Fortnite players on iOS must reinstall after game-breaking bug

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Fortnite iOS 14
Everyone should welcome skill-based matchmaking.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Epic Games has told Fortnite players on iOS that they will need to delete and reinstall the game to keep on playing.

Disgruntled iPhone and iPad users quickly discovered they were unable to load into Battle Royale after a game-breaking bug was introduced in the most recent 9.40.1 patch.

Epic’s unusual “fix” has understandably upset a lot of fans, who now have to download gigabytes of data all over again.

This week’s version 9.40 Fortnite update is a big one. It introduces new tactical shotguns and big gameplay changes, and it comes after several weeks of no improvements at all.

But if you play Fortnite on iOS, you weren’t able to enjoy it.

Bug breaks Fortnite on iOS

A significant bug in the latest update prevents iPhone and iPad players from loading up the game. Some say they encounter a “file corruption” error — others just experience crashes.

Epic, in a tweet on Thursday afternoon, asked Fortnite players on iOS to “please hold off on updating until this issue is resolved.” It later confirmed a fix, but you’re not going to like it.

“After further investigation, iOS players can delete the app and reinstall in order to resolve the update error,” Epic said.

What?!

So, we don’t have another update to fix this problem. You can’t just download a small patch and keep on playing. You actually have to remove Fortnite from your device and start again.

That’s incredibly annoying. Fortnite’s App Store download weighs in at less than 145MB, but you’ll then need to download several gigabytes of content data when you first load up the game.

That’s not convenient for anyone, and it seems a development studio as big as Epic could have surely found another way to fix this problem. But it didn’t.

There is no other way

Even if you didn’t install the new update right away, the situation remains the same. Because there isn’t another patch to download, you’re in the same boat as everyone else. A reinstall is necessary.

You can’t play Fortnite if you’re running an out-of-date version of the game, either. If you attempt to sign in to Battle Royale before updating, you will be redirected to the App Store.

A reinstall does fix the problem, so you will be able to play again if you follow Epic’s instructions. But still, it’s a pretty rubbish “fix.”

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