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Comment by dinkblam | Hacker News Reader

not surprised. we've filed dozens of bug reports as every new macOS release gets worse and worse. i've given up on filing reports now, since they won't get fixed or even looked at anyway. i see the problem with triaging when around 4k issues are filed per day, but it's not like Apple is hurting for cash.

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I've basically given up reporting bugs with Apple as they just seem to be ignored and either never fixed, or fixed some years later when the corresponding component is completely rewritten.

I basically resent filing bugs with companies that have enough money to do proper testing, I don't want to work for them for free, especially if there is no answer, or a 1st-level answer who hasn't even tried the filed repro case. However, I am happily reporting bugs with open source projects.

I don't put a lot of effort into bug reports, but it's not a zero-sum game.

If they never fix the bug, they got no value out of your report...

If they fix your bug, then now software you use works better...

I raised a bug in the image capture framework which prevented scanning from sandboxed apps and it was fixed 3 betas later. But probably because Preview.app was also affected and I asked all users of my software to file a bug for the Preview app.

I see this sentiment a lot amongst fellow devs that develop for Apple platforms, but it’s a self-defeating premise.

A bug that goes unreported and unnoticed by Apple engineers will by definition never get fixed. Whereas filing a report at least brings with it the chance that it gets fixed.

Based on my own experience the majority of what I report gets fixed. I just don’t get a thank you card, or other communication in most cases, which seems to be especially a sore spot for most.

I don’t really care and I wonder how realistic it is for them to reply to everyone. Their automation and triage engineers try to link duplicate reports so that an automated message goes out, regardless many will still slip through the cracks.

I’m also not sure if throwing more money at the problem will noticeably improve things with the way the process is designed and the sheer volume they’re dealing with, especially since they started the public beta program and taking into account automated reporting.

I personally think they should get back to the drawing board and redesign the process to one that separates some of the streams.

That said, I’d suggest anyone who regularly reports to build report with relevant engineers that are active on a variety of social media, to make use of labs and other interaction moments if you’re dealing with something that affects your work because the engineers are always eager to pluck your report out of the pile and take a look and to also make use of the DTS credits you get to highlight an issue (they’ll refund you the credit once they confirm it’s a bug).

I also highly recommend reading this blogpost by an ex-engineer to get a sense of what goes on behind the scenes: https://tidbits.com/2020/06/17/how-to-report-bugs-to-apple-s...

Same with iOS bugs.

Release new feature with a lot of bugs.

For example even if they are fixed (takes about a year) in webkit they are never merged to safari…

So even if there is bugfix, it will never make it to live release.

They actually fixed 3 bugs I raised!

I reported a bug in the iOS Home app and they fixed it. Seems to be hit or miss on what they'll fix.

how can you know they’re not looked at? is there a read receipt?

They can’t, they’re just presuming because Apple doesn’t communicate anything unless more information is needed or the bug is addressed in a build the reporter has access to.

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