March 25, 2026
Closed as fixed... unless you prove it isn't
Apple randomly closes bug reports unless you "verify" the bug remains unfixed
Devs say it's a time-wasting goose chase; others call it 'spring cleaning'
TLDR: A dev says Apple threatened to close a long‑standing bug unless he re‑tested it, then shipped the issue anyway, sparking outrage. Commenters split: some call it normal “spring cleaning,” others slam it as wasting users’ time, with a side debate on hard‑to‑reproduce bugs and quality metrics that miss the point.
Apple’s bug tracker just got dragged into the spotlight after a developer said Apple threatened to close a 3‑year‑old bug unless he “verified” it on the latest beta—only for the bug to ship broken anyway. He says Apple sent him on a wild goose chase, wouldn’t answer if it was fixed, and even stamped another 100% reproducible Safari tab bug as “unable to diagnose.” Oh, and a new iPad browser crash made it to public release. Cue chaos.
The comments lit up. One camp shrugged: “This happens everywhere,” with cozzyd calling it “spring cleaning” for bug trackers. Another camp fumed that it’s disrespectful: why make users act as unpaid testers and then ignore them? DonThomasitos fired back with a reality check—should Apple pause all updates until every edge case is reproduced? Meanwhile, eminence32 played peacemaker: not all bugs are easy to reproduce, and sometimes devs need a fresh re‑test after code changes.
Then came the cross‑platform shade: stefan_ pointed at Claude Code’s GitHub, roasting a “bot” that links your bug to random cousins and auto‑closes. The mood? A mix of “verify our homework” memes, “Bug Hunger Games” jokes, and real frustration that quality metrics feel like a numbers game. Whether it’s Apple, bots, or both, users feel caught in the middle—again.
Key Points
- •The author filed FB12088655 in March 2023 about a network filter extension leak, providing steps and an Xcode sample project.
- •After three years without a response, Apple asked him to verify the bug on macOS 26.4 beta 4, warning the report would be closed if he did not respond within two weeks.
- •Developers of Little Snitch reported they could still reproduce the issue on macOS 26.4 beta 4; the author also reproduced it on the public macOS 26.4 release.
- •A second bug, FB22057274, about Safari pinned tabs was marked “Unable to diagnose,” and the author’s March 9 request for needed details received no reply.
- •The author reports a Safari crash in iPadOS 26.4 betas that persisted into the public release, questioning the effectiveness of Apple’s beta process.