Dozens of the world’s most popular apps including Spotify and MailOnline have crashed for iPhones users in what appears to be a flurry of outages linked to a Facebook bug.
Frustrated Apple customers said they had been frozen out of apps including Tik Tok, Tinder, Waze and Pinterest.
A huge spike in complaints was recorded around midday GMT, but many have since reported the issue fixed.
Experts pointed to a malfunction in Facebook’s software development kit (SDK) – specifically the login feature – which could be corrupting the apps.
Developers at the social media giant acknowledged the problem and said: ‘We are aware and investigating an increase in errors on the iOS SDK which is causing some apps to crash.’
A Facebook spokesperson added it was urgently trying to root out and fix the issue.
The Down Detector website which tracks reported issues for each major app logged a surge in over 12,000 complaints for Spotify today, with much of the outages concentrated in Europe
Apple customers have also reported difficulty accessing Facebook, Tik Tok and Pinterest (pictured) on their phones amid fears of a bug grinding them to a halt
Spotify suggested it was experiencing a wide-spread outage and tweeted: ‘Something’s out of tune. We’re currently investigating, and we’ll keep you posted here!’
The Down Detector website which tracks reported issues for each major app logged a surge in over 12,000 complaints for Spotify today, with much of the outages concentrated in Europe.
Spotify quickly started trending on Twitter as the social networking site was flooded with complaints from people facing both issues with streaming and complete blackouts.
Exasperated iPhone users shared footage of them trying to open the app but finding it immediately shut down, while deleting and re-installing the app does not fix it.
Other apps then began dropping like flies, including social media platform Pinterest, dating apps Tinder and Bumble, traffic app Waze, and the hugely popular video site Tik Tok, which yesterday revealed it was experiencing trouble.
Video games which also use Facebook log-ins on Apple including Call of Duty were also reported down, while Android users appeared to escape the outages.
PubG, the online battle royale game, tweeted: ‘Dear players, we are aware of the current problem encountered by iOS users.
‘This issue is happening to multiple apps and games on the iOS platform and we are actively looking into solving it.’
The wave of crashes echoes a similar mass outage in May, which was caused by a problem with Facebook’s SDK.
The Down Detector website which tracks reported issues for each major app logged a surge in over 12,000 complaints for Spotify today, with much of the outages concentrated in Europe
Europe appeared to bear the brunt of the outages, according to the Down Detector website
But disgruntled IPhone users from across the globe piled on to Twitter to share their frustration about being frozen out of their beloved apps.
One person tweeted Waze: ‘I’m getting an immediate crash when opening the app on latest iOS on iPhone 11. Reinstalled app, rebooted, still happening. Any known issues or fixes?’
Rattling off all the non-functioning apps, another said: ‘Spotify, Audubon, webtoon, photoshop, spark post, Pinterest, Podbean, are all down for me in the great iOS app crash of 2020.’
Another tweeted Spotify’s support team and described the problem: ‘Hi after today’s update on iOS the app doesn’t open anymore.
‘Tapping it results in a brief appearance of the logo and then a crash. Known issue? Any solution?’
People are not appy! Social media is flooded with hilarious memes after iOS crash leads to Spotify, Tik Tok and Tinder outages
Times can be tough in a pandemic, and with millions around the world plunged into lockdown, many have been relying on the wonders of technology to cope.
Be it apps such as Zoom to communicate with loved-ones, or entertainment apps such as Tik Tok or Spotify to provide some light relief, many of us have been glued to our phones.
But when an apparent Facebook bug prompted a mass outage of dozens of the world’s most popular apps today, iPhone users were up in arms.
Social media was flooded with hilarious memes from Apple users voicing their frustration.
Gleeful Android users were quick to take to boast about escaping the mass outages scot-free.
Here, MailOnline looks at some of the best reaction to what has been dubbed ‘the great ioS crash of 2020’.