Marco Arment describes a recent problem that Instapaper users experienced after updating:
- The app crashes immediately on launch, every time, even after a delete and reinstall as long as the corrupt file is being served by the App Store.
- It doesn’t even show the Default.png before crashing. Just a split-second of a partial fade to black, then back to Springboard.
- It may only affect customers in some regions.
- If updating from iTunes, some customers might get a dialog citing error 8324 or 8326.
- Mac apps might show this dialog: “[App] is damaged and can’t be opened. Delete [App] and download it again from the App Store.”
- The console might show: AppleFairplayTextCrypterSession::fairplayOpen() failed, error -42110
It turns out that it wasn’t his fault - and it wasn’t limited to Instapaper. In fact, Apple’s update servers were to blame. Technical issues exist, but by Apple not addressing the issue publicly, Arment’s customers were left angry and responded with a slew of 1-star reviews. This a good example of a broken review system, or at the very least a lack of proper developer relations. Shame on Apple.