What is a "radar?"

Radar is Apple's bug tracking system. It's developed in-house for use at Apple exclusively, and it tracks absolutely everything, from bugs to tasks to enhancements to features to problems with content to issues with IT, and anything else you can think of.

Apple's Radar system is also open to registered developers who can use it to file bugs or enhancement requests with Apple. External users have no way to know if an issue has been reported, so it's common to file an issue and then be informed that it's a duplicate of a previous issue.

You didn't answer my question. My question is, "is it the same thing as the Bug Reporter tool?"

Yes, but the Bug Reporter tool is only the one public facing side of a more intricate collection hub - including vast amounts of data sent to it automatically by Macs running developer previews for example (unless you turn that off in System Preferences > Privacy). It has it's own ecosystem inside Apple but, yes, as far as we're concerned filing a radar is filing a bug.

Ouoting from the 'net, rather than linking, since moderation to allow seems hit/miss"

"Apple's Radar system is also open to registered developers who can use it to file bugs or enhancement requests with Apple. Although Radar is reputedly very good when used inside of Apple, this is not generally apparent to users outside of the company. The frequent request to "file a radar" often sounds more or less like "forget it, buddy", because issues frequently go weeks or even years without so much as an acknowledgement or indeed any indication at all that anyone has even read the issue. This leads to the perception of the Radar system as being something of a black hole.

External users have no way to know if an issue has been reported, so it's common to file an issue and then be informed that it's a duplicate of a previous issue. That seems reasonable at first, but in practice it means that you'll never get notified if the issue is resolved."

And yes, it's the same as 'Report Bugs'

Thank you both for clearing this up for me.

By the way, KMT, I gave you the points because you've got fewer of them.

Actually, when people talk about 'Radar', they can also mean https://openradar.appspot.com, which is an public open bug database. When reporting a bug on bugreport.apple.com, you are encouraged to also copy it to openradar, so that other people can actually see what bugs have been reported.

Yes, but why "Radar"?

Radar is about interpreting radio waves reflected off aircraft, ships, land, rain, etc.

>Radar is about interpreting

The bug reporter works the same way...use of a tool to gather information, where it's interpreted and acted on as applies.

Ever heard the expression "it's on our radar..." ...? That phrase went into the public vernacular a long time ago and usually means "we're looking into it, -or- we're working on it...". In the context of the bug reporter, I think it's simply insider slang. I like it better than 'file a bug', tho 😉 - great way to find out if you're talking to an actual developer, too.

Bug tracking system

These days, the best advice would be to "send feedback" using the iOS and macOS feedback assistant app!

You can find out more at https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/ which states:

You can now submit developer feedback and file bug reports to Apple using the native Feedback Assistant app for iOS and Mac, or the Feedback Assistant website. When you file a bug, you’ll receive a Feedback IDto track the bug within the app or on the website. Feedback Assistant replaces Bug Reporter, which is no longer available.

As it says, this tool replaces the older "bug reporter" which was sometimes known as "filing a Radar" because it created tickets in the system that Apple engineers know as Radar.

Radar was also the name of the app Apple engineers used internally as well as the bug database. So it was an overloaded term.

So bugreport.apple.com was an external way to report into radar, it just didn't have a full view of a bug.

(Source: was a bug screener at Apple for several years and lived in the Radar app all day.)

These days, they now have a better front end for it, I understand.

...

RADAR

Apple's RADAR system is the centralized spot whereby Apple Engineers, Testers, Beta Testers, and others can officially log bugs pertaining to various Apple software and devices.

RADAR has been rebranded as 'Feedback Assistant' which is automatically installed anytime you'll install a beta OS on your devices.

In fact, only up until recently Apple's Radar site was still accessible via radar.apple.com now appears to finally be offline.

So in summary, Radar is now branded as so:

I thought Apple's bug tracking could not get any worse ... I was wrong.

Feedback Assistant is a sad joke. Even the name betrays Apple's unrivalled arrogance - they don't have bugs; just feedback.

Why oh why is there zero bug transparency provided - even to developers who enable the entire app ecosystem?
I just want to see if my issue is already reported, and if so how widespread is it. I'd like to know "Am I going mad or are others experiencing my issue?". If the bug is not being addressed has anyone found a workaround? Where in the bug pipeline is my bug - has it even been acknowledged? Will it be fixed in the next release? Is there any plan at all to fix my bug?

I can't believe that Apple think it acceptable that StackOverflow has become the place to track issues in their developer tools - complete with its masses of fud and incorrect advice.

PLEASE FIX THIS.

ios14

Just being honest: I'm pretty much entirely convinced that absolutely nobody within any engineering ranks at Apple is actually engaging with any bug / feedback submissions from the feedback app.

I find myself feverishly documenting major bugs found in beta and development iOS builds, thinking I'm doing the greater iOS community some good, but in reality, I look back at reports I've submitted YEARS ago and they're all still OPEN (besides the ones I myself have closed on their behalf). It makes you wonder if Apple is getting the best of us and how appreciative they really are with my valuable time. I'm basically QA'ing their work for free.

I've submitted bugs years ago in the Feedback app when it was relatively new, and each of those report is as prestinely untouched and unread as when they were newly submitted.