Apple randomly closes bug reports unless it can confirm that the bug has not been fixed.
Apple randomly closes bug reports unless you “verify” the bug remains unfixed
https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2026/3/11.html
Apple offers a ' Feedback Assistant ' to receive feedback and bug reports from developers. Johnson reportedly once planned a boycott of the Feedback Assistant, but it didn't catch on with other developers.
Even Johnson, a seasoned professional, says he still has a reason to use the Feedback Assistant to report bugs. The reason is simple: Apple does fix some of the reported bugs.
Johnson said, 'My main complaint about the bug reporting process is not the bugs that go unfixed, but the lack of respect for bug reports and the people who submit them. Apple deliberately wastes our time without any hesitation, as if our time is worthless, as if we have an obligation to serve Apple.'
Johnson's reason for making this claim stems from
However, beta updates are very cumbersome, and Johnson had a bad experience in the past trying to fix bugs in beta versions, so he decided to contact Apple directly to ask if the bugs had been fixed in macOS 26.4 beta 4. However, Apple's response was vague and did not directly answer Johnson's question. Apple also notified him that if he did not verify the bug within two weeks, they would close the bug report and consider the bug to be fixed.
Although Johnson himself has not installed macOS 26.4 beta 4, he spoke to the developer of Little Snitch , who is using the OS, and it became clear that the bug is reproducible in macOS 26.4 beta 4 as well. Regarding this, Johnson wrote, 'Apparently Apple asked me to 'verify' a bug that I hadn't fixed, deliberately driving me into a pointless investigation. Perhaps Apple was hoping the bug would just disappear on its own.'
Johnson has also reported another
Therefore, Johnson wrote, 'I can only assume that there are fools in Apple's management who instruct their subordinates to close bug reports regardless of whether the bug has been fixed or not. If it's out of sight, it's not a problem. Apple's internal metrics artificially keep the number of unresolved bug reports low, so they probably think there's no problem with the quality of their software.'
When Johnson reported on the matter on his blog, the blog was featured on the front page of Hacker News and attracted a lot of attention on the internet. Apple then updated Johnson's bug report, but it seems the content was a 'request for system diagnostics.' In response, Johnson reportedly said, 'System diagnostics shouldn't be necessary, and I don't see how system diagnostics can help with a user interface bug.'
Furthermore, on the social forum Hacker News, one commenter pointed out, 'It appears the author has no prior experience working in the enterprise software field. This is a common tactic where developers respond to bug reporters by saying, 'We can't reproduce it, could you check with the latest version?' while actually doing nothing. If it's not checked, the bug report can be closed as 'user error' or 'unreproducible.' Of course, the only way to counter this is to say , 'Yes, I've checked,' without actually checking.'
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in Software, Smartphone, Posted by logu_ii