North Ayrshire’s smartphone app for logging complaints is itself still faulty – with no date announced for fixing it for iPhone users.

Council chiefs have apologised for the ongoing issues and say they hope it will be fixed in the near future.

This is after changes in Google caused further bugs in the app after the council resolved an earlier issue.

A fault was identified with the Report It App at the end of September 2018, with the council contacting the third party that supports the App and the fault investigated.

They identified a fault with the transmission of data from the app to the council’s Lagan computer system after the introduction of a new managed firewall – the network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic.

It was discovered the firewall was blocking the app data from reaching Lagan.

Audit and Scrutiny Committee meeting papers state this issue was resolved by the end of November, but due to changes introduced by the mapping system used in the app it remained unusable.

An update to resolve the mapping issue has been produced and tested.

The Android version was expected to be available by mid-January, while they hoped the iOS (Apple) version would have been available by the end of January.

Council papers state that alternative options to the Report It App are being explored through the new Platform technology to identify opportunities for increased functionality and ease of maintenance.

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson: “We discovered and fixed a fault in our Report It App late last year. Unfortunately, subsequent changes required by Google Maps caused a further issue.

“We are currently implementing a solution to the new problem. The Android version of the app has been fixed and we expect issues with the iOS version for Apple users will be resolved in the very near future.

“In the meantime, we apologise to users for any inconvenience caused and advise that faults can still be logged on the council’s website at www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk.”