Apple's iOS 8.0.1 update has joined the company's HealthKit platform on the sidelines after users began reporting the loss of access to cell service, Touch ID and virtual keyboards on the smartphones.
IOS 8 was released ahead of the launch of the latest series of iPhones. Users who installed iOS 8 on older Apple products complained the mobile OS slowed down the responsiveness of devices, particularly the iPhone 4 series.
The update, however, has had its own share of trouble and an Apple representative confirmed iOS 8.0.1 was recalled for repairs.
"We have received reports of an issue with the iOS 8.0.1 update," stated the Apple representative. "We are actively investigating these reports and will provide information as quickly as we can. In the meantime we have pulled back the iOS 8.0.1 update."
Apple's HealthKit platform was called back for debugging, causing to miss its launch on iOS 8. The troubled iOS 8.0.1 update was actually rolled out with intent of resolving the HealthKit issues and other bugs, but now both pieces of software are back in Apple's garage.
"We discovered a bug that prevents us from making HealthKit apps available on iOS 8 today," stated Apple on Sept. 17. "We're working quickly to have the bug fixed in a software update and have HealthKit apps available by the end of the month."
The HealthKit application programming interface centralizes biometrics collected from the iPhone's internal sensors, as well as peripherals that can communicate with Apple devices. The apps and peripheral have been there, but there hasn't been a foundation to bring them all together, said Craig Federighi, Apple senior vice president of software engineering.
"[Up] until now the information gathered by those applications lives in silos," said Federighi. "You can't get a single comprehensive picture of your health situation. But now you can, with HealthKit. HealthKit provides a single place that applications can contribute to a composite profile of your activity and health."
Health app developers have stated their intent to continue to release their software, despite the absence of HealthKit.
To make matters worse for Apple's latest mobile OS, in terms of public perception, a new report states iOS 8 is approximately 70 percent more prone to crashing than its predecessor. IOS 8' crash rate was said to be up to approximately 3.56 percent; iOS 7 crashed about 2 percent of the time.
