Apple briefly halted the development of iOS 18, iPadOS, macOS, and VisionOS as engineers grappled with bugs in current releases. Craig Federighi, the senior vice president of software engineering, instructed the team to focus on bug fixes for a week, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Craig Federighi’s revamping of Apple’s software development
Since joining Apple in 2019, the company’s software head, Federighi, has urged engineers to prioritize bug fixes over new features. Despite ongoing efforts for several years, the development for next year’s release has encountered challenges.
Federighi introduced a novel strategy known as “feature flags,” where each feature is manually activated, enabling employee testers to assess its impact before integration. Additionally, under his leadership, Apple adopted “The Pact” to proactively address software issues and swiftly rectify any errors.
The preliminary work on iOS 18, macOS 15, and other projects has been completed
Apple reportedly finished the initial iteration of its forthcoming operating systems for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, named M1, signifying a significant milestone. Internally, the iPhone and iPad software, denoted as iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, respectively, is codenamed “Crystal.” Meanwhile, the Mac software, macOS 15, goes by the name “Glow.”
Traditionally, following the completion of the initial milestone release of a software update, Apple’s engineers would initiate work on the second milestone. However, this year, the company opted to postpone the commencement of the second milestone release in order to focus on refining the software. The one-week hiatus in new feature development occurred last week and is anticipated to conclude this week.
Apple postponed the commencement of work on the second milestone, labeled M2. This delay extended to the upcoming Apple Watch operating system, watchOS 11 (dubbed “Moonstone”), as well as an update for the existing iOS 17, designated iOS 17.4. Additionally, the development of Vision Pro was also put on hold during this week.
Despite the temporary hiatus lasting a week, Gurman highlights that the upcoming releases of iOS, macOS, and other operating systems will proceed according to the planned schedule. Gurman anticipates the announcement of iOS 18 at the developer conference scheduled for next year, likely in June.
