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Apple should require that all iPad apps support split view

Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Nov 14, 2011
24,862
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And they can start with their own apps. How dumb is it that Apple Music supports split view but iTunes does not? Also I wish they would stop allowing apps designed for iPhone only to be available on iPad. Either the developer makes an iPad specific app or it's not available for iPad. Pull up Instagram on a 12.9 iPad and you'll see what I'm talking about. Ugly.
 
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Why? For the ones of us that don't need it,it's a waste of storage. Have it as a free in-app purchase instead,so people can make their own choices.
 
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Stefan johansson said:
Why? For the ones of us that don't need it,it's a waste of storage. Have it as a free in-app purchase instead,so people can make their own choices.
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You think a line of code is going to add another GB esp. since there is such a thing called app slicing.

I dont even understand why it is not handled from iOS itself and needs to rely on the devs.
 
Rogifan said:
And they can start with their own apps. How dumb is it that Apple Music supports split view but iTunes does not? Also I wish they would stop allowing apps designed for iPhone only to be available on iPad. Either the developer makes an iPad specific app or it's not available for iPad. Pull up Instagram on a 12.9 iPad and you'll see what I'm talking about. Ugly.
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This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard... sure some iPhone apps look crappy on an iPad... but some iPhone apps look crappy on an iPhone... and some iPad apps look crappy on an iPad... but many are not, and function perfectly on the larger screen.
 
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Stefan johansson said:
Well,for us that's not interested in the iPad Pro,split screen in apps is totally useless. If I want that function,I use a laptop.
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No one has to use it. But I can't believe it's that difficult to implement. It's probably something Apple should handle at the OS level and not even make apps think about it.
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dwfaust said:
This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard... sure some iPhone apps look crappy on an iPad... but some iPhone apps look crappy on an iPhone... and some iPad apps look crappy on an iPad... but many are not, and function perfectly on the larger screen.
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You know how the web has responsive design...that's all I'm looking for here. Don't give me an iPad app that is just a blown up iPhone app that only works in portrait mode (I'm looking at you Instagram).
 
Honestly, taking a hard line, I agree with all your points.

There's an argument that iTunes isn't the kind of app that really benefits from split view, but Apple should still spend a bit of time implementing it in all their apps. They did it in such a way that it wouldn't take third party developers a very long time, so they don't have much of an excuse.

And yeah, split view's been around a couple of years now. Apple should soon start mandating all new apps launch with split view (if they don't do this already), and then in about a year mandate that all updates to existing apps have split-view. That's plenty of time.

Finally, regarding iPhone apps on iPad. I don't actually come across this much but maybe you do. The concept was good for a few years when iPad was new - gave developers a chance to catch up without depriving iPad users. If there are seriously still popular apps that are iPhone only and are taking advantage of this iPhone-on-iPad feature to avoid developing a proper app then Apple should pull support now. Perhaps in a similar way to above. Don't remove support completely - so let legacy apps use it. But any future updates to apps must remove this support.
 
Rogifan said:
You know how the web has responsive design...that's all I'm looking for here. Don't give me an iPad app that is just a blown up iPhone app that only works in portrait mode (I'm looking at you Instagram).
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Then talk to Facebook/Instagram and don't blame Apple. I fail to see how it's Apple's fault that the Instagram team can't design an app that works to meet your standards. Remember that Facebook (Instagram's owners/parent company) didn't even have an iPad app for several years after releasing their iPhone app... again, just because Instagram's app is ugly on an iPad doesn't mean that Apple should block ALL apps from doing it.
 
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Rogifan said:
And they can start with their own apps. How dumb is it that Apple Music supports split view but iTunes does not? Also I wish they would stop allowing apps designed for iPhone only to be available on iPad. Either the developer makes an iPad specific app or it's not available for iPad. Pull up Instagram on a 12.9 iPad and you'll see what I'm talking about. Ugly.
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It's never a good idea to force developers to build things they don't want to do. Instagram (Facebook) created their app mainly for taking photos has always been tailored to the iPhone. Consumers are 'lucky' to have the option to use iPhone apps on the iPad.
 
Rogifan said:
Also I wish they would stop allowing apps designed for iPhone only to be available on iPad. Either the developer makes an iPad specific app or it's not available for iPad. Pull up Instagram on a 12.9 iPad and you'll see what I'm talking about. Ugly.
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I know exactly what you're talking about without loading Instagram on my iPad. It looks horrible. But if I wanted to use Instagram on my iPad, I'd be happy to have ugly over nothing.

That's a horrible idea in my opinion. It prevents people who don't care about looks from using the app while providing absolutely NOTHING to those who don't like to do that. In other words, if others are fine seeing an ugly Instagram on their iPad, I can't think of a single reason why you should care. You don't even have to install Instagram. It's really not your business how apps look on anyone's devices beyond your own. You already have an option to not see ugly iPhone apps on your iPad. So why ruin someone elses day?
 
MEJHarrison said:
I know exactly what you're talking about without loading Instagram on my iPad. It looks horrible. But if I wanted to use Instagram on my iPad, I'd be happy to have ugly over nothing.

That's a horrible idea in my opinion. It prevents people who don't care about looks from using the app while providing absolutely NOTHING to those who don't like to do that. In other words, if others are fine seeing an ugly Instagram on their iPad, I can't think of a single reason why you should care. You don't even have to install Instagram. It's really not your business how apps look on anyone's devices beyond your own. You already have an option to not see ugly iPhone apps on your iPad. So why ruin someone elses day?
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You're missing one thing which is a developer may be lazy knowing people can use their iPhone app on iPad. The iPhone app is 'good enough.' If Apple prevented this there may be an incentive to create one for iPad, one that is better than 'good enough'. You could argue over how strong this incentive would be, but it's a dynamic which you didn't acknowledge at all in your post, which was quite black and white about it. So there, that's one reason you couldn't think of
 
GreyOS said:
You're missing one thing which is a developer may be lazy knowing people can use their iPhone app on iPad. The iPhone app is 'good enough.' If Apple prevented this there may be an incentive to create one for iPad, one that is better than 'good enough'. You could argue over how strong this incentive would be, but it's a dynamic which you didn't acknowledge at all in your post, which was quite black and white about it. So there, that's one reason you couldn't think of
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That's a lot of if's and maybe's. It might also turn out that the app disappears altogether. Perhaps if they wanted to do an iPad app, they already would have. Sure, you might catch something like Instagram, for example. But for every Instagram, how many other developers will just say "too bad, use your phone"? My guess (and we're ALL guessing here) is that you'd lose far more apps than you would gain. I don't believe that it would lead to most apps in this category getting an update.

At any rate, I really don't see Apple doing this. So in all likelihood, this will forever remain a philosophical question without an answer.
 
It's pretty sad when small(er) developers can build decent iPad apps but Facebook refuses to do so. Is there nothing Apple can do to make it easy to scale an app from iPhone to iPad? Or do they have that functionality and Facebook is just too lazy to use it?
 
Rogifan said:
It's pretty sad when small(er) developers can build decent iPad apps but Facebook refuses to do so. Is there nothing Apple can do to make it easy to scale an app from iPhone to iPad? Or do they have that functionality and Facebook is just too lazy to use it?
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I'd suggest that you redirect your frustration/anger/emotions toward Mark Zuckerberg... he's the only one that can answer your questions. Demanding that Apple do something to deliver your wishes is pointless - you're peeing into the wind.
 
dwfaust said:
I'd suggest that you redirect your frustration/anger/emotions toward Mark Zuckerberg... he's the only one that can answer your questions. Demanding that Apple do something to deliver your wishes is pointless - you're peeing into the wind.
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Apple owns the App Store. They set the rules.
 
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