What causes applications to crash, on startup, under 2.0?

Since July 11th, and the release of iPhone 3G and software version 2.0, there have been a few problems within the software which have affected almost every user, the biggest being however, application crashes.

So, why does this happen?
It seems the root of the problem behind an application crashing on start-up, stems from a management issue with the DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology embedded within each and every iPhone application downloaded from the App Store.

Another proven reason applications can crash under 2.0, is due to confusion between iTunes and iPhone 2.0 over iTunes accounts. For example, If you run two iTunes accounts, and the last time you synced you were logged into your secondary account (not used for application purchases), reports have been coming in of the application(s) bought with the primary account, failing to launch after that sync. The best thing to do in this situation, is to only use one account for application purchases (for now).

A light at the end of the tunnel …
For someone who has bought applications which are doing this, this can be one very frustrating experience. The good news is, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. In a very rare move, Apple has allegedly commented about the issue, openly stating that it is aware of the current issues iPhone and iPhone 3G owners are experiencing and with it promises a fix for all iPhone users in September of this year. This update is said to ‘rectify’ software issues of which iPhone and iPhone 3G users are currently experiencing.

“This is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September” reads the one-line message from the Apple co-founder.

How can I resolve these issues before the September update?
There are a few steps you can take if suddenly, all your iPhone applications fail to launch.

1. Reboot the Phone
Perform a hard reboot of your iPhone, i.e turn your iPhone off completely, by pressing and holding the Sleep/Wake button (on top ) for a few seconds then slide the red slider. Turn it back on by holding the Sleep/Wake button until the Apple logo appears. This can clear potentially problematic data, preventing some type of crashes.

2. Delete the Application
A few users have reported deleting the application from the phone and then re-syncing can resolve issues with DRM and account information embedded within the application.

To delete an application from your iPhone, simply hold it down for 2-3 seconds until it starts to ‘wiggle’. Then hit the cross in the top left corner. You will receive an alert asking whether you wish to permanently delete the application and all of it’s contents.

Once done, plug the phone back into iTunes, and the deleted application(s) should sync back to your device and now launch successfully.

3. Restore the Phone
If these above steps do not regain your application(s) stability on 2.0, Connect the phone to your Mac or PC, launch iTunes, and click the Restore button under the Summary tab.

Please do remember restoring your iPhone will erase all the content on the phone. Before restoring, allow iTunes to backup your device to the current date and time. This way, once you have a ‘factory restored’ iPhone after the restore with iTunes, you can re-apply all application and system settings easily.

I’d love to know which one of these methods worked best for you. If you are experiencing these kinds of issues with your iPhone, let it be known, this is perfectly normal and is an issue with how iPhone 2.0 deals with the DRM and account information of installed applications.

If these steps worked for you, tell us about it!

R-Fly