I've recently (past month) started to get spontaneous restarts from some, but not all, of the apps that my family has been regularly using (PBS and NBC Sports are having restarts; PBS Kids, Netflix, and Amazon are not).  I have no way to tell if this is due to the 7.2 update or to the new versions of these apps.  I'd like to assume that when an app crashes the Roku, or just crashes itself without bringing down the whole Roku OS, that an automated report is sent to Roku and to the app developer, so that these kind of problems can be identified and corrected.  Is that actually true? If not true, is there something that I can/should do to help the devs to fix this?

Nope, developers get nothing.  I did receive a report from Roku a very long time ago when one of my screensavers was crashing regularly, but the odd crash will not be reported to the developer as far as I know (or maybe my channels never crash ).  I can't speak for all developers, but I know that I hate crashes and would definitely like to hear about them if and when they happen.  If you can track down contact information for the developer in question, do try and make contact.  The "best" kind of crash to report is that which can be reproduced.

All that being said, given that you're seeing crashes across several channels, it's more likely that it's a firmware issue (in spite of what the Roku apologists repeat again and again; they love to blame developers).  Many times rebooting your box (unplug it or restart it from the System menu) before your evening of streaming will alleviate a lot of problems.  If it does alleviate the problem, that's also a sure-fire indication that it's a firmware issue.

-JT

Thanks renojim.  I've tried previously to figure out how to contact the developers of the PBS app (which is just filthy with defects) and struck out.  Do you know if Roku, at least, gets automated crash reports? Which would allow them to identify systematic flaws in the Roku OS, and would allow them to identify apps that are having widespread problems and to share that information with app developers?

I believe Roku automatically gets crash reports, almost certainly for the crashes that cause a reboot.  The less severe crash that causes an unexpected exit to the home screen is usually, but not always, caused by a bug in the channel code.  I believe Roku also gets those crash reports.  I've seen more than one developer ask about those reports in the developer's forum, but I can't recall ever seeing anyone from Roku respond to those requests.  One would hope Roku identifies systemic problems.  I've seen a few posts in this forum from Roku*s that would indicate that if they see enough reports of the same problem they do take notice and sometimes even act on them.

-JT

@mc510 -
contact Roku Support and ask them very specifically for the support contacts of the PBS channel. The Co has that information, channel cannot be submitted without providing such info - it's another story that is not exposed in the Channel Store (akin to what iOS/Android AppStores do) - but a CSR can look up that and give it to you

Well, Roku customer support wasn't able to provide support contact for the PBS app.  Here's the response that I got back:

Thank you for contacting Roku Customer Support.
We understand that you have issue with the PBS channel.
We are really sorry for the inconvenience that is caused to you.
We are really sorry to inform you that we do not have the contact information of PBS.
We request you to check the website of PBS for the support options.
Please feel free to contact us for further queries.
Take care and have a good day!

Thanks 23rdDjin, that first link is for the "report a problem" link, right?  Hadn't seen that one before; kinda hard to tell how serious it is, since it doesn't ask for any technical details or email contact, or whether it's targeted at just web-browser-based streaming or also includes set-top box streaming, but I did go ahead and submit a report.

Ah, here's the detailed support link http://help.pbs.org/support/tickets/new ... have submitted ticket.

It may be a new feature but I think they have a new feature where developers can check online to see of app crashes reported against their app (they get a file/line)
the developer would need to go and look for it