Destiny: Bungie recently updated the mobile app and item transfer feature

Bungie recently updated the mobile app and website for Destiny with an item transfer feature. Unfortunately, this feature is causing major headaches for some players.

"We have heard reports that players are losing items when transferring items using the Companion app," Bungie said in the most recent Weekly Update. They added you should "use caution" when transferring items while loading maps or waiting for the countdown on a mission. By "use caution," I assume they mean "don't do it." 

The support thread on Bungie's forums asks that you check the Vault and Inventory for all of your characters for the missing items first. Then restart the game and try it again. If that doesn't work, post a reply on that forum thread with the OS version of your smartphone and version/build of your companion app. If you did manage to find your missing items, Bungie wants you to chime in as well. 

"Please reply to this thread listing how/where you found the item(s), how long it took for the item(s) to re-appear, and method of Vault transfer (Bungie.net or Companion)." 

Players on that thread report that they're missing weapons, armor, ammo and currency. Are some of these people lying? Possibly but it wouldn't matter either way. As Bungie reminds players in the forum thread, they don't restore lost items in Destiny. If that Gjallarhorn or Icebreaker you finally earned is gone, you're not getting it back. 

The new transfer feature allows players to move equipment and currency between their characters' inventories and their Vault via Bungie.net or the mobile apps. As Bungie said at the time, this was a highly sought feature among players so it's unfortunate that it's saddled with such an enormous problem. Hopefully Bungie can find a fix soon. 

I hope this incident also makes them rethink their policy about restoring lost items. If you're going to ask players to spend hours upon hours in your game pursuing loot, it's reasonable for them to expect recourse if those items go missing due to bugs. Perhaps fellow Activision studio Blizzard can give them advice on how to set up an automated item restoration tool, much like World of Warcraft has. That would cut down on the manpower needed to handle these requests in the long run. Restoring items helps Bungie in the long run, too, because it prevents players from shelving their game out of frustration. 

The companion app is also experiencing a couple smaller issues since its last update. Xbox characters aren't showing up for some app users. Friends lists for Xbox One are missing in other cases. Bungie is still gathering on each of these bugs and hasn't provided an estimate on when these issues will be resolved yet.