Google+ iPhone app lands with a bang

(CBS) - The Apple iPhone app that Google fans have been anxiously awaiting has arrived, but it wasn't smooth sailing from the get-go. The Google+ app, which launched this afternoon, got off to a rough start.

Initially, it ran a little slow or crashed for early adopters. People weren't pleased.

Actress Alyssa Milano posted on her Google+ page, "iPhone app crashed twice in the 10 minutes I've been on it. Hmmmm. Back to twitter!" (Ouch!)

Milk CEO Kevin Rose was a bit more gentle with his reaction. "Stoked for Google+ iPhone app, bummed it crashes a ton on iOS 5," he pointed out. 

A few fun and snarky comments made their rounds on Twitter, too. CocoaGeek replied to a friend, "tiedtiger you mean: 'The Google+ iphone app just crash landed' :P"

On my own Google+ status, I got this funny response: "el broko" from friend Emily Westergaard. 

So what was the problem? "We discovered an issue with the version of the iPhone Google+ App that was on the App Store. When we launched, the App Store started serving a previous test version of the App which didn't have the stability and fixes that the latest version had. It started serving the correct version a little later. If you downloaded within the first 1 hour 40 mins, you may have downloaded the older test version," said Vic Gundotra Google's senior vice president of engineering.

Our roundup of Google+ reviews

Gundotra advises to make sure the version number was updated, "Click on the gear icon on the top left of your App's homescreen and look right above the Help button, the version number of the App should be: 1.0.1.1809," he instructed. 

If you do have the older version of the software, delete the app and reinstall the new version.

While it is frustrating to have such an anticipated app crash like that, it is refreshing to see Google jump in quickly and correct errors along the way. Fixing a major issue like that in about an hour shows that the search engine giant can also be nimble.