WingX Developer Sounds Warning on iOS 7

"Please don't shoot the messenger," is the plea from the support team at Hilton Software, developers of the popular WingX series of iPad and iPhone apps for aviation. Last week, Hilton sent out notices to subscribers warning them not to upgrade to iOS 7, the newest operating system from Apple. Some customers immediately fired back complaints that the warning had come too late — they had already upgraded. Over the weekend, Hilton sent out a follow-up message to clarify its position.

First, the team defended the delay by saying it waited until the final version of the much awaited iOS 7 was released before issuing its warning, rather than basing its position on Beta test versions.

But more important, Hilton Software is reporting that fewer than a half dozen WingX users have experienced problems running the app on iOS 7. Hilton is warning users out of "an abundance of caution" about issues other than those that might affect its app specifically. The email reads, in part, "A crash or hang is OK while tweeting, but not while flying." And so far, the Hilton team does not like what it sees with iOS 7.

"We had an iPad 3 completely hang to a point where just the 'desktop' background was visible, no icons, nothing. Even the hardware buttons were 'dead.' …Imagine if this happened during a 'busy time' on a flight."

The bottom line is that Hilton maintains its software is every bit as "iOS 7 ready" as anyone else's. But the company is not comfortable with the overall reliability of the new Apple upgrade. The message concludes with, "… we cannot recommend upgrading your iPhone or iPad to iOS 7 (for now). If you have already upgraded to iOS 7.0, just be aware that there are some instability issues in the underlying iOS and be sure to upgrade to the latest iOS as soon as Apple releases an update."

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