updated. I’m not the only one who discovered this.
It’s to be expected.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I don’t know if it’s just me, but the “drifting sound” on Asphalt 4 has gone bit crazy. Need to turn the sounds off if I want to play the game without damaging my ears
EDIT: Now that I try to start a race the whole game freezes. Pushing the home button quits the game though. I have to try if resetting the phone helps.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Brain tuner crashes.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Truphone caused an “out of memory error” on me today and kept ringing the phone I was dialing. Don’t know if this is a problem just for me or not.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I’m getting no audio in Last.FM and when I pressed the stop button, it crashed.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I use Last.fm a lot, so I may have to wait until this is sorted out before I upgrade.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I installed it today. All my games still work (that I’ve tested) and installing new games is super fast. Funky Punch Lite took about 10-15 seconds. I was up to 3 minute install times even for Papiriver before 2.1.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Just chiming in to confirm the Asphalt and Pinball problem, updates soon… hopefully.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
All of my 3rd party apps were crashing when I first updated…
Deleated and reinstalled them and they seem to be working fine now…
September 12th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Someone should contact those developers so that they’re aware of the issues and fix them as soon as possible. This will likely be an ongoing issue, since Apple puts out a good amount of updates. Hopefully not all of them will affect the apps, and hopefully some of them will contain features that have been requested since the first generation iPhone was introduced.
September 12th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Yep, Zen Pinball is crocked for me too. Everything else on my phone does seem OK though..
September 12th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Yup, in both Toy Bot Diaries and the demo some sounds are corrupted.
Other games seem fine though.
September 12th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Voice Dialer no longer works. It launches but doesn’t appear to react to any voice commands.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Asphalt fans, check your options for sound. There are separate controls for the background music and the sound effects. The 2.1 update defaults to 100% volume. The volume control buttons on the iPhone only controls the background music resulting in the unpleasant screech while drifting.
September 12th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Well, in Alli’s Jigsaw Puzzle I can’t select a new image for it, using the included ones all work fine. Doesn’t work on either my 1g or 2g.
September 12th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I can confirm the same problem with Toy Bot, the background music is fine but the sound effects are horribly distorted on my iPod touch; it’s unplayable. I sent an e-mail to the dev about it.
September 13th, 2008 at 4:37 am
I don’t remember Koi Pond being this loud…
September 13th, 2008 at 5:19 am
I’ve got tonnes of apps and they work fine!! I’ve got like 18(two screens worth of them)
Ahhhhh no keyboard lag. Best firmware up to date
And wifi seems quicker too! Loving it!
September 13th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Reception still as bad as ever where I live. Safari crashed on me as soon as I used it (using the linkedin web site). So far this update has done nothing for me.
September 13th, 2008 at 9:55 am
@dk206: I hope you are joking. Two screens of 18 apps is hardly a “tonne” compared to most of us… I have 7 pages worth of apps that I have synced to my iPhone with several more apps I haven’t synced.
Unfortunately for me, I can’t even update since my computer died and seems to be unrecoverable…
September 13th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I intend to e-mail the developer, but for anyone reading, it seems Lexitron has some sound issues as well (loud screeching whenever a sound plays). Luckily it can just be muted, but it never did this before.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
the hour and date settings its crashed *only me?*
September 14th, 2008 at 4:08 am
I have been putting together a list of all apps affected by the 2.1 software update on a forum post. So for over 15 apps may be affected. Here is the link.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=561880
September 14th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
wow Key Pad is a MASSIVE improvment Most noticible
and wi-fi seems alot quicker too
i don’t really see any faster booting time or menu flicking (in settings)
and i still haven’t used this alot so don’t know about the Battery life for now
September 15th, 2008 at 8:05 am
It seems as if AOL’s AIM application is not working since 2.1 either…
September 15th, 2008 at 8:34 am
I noticed that I have issue with Nullsoft Tuner after I installed 2.1. Some radio streams skipping playback all the time, kind of weird, same thing on wi-fi or 3g, first I thought it was my wireless router issue, but is same thing over 3g.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:56 am
The update fixed my issue with the UConnect system in my Charger. It works excellent now. I had about 10 updates to apps, but I haven’t noticed that anything else was broken. All in all, good work Apple.
September 15th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Monkey Ball shows the splash screen, then quits. I deleted it, re-installed it, re-downloaded it from the App Store.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:20 am
Yeah, I’m the developer of Lexitron– I’m severely annoyed that Apple decided to break my app. I hope they put out another update very soon, because I do not feel like finding workarounds for their glitch.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
AIM has not worked for me since the firmware upgrade even after reinstalling the app. Anyone else have this issue?
September 17th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Texas Hold them crashes, so does platinum solitaire
September 17th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Hi, YouNote has some issues as well. But a new release will be uploaded today or tomorow with nice enhancements (restore/backup on a desktop).
September 17th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I have both AIM and Texas Hold ‘em and both are working fine under 2.1. The only app not working for me is Monkey Ball. I would love to have someone confirm whether it’s just me or not.
September 21st, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I and several other users seem to be having the same problem with Super Monkey Ball. It crashes on launch after updating to 2.1. Nothing I’ve tried, from restoring the phone to re-downloading the app, etc. has fixed the issue. I’ve filed a bug with Apple, but no more info yet.
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:01 am
having problems on 2.1 with:
iphoneviderecorder 3g
bugdom 2
ifish
snapture