2514_Weekly Tech Report: „Unintended Bugs, Hanging Apps & System Crashes“ – A Look into the Dark Side of Modern Technology

In the week from 02 to 09 March 2025, numerous disturbances and irregularities occurred in various digital systems – from VR devices and Meta applications to Apple products and public services. User reports and notifications paint a multifaceted picture of the current technical challenges, which continue to cause surprises even in highly advanced systems.

Focus on the VR and Meta Environment

Early in the week, users reported significant issues within the Meta ecosystem. One user noted that the Meta Quest 3S became unusually hot during multitasking and that the Hand-Tracking Mode suddenly stopped working – while interface elements such as icons and text remained continuously displayed unless the Controller was deliberately navigated out of the display area. The Meta Workrooms App was not spared either: a brief shift of a table and the constant fixation of control elements caused confusion, with initial suspicions pointing to interactions between the ambient lighting in the real environment and the digital display.

Apple Ecosystem Under System Strain

In the Apple ecosystem, reports of system crashes and lengthy update processes dominated. Users of the MacBook Air (both M1 and M3) reported extremely long loading times when opening Pages documents and unexplained crashes during the update process. Additional issues occurred with iMessage and FaceTime: faulty call displays and suddenly missing profile pictures caused irritation, while the AirDrop function repeatedly failed to perform. The Apple Watch also emitted unexplained rhythmic vibrations, giving some users a strange bodily sensation.

Issues with Public Services and Third-Party Apps

Not only did the major technology corporations come under scrutiny in the complaints. For instance, a user at the Lidl-Hauptbahnhof Dresden-Neustadt reported problems with the self-service checkout: the selection of a reusable bag for €0.55 was not possible because the scanner was deactivated and a back button was missing – a circumstance that required a cumbersome workaround. Public transportation also faced technical hurdles: multiple reports regarding the DB Navigator indicated faulty displays of S-Bahn locations as well as defective display boards at Frankfurt train stations. Another incident involved the Bauhaus website, which caused the browser to crash completely when attempting to retrieve product data.

Unexpected Incidents and User Experiences

The reports also revealed a series of surprising incidents in the everyday use of digital applications. For example, during ongoing update processes, unintended calls occurred – even while the device was apparently occupied with installing app updates. One particularly striking incident in the Meta Workrooms demonstrated how a sudden system crash effectively „ruined“ the user’s workspace: the screen reduced to a wooden table and prompted the selection of a new location, without any active intervention from the user. These experiences were further supplemented by reports of extreme issues with the photo search on the iPhone as well as malfunctioning features in various communication apps.