How do I submit bug report/enhancement requests to Apple?
Marlon
I'm aware that Apple appear to monitor their discussion forums
to find out what people are having problems with, but if you discover
something that appears to be 'wrong' (and, for instance, it's not been
'fixed' in 10.6.2!), is there a way of getting it lodged with Apple?
Bearing in mind all my stuff is out of warranty, and I have no Apple
Care, or any other contract with Apple.
Is there an ear I can bend?
Cheers,
Marlon
David Empson
There are many official methods of submitting information to Apple.
The subtle one is crash reports from your computer. They are generally
sent automatically to Apple, or you are at least asked if you want to
send them. In some cases you have an opportunity to enter some
additional text to describe the events leading up to the crash.
AppleCare can sometimes be a method to raise attention to a problem, but
I think AppleCare will direct you to the feedback page in most cases.
The main method is http://www.apple.com/feedback/ or the appropriate
feedback link within the application menu of relevant application (e.g.
iTunes).
This lets you do a "one way" feature request or bug report with little
likelihood that Apple will get back in touch with you, though they will
have enough information to contact you if they need to.
The advanced method requires that you register as a developer with
Apple. Free online membership is sufficient. Start at:
Click on the Mac heading and then follow the Join procedure.
Once you have registered as a developer, you can file a bug report via:
Filing a bug report as a developer is a more technical process. You need
to supply the bug report in a standard form with as much detail as
possible such as how to repeat the problem, expected and observed
behaviour, and may need to supply files and screen shots demonstrating
the problem.
There are also non-disclosure requirements with some aspects of being a
developer and filing bug reports.
With bugreport, Apple will assign a reference number to the bug, and
will eventually get back in touch with you in some way, e.g. if they
need more information. You can monitor the status of your reported bugs.
Most of the bugs I have filed via bugreport have been closed by Apple as
duplicates of an existing bug, i.e. someone else already reported the
same problem. In this situation, you cannot find out anything about the
earlier report.
In other cases, the outcome was that Apple either wasn't going to do
anything about the problem (e.g. a feature was deliberately removed), or
the problem was eventually fixed.
I tend to limit my use of bugreport.apple.com to bugs where I can
describe a clear set of circumstances and have a pretty good idea where
the bug is. I use www.apple.com/feedback for more general issues.
--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz
Marlon
Thanks David - very comprehensive - I'll start with 'Feedback',
especially as I'm not experiencing crashes with this issue. And it is a
request that they do things how _I_ want after all :)
Cheers,
Marlon
Chris Ridd
> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:10:20 +1300, dem...@actrix.gen.nz (David
> Empson) wrote:
>
>> Most of the bugs I have filed via bugreport have been closed by Apple as
>> duplicates of an existing bug, i.e. someone else already reported the
>> same problem. In this situation, you cannot find out anything about the
>> earlier report.
>>
>> In other cases, the outcome was that Apple either wasn't going to do
>> anything about the problem (e.g. a feature was deliberately removed), or
>> the problem was eventually fixed.
>
> Apple could do an awful lot to improve the bug reporting process.
> Their system strikes me as somewhat dated. They could make a
> start by permitting you to see earlier bug reports.
They can't do that because it would reveal details of bugs/code in
third-party products. Adobe and MS (to name but two) wouldn't be happy
if you could see that. Standard privacy problem, really. Unfortunately
:-(
--
Chris
zoara
> Thanks David - very comprehensive - I'll start with 'Feedback',
> especially as I'm not experiencing crashes with this issue. And it is
> a
> request that they do things how _I_ want after all :)
>
I'm curious - what is it?
Feel free to send feedback before explaining here (if at all)... But
bear in mind that if many people send similar feedback, it'll have more
chance of getting fixed.
I wish a few more people would send feedback about the loss of album
shuffle on the iPhone and iPod touch - I really miss that from my iPod
classic...
-z-
--
email: nettid1 at fastmail dot fm
David Empson
You are not alone.
I submitted feedback about that as soon as I got my iPod Touch
(September 2008).
--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz
Chris Ridd
> On Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:01:58 +0000, Chris Ridd <chri...@mac.com>
> wrote:
>
>> They can't do that because it would reveal details of bugs/code in
>> third-party products. Adobe and MS (to name but two) wouldn't be happy
>> if you could see that
>
> They wouldn't want the bugs to go public until they are officially
> released ;)
Or at all.
But if you raise any bugs, consider also raising them on "OpenRadar" so
the rest of the world can see them.
--
Chris
Marlon
> Marlon <no....@please.we.re.british> wrote:
>
>>Thanks David - very comprehensive - I'll start with 'Feedback',
>>especially as I'm not experiencing crashes with this issue. And it is
>>a
>>request that they do things how _I_ want after all :)
>>
>
>
> I'm curious - what is it?
>
> Feel free to send feedback before explaining here (if at all)... But
> bear in mind that if many people send similar feedback, it'll have more
> chance of getting fixed.
Thanks, tried that here twice already - most recently under the subject:
"Permissions on photos uploaded from iPhone to iPhoto?"
Basically what I'm finding is:
Several users on the family iMac, using a shared iPhoto library
(iLife '09), photos uploaded from 2 iPhones (both OS 3.1.2, one on my
wifes account, one on mine) and from several digital cameras/card
readers.
With Leopard, uploads from any of these devices were visible to users
of any account in the shared iPhoto libray.
Since Snow Leopard (including 10.6.2), uploads from the iPhones are
only visible from the account used when uploading: thumbnails are
visible, but not the full-size image.
What I discovered when tracing down to the files where the individual
images are stored is that permissions on the image files created from
the iPhone downloads have permissions of 600, and hence I'm assuming
this is why they're only visible to the 'owner' in iPhoto.
This is a change in behaviour, as when I look at the files from
uploads when the iMac was running Leopard, they have permissions 644.
And curiously, photos uploaded from digital cameras end up at 644,
even with Snow Leopard.
So it's seemingly something that's changed with SL in the handling of
iPhones only.
I've submitted this via the 'feedback' option as suggested.
Cheers,
Marlon
zoara
>
> > I wish a few more people would send feedback about the loss of album
> > shuffle on the iPhone and iPod touch - I really miss that from my
> > iPod
> > classic...
>
> You are not alone.
>
> I submitted feedback about that as soon as I got my iPod Touch
> (September 2008).
I'm glad I'm not the only one. I miss it so much that I send feedback
about it once every few months... Yes, I'm that sad.
-zoara-