Requesting a sample bug report that would be most effective in getting the issue resolved

By Brian Giles, 30 September, 2022

Forum
Apple Beta Releases

Hi all,

I've been thinking about getting back on the beta train with 16.1. I filed a few bug reports in 16.0 but I don't think they were as good as they could have been. I've gotten emails asking for more info about one even though it's been fixed for a while now.

Unrelated to that, I filed a bug report about how VoiceOver still sees controls from the previous screen on the now playing screen in the music app. When I read the list of new and resolved bugs in iOS16, there was a much better explanation of the bug than I thought I provided to Apple even though I tried to explain it thoroughly.

This got me thinking, can someone post a sample here of a good bug report that you would submit through the feedback app? If others have reported the same bug and provided a feedback number, do you just reference that somewhere in your own feedback?

If something like this already exists, can someone point me to it? Thanks!

Options

Remember, user feedback is vital to making the Apple ecosystem even more accessible

Reporting bugs directly to Apple is vital. Don't assume that they must already know about a bug. Regardless, the more information they have on an issue, the easier it is for them to reproduce and resolve. The more reports Apple receive, the more likely they are to prioritise fixing the bug. Quality and quantity of bug reports both matter.

If you are running a beta release, use the Feedback Assistant on your device to submit suggestions and bug reports. If you are on a public release of the software, this page tells you how to submit suggestions and reports.

Comments

By Cobbler

4 months 1 week ago

I often struggle to find the words to explain the issue that I am encountering, so will always include a screen recording where possible. It's always better than anything I could write.

There's a post elsewhere on here which offers some general tips for submitting bug reports, the main ones being to include:

  1. A brief description of the problem.
  2. State the frequency of the problem - for example, does it always happen, only sometimes, or very infrequently.
  3. Give details of the steps necessary to reproduce the problem.
  4. State what you would expect to happen after taking the steps above.
  5. Explain what actually happens after taking the steps above.
  6. Give details of the software and hardware that you are using.

If you are filing a report through the Feedback Assistant, that last item won't be necessary as it will be in the logs automatically sent with the report.

My bottom line? File a report, even if you aren't necessarily happy with your description. A report is better than no report ☺️