On a 32-bit system, a "long" is usually also 32 bits. On a non-Microsoft 64-bit system, a "long" is usually 64 bits. On both 32-bit and 64-bit systems (Microsoft or not), an "int" is usually 32 bits.

If the issue happened only on 32-bit iPads, but not on 64-bit iPads, the programmer probably picked a "long", not an "int". Had the programmer picked an "int", the problem would also happen on 64-bit iPads.

Our iOS app with Java backend was using long for database IDs on both ends. I was going through the ILP32->LP64 conversion process and when I realized we had a pretty serious discrepancy.

I think it's a really easy mistake for the first developer to make (especially because they weren't a C/Obj-C programmer), and then the sort of thing that no one audits after that.

Yeah, Java always uses 64 bits for "long", even on 32-bit systems. Which only adds to the confusion, since it's different from C and C++.

(Another place where Java is confusingly different: "volatile" implies a memory barrier in Java, but not in C and C++.)