Apple App Store updates cause iOS, OS X apps to crash

Apple's servers appear to have pushed out corrupted binaries over the last few days according to Instapaper developer Marco Arment. The issue has caused OS X and iOS users to experience app crashes as a result of updating to new versions containing the corrupted binaries available from the iOS App Store and the Mac App Store.

Arment discovered the problem on Tuesday evening after pushing an update for his Instapaper app to Apple's App Store. "I was deluged by support e-mail and Twitter messages from customers saying that it crashed immediately on launch, even with a clean install," he wrote on his blog. The problem appears to have been caused by Apple's addition of FairPlay DRM when updated binaries are submitted to the company's servers for distribution.

Specifically, an error encoding the DRM to the uploaded binary causes those downloading them to experience crashes as soon as the app is started. Error logs point to a failure within "AppleFairplayTextCrypterSession::fairplayOpen()" -- the first step required to run any app downloaded from either of Apple's app stores.

It doesn't appear to be affecting all regions according to the developer, although it's currently unclear exactly which regions are or aren't having issues, or precisely how many apps are affected. So far, Apple appears to be fixing apps on a case-by-case basis right now as Arment's app is no longer crashing.

Developers that have submitted updates to their apps between July 3 and 5 may still be affected by the problem. "I'll repeat my warning to developers: if you can help it, do not release app updates today," Arment said via Twitter. "The corruption is widespread and ongoing."

The unfortunate situation has resulted in users assuming developers are to blame for the crashes of newly updated apps, leading to a rise in negative comments from consumers unaware of the situation. Those that are affected can restore the apps by removing it and then downloading a working version, once Apple has resolved the problem.

Apple is yet to announce when it would be resolved and did not respond to requests for further comment.