Work on the operating systems Apple will release in 2024 was reportedly halted temporarily because the code had become extremely buggy.
The move affected iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15 and watchOS 11, none of which are expected to reach users for almost a year.
iOS 18, macOS 15 already well along … and buggy
Considering iOS 17, macOS Sonoma 14, etc. just launched in September, some people might think that their replacements are still in the planning phases. Nope. Apple is well past that stage.
“Last month, the company completed the first version of its next iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems,” reported Bloomberg on Tuesday. “That iteration is known as M1 since it’s the first major milestone.”
For those who are curious, the 2024 iOS and iPad versions allegedly have the code name “Crystal,” while macOS 15’s code name is “Glow.” watchOS 11 is supposedly called “Moonstone”
After reaching M1, Apple developers reportedly stopped adding new features to M2 for a week because the code had too many bugs.
“It’s a problem of 10,000 people typing code and completely breaking the operating system,” an unnamed source told Bloomberg.
As iOS 18, macOS 15 and watchOS 11 are still many months away, it’s possible this brief delay will have no effect on users. On the other hand, it might cause Apple executives to be less ambitious about how many additional features can go into the next major versions when they launch in fall 2024.
Bugs are a bigger problem for Apple
On Tuesday, Apple released patches to fix significant bugs in the latest versions of iOS and watchOS. And this was the fifth update for iPhone users to install since September, with many of the releases doing nothing but patch problems.
Clearly, bugs in shipping operating systems have been a real problem for Apple this year. Perhaps rooting more of them out now, months before the next versions launch, will make this less of an issue in 2024.
