While iOS 7 brought a whole new look to Apple’s mobile devices, it also brought an unwelcome new friend: the black (or white) screen of death.
Ever since its launch in September, users have complained about their iPhones and iPads that run iOS 7 suddenly going from working pleasantly to flashing an Apple logo on a monochromatic black or white background, depending on the color of their device, before restarting.
But now, it looks like users will be able to put the specter of sudden crashes behind them.
“We have a fix in an upcoming software update for a bug that can occasionally cause a home screen crash,” Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller said.
That upcoming software update is probably iOS 7.1. It’s unclear yet when 7.1 will be released, but it has been available to developers in a number of beta incarnations over the last several months. Since this is the first time Apple has even acknowledged the crash bug, it seems like the company may be closing in on making the update publicly available.
In the meantime, the good news is that the crash bug doesn’t seem to be nearly as bad as other screens of death, like Windows’ infamous Blue Screen of Death, and OS X’s Gray Screen of Death. At least in my experience, it’s at worst a significant inconvenience, and at best just a minor hiccup during my daily iOS device use.
