• Apple is releasing iOS 14, its newest operating system, today, but software developers are irked that they had less than 24 hours' notice.
  • With little time to test out their apps on iOS 14, the devs say that bugs could abound.
  • Wait to download iOS 14 until it's more stable.

It's that time of year again: close out your apps, connect to WiFi, plug your iPhone into its charger, and prepare to get the latest operating system from Apple.

Only, maybe you should pump the brakes before downloading iOS 14.

That's what software developers are suggesting, at least. Apple only gave the technologists just a day's notice before the official iOS 14 launch, complicating the testing and debugging processes, while forcing developers to quickly push their products through Apple's formal App Review process.

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Not only is that a nuisance for iOS devs, but it could spell out disaster for iPhone owners who are expecting a smooth transition. Here's one scenario: What if that banking app you rely on to pay your bills is unstable as a result of the surprise launch, and you can't take care of your utilities on time? Or what if your video conferencing app continues to crash before an important work meeting?

The stakes are undoubtedly high, Steve Troughton-Smith, a developer from Dublin, Ireland, tells Popular Mechanics.


Apple usually gives iOS developers about a week's notice before a new operating system goes live, Troughton-Smith says. That window is a "critical consolidation period" because it acts as a safeguard for developers to make sure their apps are prepared for launch and can get through Apple's notoriously rigorous App Review process in a timely fashion, and acts as a "last call" to fix any bugs.

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"Short notice like this doesn’t give a developer time to think," says Troughton-Smith. "If they want to be on the store day one, they have to just take what they’ve been working on and push it through to App Review as fast as they can, which is a recipe for all kinds of silly mistakes."

Specifically, he's referring to the disconnect between the latest beta version of Apple's developer tool, called Xcode, and the version of it that will actually allow developers to submit their work to the App Store. Until yesterday, Troughton-Smith says, developers only had access to a version of Xcode that's compatible with iOS 13.

"To be safe, it won’t hurt to delay updating a week or two."

"While there have been betas of the iOS 14-compatible version of Xcode since June, it’s only now with this final version that developers can actually finish their apps and submit," Troughton-Smith explains. "Once you’ve developed your app, and are ready to submit it to the App Store [for review], at that point, it could be in the queue for hours or days before a reviewer at Apple checks your app and its metadata and makes sure it doesn’t violate any rules."

Not only did developers have to scramble to submit their iOS 14-compatible apps to Apple for review, but they also had to hastily check for bugs. If the live version of Xcode for iOS 14 excluded any features that a developer used to create their app, it could potentially break the entire thing.

"There is indeed a case in yesterday’s Xcode for iOS 14 where Apple has removed a particular feature that wasn’t working very well, so if your project was depending on this feature, suddenly you have to rush to replace it and remove it from what you’ve been working on," Troughton-Smith says.

Troughton-Smith isn't the only developer irked by Apple's "gotcha." He posted a poll on Twitter to see how other devs were feeling, and while it's not scientific in any way, with a majority of the nearly 4,000 replies as of press time sitting comfortably in the "no-way-am-I-prepared-to-launch-this-app" range, Troughton-Smith's experience appears to be indicative of the larger iOS developer community.

Plus, there were plenty of others complaining about the last-second scramble on Twitter.

So if developers aren't so confident that their apps are going to be ready for today's iOS 14 release, should you really download it as soon as it's available? That depends on how adventurous you feel, Troughton-Smith says.

"I’ve been running the prerelease versions of iOS 14 for a while on my device, and I know that the apps that pertain to me or my family are OK—for my family, then, I will be recommending they upgrade," he says. "However, that situation would be very different if, say, my banking app no longer worked on iOS 14, and I might be unable to pay bills on my phone until the app is updated. To be safe, it won’t hurt to delay updating a week or two."

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His advice? Check the App Store's "What's New" section and look for your go-to apps. There's a section that shows you when the app was most recently updated, and the developers will usually include a snippet about iOS 14 compatibility.

Because after all, the update's new home screen widgets and picture-in-picture features are cool, but having a device full of working software is probably more important.

Popular Mechanics has reached out to Apple for comment. We will update this story as it develops.

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Courtney Linder
Deputy Editor
Before joining Pop Mech, Courtney was the technology reporter at her hometown newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied English and economics. Her favorite topics include, but are not limited to: the giant squid, punk rock, and robotics. She lives in the Philly suburbs with her partner, her black cat, and towers upon towers of books.