OnSong | Blog

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The State of iOS 9

Upgrading to iOS 9 is on the minds of our users and we want to share what we know so you can make an informed decision.

Please Backup Your Library!

No matter what, always make sure that you have a backup of your library in case a problem arises. We've had users that experience issues when upgrading their iOS and have lost the information on their device. It's easy to make a backup file. Safety first!

What do we know?

OnSong 1.999 provides fixes to iOS 9 bugs
Keep in mind that there are some issues with iOS 9 when running the current version of OnSong such as the date picker in the set editor and light text on menus when sorting or performing actions. We are aware of these issues and have them fixed in the upcoming OnSong 1.999 release.

Thank you for your patience as we work to research all reported issues and finalize our testing. We should launch OnSong 1.999 in mid-October.
Apple continues to release minor updates to address bugs
Apple has released iOS 9.0.1 within a week of the initial launch and has released iOS 9.0.2 today. That means there are still many issues they are working to resolve. iOS 9.1 is also in progress and being sent to beta testers.
40% of our active users are running iOS 9
When there are problems, we hear about them. However, we have received no further reported issues. Most users are reporting good results.

Here's the iOS breakdown over the past week: iOS 9: 40%, iOS 8: 50%, iOS 7: 8%, iOS 6: 1% and iOS 5: 1%.
Hardware vendors are urging customers to hold off on upgrading to iOS 9
AirTurn is urging customers to not update to iOS 9 due to Bluetooth connection problems. We have tested OnSong with AirTurn pedals under iOS 9 and it appears OnSong is behaving properly. Pairing pedals in the iOS 9 Bluetooth settings screen appears to be the issue. Some users have reported Bluetooth devices disconnecting.
iOS 9 fixes some longstanding iOS 8 bugs
Shortly after iOS 8 launched, OnSong reported major issues to Apple. We have worked together with Apple and have confirmed these issues have been addressed. If you have had crashing issues when using stage monitor mode on Lightning port devices, or have poor formatting in Microsoft Word documents, iOS 9 will correct this.
WiFi and Bluetooth has been overhauled in iOS 9
iOS 8 has been a nightmare for many users in regards to WiFi performance and peer-to-peer communication. If you use OnCue, you may be familiar with this. iOS 9 has reverted back to using the same networking services as iOS 7. Our tests and reports confirm this as iOS 9 can communicate wirelessly with all iOS versions except iOS 8.

If you use OnCue, make sure you are running the same version of OnSong and iOS on all of your devices. We strongly urge you to use OnSong Connect for live use since it does not rely on Apple's frameworks and is more robust.
Some users are reporting that WiFi with an Internet Connection is required to use OnSong
We have some users claiming that OnSong is requiring an Internet connection in order to launch. If an Internet connection is not available, it is causing OnSong to crash. We have been working to replicate this scenario and unfortunately have not been able to. We do recommend resetting network settings to correct network-related issues. You can do this by going into the Settings app on your home screen and choosing General, Reset and then Reset Network Settings. This will remove your WiFi passwords so you will need to enter your passwords again.
Some users are reporting performance issues in iOS 9
This is a mixed bag. Some users are having performance problems after updating to iOS 9 while others report improvements. One user claims that iOS 9 has breathed new life into their iPad 2. Another user reports serious lag on iPad 4. We have experienced user interface lagging when opening the camera app or using the home screen on our iPhone 6 devices. Even iPhone 6s users are reporting problems.

Should You Upgrade?

We are still recommending not updating to iOS 9 for production devices because of these reports. We also want to work around the issues presented by iOS 9 in OnSong 1.999. iOS 9 does fix a number of issues and has not drastically effected 40% of our users.