iPhone 5S death

iPhone 5S has a Blue Screen of Death

A few lucky iPhone 5S owners have discovered an Easter Egg in iOS 7. When switching between iWorks applications via the iOS 7 card interface, the 5S throws a Blue Screen of Death — just like an old Windows PC.

In fairness to iOS honcho Jony Ive it’s a minimalist take on the BSOD. There’s no bothersome text output cluttering up the screen, just a bright blue hue from edge to edge. A split second later the victimized iPhone 5S reboots and heads back in to iOS 7.

There’s an easy workaround for the time being. You can simply disable iCloud synchronization for your iWorks files and you’ll outsmart the BSOD bug. That does sort of diminish the usability of iWorks on the iPhone 5S, but hey… at least your phone won’t reboot when you switch apps any more.

It’s nowhere near the fiasco that Apple Maps was, but it’s still another slip up for Apple — who proudly trumpeted that iWorks would now be thrown in for free on all new iOS devices.

Reports of the issue have been popping up on Apple’s customer forums for almost a month, but so far the two iOS 7 updates that have been pushed out haven’t gotten rid of the blue screen bug. There’s a good chance that’s because the iWorks apps themselves need some tweaking.

It’s really too bad that the lovable old Sad Mac doesn’t make a cameo appearance. At least then iPhone 5S users could crack a nostalgic smile while their brand new $600 phone reboots instead of dwelling on their gadget-induced frustration.