We noted earlier that we’re again seeing a number of iOS apps crashing as soon as they open, thanks to a bug in the Facebook SDK. Even if you don’t have the Facebook app installed, apps which use this SDK access it when they open, and then promptly crash.
Fortunately, there is an easy fix for now …
The secret is to block apps from accessing the Facebook domain. There are a number of ways of doing this, but The Verge spotted a really easy one.
It takes just a couple of minutes to set up, most of which is simply tapping through the app walkthrough.
- Install Lockdown Apps
- Launch it, and tap through the tutorial
- Decline any trials offered – these aren’t needed for our purposes
- Tap the big Firewall button
- Agree to install a VPN profile
As soon as this is done, you should be able to once again open apps like Spotify.
We explained earlier what causes the crashes.
We’re expecting Facebook to fix the problem within a few hours. You can check for this by switching off the firewall and then trying to open Spotify. As soon as that succeeds, you can delete Lockdown App and that will automatically remove the VPN profile at the same time.
