The six-month-old iOS 14 bug that Apple still hasn't fixed
iOS 14 was released back in September of 2020, and now, not only are we waiting for the iOS 14.5 update to land, but we're also starting to talk about iOS 15.
But there's an iOS 14 bug that continues to plague some users, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.
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And that's the iOS 14 notifications bug.
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I've written about this bug a few times now, and I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't been fixed, but here we are, it's April 2021, and people are still being affected by it.
There's a 90-page thread about this issue over on Apple's support forum. From this thread, we can see that this bug was first reported a few days after iOS 14 was released.
Yes, it's that old.
Basically, the problem is that iPhone owners aren't getting notifications for things like messages and calls. Some Apple Watch users are noticing that notifications are being delivered to their wrist, but that the iPhone is remaining silent. Those owning just an iPhone are left in the dark when a call or message comes in.
There also doesn't seem to be a reliable fix for this.
Some say that rebooting the iPhone brings notifications back to life, while others say switching Bluetooth off is the solution. Some Apple Watch owners say that they solved the problem by unpairing and repairing their Apple Watch.
Some believe that the issue is down to a "Hide Alerts" feature in iOS 14 -- (click on a conversation in Messages, then tap on the name/number at the top of the screen, and tap on "info") -- and that this is being randomly enabled by iOS.
I've spoken to a few people still affected by this and they're frustrated after trying everything. I've guided a few through some possible fixes, but either the problem remains or comes back after a few days. One reader even went as far as buying another iPhone, only for the problem to appear on that device a few weeks later.
At this point, I'm not even convinced that the upcoming iOS 14.5 release will fix this problem.
This is certainly a very strange, and somewhat persistent, problem. I'm not sure how widespread it is, but I've spoken directly to over a dozen people who are affected.
Looks like the ball is in Apple's court to fix this one.
Are you (or have you) experiencing this bug? Let me know!