Study says Android 4.0 and iOS 8 are most likely to crash your apps
Ever had the feeling that certain phone operating systems are more likely to crash your apps than others? It's not just you. Crittercism has posted its latest breakdown of crash reports from about 20,000 apps, and it's clear that certain operating systems aren't as friendly as others. On Android, Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) is most likely to wreck your day; KitKat (4.4) is close behind, while Lollipop's early reputation for glitches apparently doesn't affect apps. With Apple devices, however, the tables turn. While iOS' app crash rate is lower overall, iOS 8 is a bit more problematic than its predecessor. That's not surprising given that Apple hasn't had as much time to tackle issues in 8, but you may feel better if you're still holding on to 7.
Don't be too quick to brag about your choice of platform. The stats say a lot about app stability, but they don't tell the story of your operating system. A rock-solid social networking client doesn't matter much if basic Android or iOS features are breaking down. Also, the info may be skewed by the number of active users. It's hard to know how reliable Lollipop will be in the long run when only a small slice of Android devices are running it, after all. If nothing else, Crittercism's figures show that stability doesn't consistently improve or deteriorate -- sometimes, it varies from release to release.
Photo by Will Lipman.
