Incident: iOS 6 "Do Not Disturb" Bug Causes New Year's Day Alarm Failures

Published Date: 2013-01-02

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident with the bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature happened around the New Year's Day of 2013 as mentioned in Article [16452]. Therefore, the software failure incident happened in January 2013.
System 1. iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature [16452]
Responsible Organization 1. Apple [16452]
Impacted Organization 1. iPhone users 2. iPad users 3. iPod touch users 4. Users who rely on alarms 5. Users who schedule "Do Not Disturb" feature [Cited Article: 16452]
Software Causes 1. The software cause of the failure incident was a bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature that prevented it from turning off as scheduled, leading to users missing calls, notifications, and alarms [Article 16452].
Non-software Causes 1. The bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature causing users to miss calls or notifications was due to a time- and date-related issue around the new year [16452].
Impacts 1. Users missed calls or incoming notifications, or slept through their alarms due to the "Do Not Disturb" feature not turning off as scheduled [16452].
Preventions 1. Implementing thorough testing procedures before releasing the software update could have potentially prevented the software failure incident [16452]. 2. Conducting extensive user acceptance testing to identify and address any potential bugs or issues with the "Do Not Disturb" feature could have helped prevent the incident [16452].
Fixes 1. Apple releasing a software update to fix the bug in the "Do Not Disturb" feature in iOS 6 [16452].
References 1. Apple Support [16452]

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring one_organization (a) The software failure incident of a bug in the "Do Not Disturb" feature in iOS 6 is not the first time such issues have occurred with Apple products. The article mentions that iOS 4 users had issues with the alarm clock in 2011 and 2012, indicating a recurrence of software-related problems within Apple's products [16452]. (b) The article does not provide information about similar incidents happening at other organizations or with their products and services.
Phase (Design/Operation) design, operation (a) The software failure incident in Article 16452 is related to the design phase. The article mentions a bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature that caused some users to experience issues with the scheduling functionality. This bug was introduced during the development of the system, specifically in the design of the "Do Not Disturb" feature. Apple acknowledged the issue and stated that it would take a few days to resolve the problem, indicating that the failure was due to contributing factors introduced during system development [16452]. (b) The software failure incident in Article 16452 is also related to the operation phase. Users were affected by the bug in the "Do Not Disturb" feature as they missed calls, notifications, or alarms due to the feature not turning off as scheduled. This failure was a result of the operation or use of the system by the affected users. Despite Apple's recommendation to manually turn the feature on or off, some users still experienced issues, indicating that the failure was due to contributing factors introduced during the operation or misuse of the system [16452].
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system, outside_system The software failure incident related to the bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature can be categorized as within_system and outside_system: (a) within_system: The failure was within the system as it was caused by a bug in the iOS 6 software itself, specifically in the "Do Not Disturb" feature. The bug prevented the feature from turning off as scheduled, leading to users missing calls, notifications, or sleeping through alarms [16452]. (b) outside_system: The failure was also influenced by external factors related to the time and date transition to the new year. Time- and date-related bugs are mentioned as being common around the new year, indicating that external factors like the change in year may have contributed to the software failure incident [16452].
Nature (Human/Non-human) non-human_actions (a) The software failure incident in Article 16452 was due to a bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature. This bug caused the feature not to turn off as scheduled, leading to users missing calls, notifications, or sleeping through alarms. The issue was time- and date-related, which are factors introduced without human participation [16452]. (b) In the same incident described in Article 16452, the resolution provided by Apple Support involved manually turning the Do Not Disturb feature on or off until the bug was fixed. However, even this manual action did not resolve the issue for all users, indicating that human actions in terms of user intervention were not sufficient to address the underlying bug [16452].
Dimension (Hardware/Software) software (a) The software failure incident in Article 16452 was not attributed to hardware issues but rather to a bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature. The article specifically mentions that the problem with the feature not turning off as scheduled was a bug in the software, affecting iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users [16452]. (b) The software failure incident in Article 16452 was caused by a bug in the iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature, indicating a failure originating in the software itself [16452].
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) non-malicious (a) The software failure incident described in the article is non-malicious. It was caused by a bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature that affected users' ability to receive calls, messages, and alerts as scheduled. Apple acknowledged the issue and mentioned that it would be resolved by a certain date, indicating that the problem was unintentional and not caused by malicious intent [16452].
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) accidental_decisions The software failure incident described in Article 16452 was related to a bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature. The incident was not caused by poor decisions but rather by an accidental decision or mistake in the software development process. Apple acknowledged the bug and mentioned that the issue would be resolved by a certain date, indicating that it was not a result of a deliberate poor decision but rather an unintended consequence of the software update [16452].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) accidental (a) The software failure incident in Article 16452 was not explicitly attributed to development incompetence. The issue with the "Do Not Disturb" feature in iOS 6 was described as a bug related to the scheduling functionality that caused it not to turn off as scheduled, leading to users missing calls or notifications. This bug was acknowledged by Apple, and they provided a timeline for when the issue would be resolved, indicating that it was a technical issue rather than a result of development incompetence. (b) The software failure incident in Article 16452 was attributed to an accidental bug in the iOS 6 "Do Not Disturb" feature. The article mentioned that some users found the feature didn't turn off as scheduled after the new year, leading to missed calls, notifications, or alarms. Apple acknowledged the issue and stated that it would take a few days to resolve, indicating that the bug was unintentional and not deliberately introduced.
Duration temporary The software failure incident described in the article was temporary. The bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature was causing issues for users, but Apple mentioned that the problem would be resolved by a specific date (January 7, 2013) [16452]. This indicates that the failure was not permanent but rather a temporary issue that would be fixed within a certain timeframe.
Behaviour omission, timing, value, other (a) crash: The article mentions a bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature that caused some users to miss calls or incoming notifications, or sleep through their alarms due to the feature not turning off as scheduled [Article 16452]. (b) omission: The software failure incident described in the article can be categorized as an omission since the "Do Not Disturb" feature omitted to perform its intended function of silencing calls, messages, and alerts as scheduled for some users [Article 16452]. (c) timing: The issue with the "Do Not Disturb" feature in iOS 6 can also be related to a timing failure as it was not functioning correctly in terms of scheduling the silencing of calls, messages, and alerts at the specified times, causing users to miss notifications or alarms [Article 16452]. (d) value: The software failure incident can be associated with a value failure as the "Do Not Disturb" feature was not performing its intended function correctly, leading to users missing important calls or notifications [Article 16452]. (e) byzantine: There is no indication in the article that the software failure incident exhibited behaviors of a byzantine failure. (f) other: The software failure incident could also be described as a glitch or a bug in the system that prevented the "Do Not Disturb" feature from working as intended, causing inconvenience to users [Article 16452].

IoT System Layer

Layer Option Rationale
Perception None None
Communication None None
Application None None

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence delay The consequence of the software failure incident in Article 16452 was primarily related to delays. The bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature caused some users to miss calls, incoming notifications, or sleep through their alarms, impacting their daily activities such as waking up on time [16452].
Domain information (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 16452 is related to the information industry. The incident involves a bug in iOS 6's "Do Not Disturb" feature, which affected iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users, causing them to miss calls, notifications, and alarms [16452].

Sources

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