Apple released iOS 7.1 today, finally conquering the dreaded crashing bug that would force the device into what appeared to be a restart (actually it was the app that lists the applications, internally called Springboard, that was crashing and bringing up the Apple logo screen). Macworld runs down some of the other changes, but as far as I can tell nothing else directly applies to photographers using iPads. The only camera-related improvement is a new Auto HDR setting, but it applies only to the iPhone 5s, not the iPad.
However, the folks over at C2 Enterprises note that iOS 7.1 introduced a bug that crashes Photosmith when importing images from the Camera Roll. The crash doesn’t affect the images you import—everything completes successfully—but you’re kicked back to the applications screen. They write:
This app crash isn’t as catastrophic as it appears – It’s a display-only bug, and your photos and metadata are perfectly safe. No data loss will result from this crash. Restarting Photosmith after the import crash will show all your previously imported photos in Photosmith’s catalog (including the photos imported just prior to the crash). You may continue working as your normally would in Photosmith.
More importantly, Photosmith will continue functioning as it did prior to updating to iOS 7.1. Importing photos via Eye-Fi, FTP, iTunes, or when syncing with Lightroom, isn’t impacted by this issue. This is an issue specific with how we’re handing the import dialog window after the import is completed. Instead of closing the import window and displaying the normal Photosmith interface, the entire Photosmith app shuts down.
Part of the issue is that Apple didn’t release a “final” build to developers before releasing iOS 7.1; the devs discovered the bug in the shipping version.
Nonetheless, iOS 7.1 has been in the works for a while, and I’m glad it’s here.
Jeff Carlson | Never Enough Coffee Creations 