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Backpacking and software updates


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  • #3767146
    Rex Sanders
    BPL Member

    @rex

    Background: Recent “minor” updates to my Apple Watch and our iPhones are driving my wife and I nuts. We’ve seen undocumented changes to user interfaces, well-hidden settings to put things mostly back, and overlapping settings that interact in mysterious ways. I’ve been using Apple devices regularly since 1979, and I’ve never been this frustrated. WYSIWYG has become as bad as a CLI, but without a usable manual, or even semi-logical workflows. I change WHAT setting to undo THAT new annoyance which breaks THIS other feature?

    Why this rant? What happens if you update your smart device just before a backpacking trip, or during a thru-hike? I’d be tempted to throw the cursed thing into the bushes, LNT or no LNT.

    Recommendations:

    – Don’t update in the week or so before a backpacking trip where your smart device is important to success or safety.

    – After every update, thoroughly check out the features and settings important to you. Fix the broken settings you can, and learn to curse through the new features you hate.

    – Think twice or more before updating during an extended thru-hike. If you choose to update, accept the risk that features you depend on might go very sideways until you learn to work around the problems, if you can.

    After a long career where computer security was a critical part of my multi-faceted job, it pains me greatly to recommend delaying security updates. So my last recommendation:

    – If you choose to delay updates, stay away from dangerous stuff even more than you are supposed to. Don’t click on that tempting link in an email, text message, or social media post. Stay away from sketchy web sites. And don’t install that new app that all the cool kids recommend until you’ve done a lot more investigation.

    End rant. For now.

    — Rex

    PS – Most of this applies to satellite communicators, too. Can’t wait until headlamps require periodic software updates and monthly subscriptions to keep running. :-(

    #3767183
    Murali C
    BPL Member

    @mchinnak

    Good advice…I decided to test my Steripen Ultra at 8AM of the day I was leaving for a backpacking trip (flight at 6PM). The lamp failed to light up. Tried a few things and then had to scramble to get a replacement some 30 miles from where I was. Should have checked it a week before. My Ultra was 6 years old. The store had an Ultra – which didn’t work. So got an Adventure or something like that. Which was also flaky during the trip. I contacted Steripen – they sent me two new ones – Ultra and an Adventure free of charge.

    Same thing happened during a different trip – checked my Garmin Inreach one day before I was leaving. Dang thing would not send any messages. Contacted Garmin – tried a few things and it still didn’t work. Luckily REI was open and I was able to get a new Inreach Mini 2. The Garmin Inreach that failed was 6 years old.

    So best to check a week before that all the electronic devices are working…:-) I guess I had become complacent as it always worked flawlessly every year…

    #3767293
    DWR D
    BPL Member

    @dwr-2

    Oh, how I miss the days of physical buttons and knobs… things used to just work… for many years… no updates, no gazillion settings to figure out… just turn the knob and it works. And phones… OMG… anyone remember the days when phones were hard wired to the wall? If people wanted to talk to you they called your home, after work. Somehow life seemed much more calm and peaceful… :)))

     

    #3767507
    Matthew / BPL
    Moderator

    @matthewkphx

    I’ve been moderating this thread pretty tightly. The subject of this thread pertains to software updates right before a trip and how they can cause problems. It’s a good point and a best practice people should be aware of and think about.

    Let’s keep this thread on-topic rather than turning it into yet another thread about how some people choose to not bring electronics into the backcountry at all. Members are welcome to start threads about that topic in a different thread. It’s a topic that can be discussed but that is not what this thread is about.

    From the Forum Guidelines: Do not deviate from the primary topic of a forum thread. I have to make judgements about how far off-topic a thread goes before I jump in and moderate. This is a topic I tend to moderate fairly narrowly because of how many threads devolve into the same “technology bad” trope. If you feel this moderation is unfair, please feel free to send an email as described towards the bottom of the guidelines and the team will discuss it.

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