Are Apple ever going to change up the icons?

[greenstumps]

The UI looks really nice and modern in everything but the icons, it's so jarring going between this fresh looking UI, then seeing these dated looking icons every time you go to the home screen. Why do they still do nothing? Why can't they animate? Why can't I change their size, hide the ones I don't want down a layer like Android, resize them up into live tiles like Windows Phone or Widgets like Android? Why can't I put them where I want? Currently they just sort themselves to the top left.

Where the icons really look bad is on the iPad, you have all these screen estate and the same amount of icons as your phone. You've just got massive gaps between icons and it looks crap, why doesn't the tablet version of IOS have widgets or live tiles at the very least? The battery argument doesn't fly with me, my Windows Phone and Android both last way longer than my iPhone and Windows Phone's is so efficient with them.

These icons are the main reason why I do not like IOS as much as I should do. Apple really need to modernize them and give you more control over customization. The best thing about android is the themes and launchers, you can download one and make your phone UI look however you want, even make it look like IOS or Windows Phone. I don't get why Apple are so against letting you personalize a personal device.

 

[baller1308]

This is just how iOS is. The only change to size you can make is applying to Zoom feature to make them bigger. There is no app drawer so all apps reside on the home screen. You can only hide them by putting them in folders. If you want customization you'll have to look elsewhere. I've had Android and did some customization and enjoyed it but at the end of the day I don't really spend much time on the homescreen.

 

[lagwagon]

It's how iOS has always handled the home screen/apps. iOS 1 to iOS 9. I doubt things will change much. iOS 10 could be a good time if they decide to shake things up a bit. But I wouldn't hold my breath on anything drastically different. (Just look at how long OS X has had the same way of doing things with just updates to how it looks graphically.)

 

[gsmornot]

The UI looks really nice and modern in everything but the icons, it's so jarring going between this fresh looking UI, then seeing these dated looking icons every time you go to the home screen. Why do they still do nothing? Why can't they animate? Why can't I change their size, hide the ones I don't want down a layer like Android, resize them up into live tiles like Windows Phone or Widgets like Android? Why can't I put them where I want? Currently they just sort themselves to the top left.

Where the icons really look bad is on the iPad, you have all these screen estate and the same amount of icons as your phone. You've just got massive gaps between icons and it looks crap, why doesn't the tablet version of IOS have widgets or live tiles at the very least? The battery argument doesn't fly with me, my Windows Phone and Android both last way longer than my iPhone and Windows Phone's is so efficient with them.

These icons are the main reason why I do not like IOS as much as I should do. Apple really need to modernize them and give you more control over customization. The best thing about android is the themes and launchers, you can download one and make your phone UI look however you want, even make it look like IOS or Windows Phone. I don't get why Apple are so against letting you personalize a personal device.

I'm guessing they will remain the same for a long time to come. I'm sure there are people tired of the same old Coke logo and can but without letters, you know what you're looking at. They have a recognizable (also read same-same-same) layout but simple and easy to use. Without reading you can interact with the icons. A little change here and there maybe but overhaul or complete replacement I don't think so.

 

[Andres Cantu]

It's kind of a double-edged sword. Apple likes to restrict customizability for simpleness and ease-of-use. I don't think anyone can deny that it's worked well for them so far, though I agree that they could do a much better job to optimize the iPad's home screen.

 

[C DM]

So you aren't talking about changing icons, you are talking about changing the whole UI and user experience and adding more customization options and additional notification and related features. That's just a bit more than just changing icons, and is basically not really what iOS design is like so far. Perhaps things will be expanded and changed in the future, but that's hard to predict and so far nothing really indicates that it's something really expected to happen.

 

[batting1000]

"Are Apple" lol

 

[pk7]

"Are Apple" lol

Just so you know, that's a perfectly correct grammatical sentence.

You can use "are" when you are emphasizing individual members of a group. In this case, members of the group (Apple).

https://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/group.html

 

[Arran]

"Are Apple" lol

British usage. Never clear-cut.

http://www.economist.com/style-guide/singular-or-plural

(Loadsa fun, innit? )

 

[Bbqthis]

"Are Apple" lol

Guy correcting grammar that is correct. lol

 

[batting1000]

Guy correcting grammar that is correct. lol

It's like saying "Is you going to...?"...Same idea

Not saying it's wrong, because I know grammar is different depending on the region. I see it said a lot and it just sounds weird to me personally

 

[Icaras]

I really couldn't disagree more. I absolutely love the flat, simple, and bright design language of iOS 7 and later icons. I don't care about animations either.

That said, I do have some gripes about some icons from Apple, but this is just extreme nitpicking on my part. First, I'm not sure why Messages is still using a green background. I wish Apple would change it to blue already so that it matches up perfectly with OS X. Second, I loathe the Videos app. That little bit of skeuomorphism still somehow exists in 2015 with that ridiculously silly clapperboard. Even its chosen gradient seems far too teal than Apple's usual blue palettes. Third, the gold color within the Movie Trailer's red background breaks the design language of using simple white. And lastly, I'm not a fan of the Wallet and News app icons in iOS 9. Just feels inconsistent to me, with less saturated colors that don't really seem to blend in with the rest of iOS's bright icons. Anyway, /first world rant.

 

[Arran]

Off at a tangent admittedly, but hey, it's Friday...

Whats the deal with changing, "up"? Is that materially different than just, "changing"?

Where'd the "up" come from?

Did "changing" get lonely and need company?

 

[februarian]

I wouldn't want them change the iPhone home screen much. The iPad though is a whole different story, LOTS of screen estate yet they've been given the exact same layout as the iPhone! I know they have a pin-point focus on simplicity & you can hardly blame them for that but there are couple great things that can be done on iPad. You leave the icons as is just push them a little to any side to create space for a myriad of functions such as:

1. A little translucent button icon (still noticeable though) that when you tap on it increases in size and becomes a scroller of sort (the icons here would automatically create space for the scroller, the animation for it I know only Apple can perfect) for going through the many pages of icons.
2. An open for widget button icon that when you tap on it would bring up icons for your favorite widgets. From there your chosen widget would come up, all the while the icons perfectly fly to one side, you are still present on home screen. This would perfectly give the feeling of things right there, always accessible & in continuity which fits right into the Apple philosophy!

 

[greenstumps]

I'm sure there are people tired of the same old Coke logo .

Difference is the UI is functionality and the logo is just art, the Icons clash with the rest of the UI artistically, you have no control over what you want to show and where you want them and have no functionality.

It is where IOS is so far behind the competition, even Windows Phone.....

 

[greenstumps]

The thing is that you forget, you're not the only people using the OS and adding customisation doesn't impact your experience if you don't want change. What it allows is to impact peoples experiences who want something different from you, that is important.

It's why I'll never use an iPad, I think the waste of screen space makes it such a pointless device. The Surface 3 and Pro 3 are way better tablets, even the ARM based one now with Windows 10 has a Desktop and the universal apps... far superior to the iPad now.

For me the icons suck, I want them to give me information like why can't I have a big clock and weather on there? Why can't I have a search bar on there like Android? Why can't I have live tile like information instead of just a notification number? Makes no sense to why you cannot do more with the icons. Say what you want about Android, however there is no way you can say it uses more battery, Windows Phone proves you can do more with them and not have any impact on battery for performance.

 

[C DM]

Difference is the UI is functionality and the logo is just art, the Icons clash with the rest of the UI artistically, you have no control over what you want to show and where you want them and have no functionality.

It is where IOS is so far behind the competition, even Windows Phone.....

It's not a matter of being ahead or behind, just a difference in approach and design. If the way iOS is set up isn't what you need as far as user experience goes and some features, then that's certainly fine, but it doesn't make it bad or behind, just not what you might want or need from an OS.

 

[JoEw]

The thing is that you forget, you're not the only people using the OS and adding customisation doesn't impact your experience if you don't want change. What it allows is to impact peoples experiences who want something different from you, that is important.

It's why I'll never use an iPad, I think the waste of screen space makes it such a pointless device. The Surface 3 and Pro 3 are way better tablets, even the ARM based one now with Windows 10 has a Desktop and the universal apps... far superior to the iPad now.

For me the icons suck, I want them to give me information like why can't I have a big clock and weather on there? Why can't I have a search bar on there like Android? Why can't I have live tile like information instead of just a notification number? Makes no sense to why you cannot do more with the icons. Say what you want about Android, however there is no way you can say it uses more battery, Windows Phone proves you can do more with them and not have any impact on battery for performance.

Sounds like you should get an android or windows phone.
The goal of the home screen as never been get information it's simply a means to get into apps that then have the information.
Completely different design intentions and both have their advantages/disadvantages.
Probably because I'm used to it, but I much prefer the home screen acting as a launcher rather than a place to get information an app can likely do better.

 

[ashindnile]

If we're talking about bad icons there's nothing even remotely as catastrophic as the Apple Watch icon. They literally spent like forty five seconds in Photoshop coming up with that. And I'm probably cutting them some slack saying that. I mean wth!

 

[KALLT]

I only want them to add a drop shadow again, make the Dock less vibrant and get rid of the automatic sorting. I never understood what was wrong with the home screen of iOS 6. The icons were a bit smaller and you could see a bit more of your wallpaper. Regardless of which wallpaper you chose, it always worked. Even though I don’t like the icons, it is something you just have no control of. Some developers put a great amount of work into icons, others just don’t (including Apple nowadays).

I think the main problem is this misguided attempt of using parallax as a substitute. I don’t know what others think of this, but this effect never resonated with me, not even for a second. It just doesn’t look right and it doesn't even work right on my phone or the other phones I’ve seen (the animation barely responds to the motion and the illusion just isn’t there – at all). Sometimes I think that there is a glitch when I see that the icons are misaligned, as it sometimes happens when the gyroscope is not correctly calibrated.

 

[b_scott]

I'm not sure what the OP wants them to be? square works well for touch. The images are constantly updated.

 

[CTHarrryH]

Said this before - not sure why so many people care about the look of the screen and icons - are they functional? Yes. I'd much rather Apple and others spend their time on functions and bugs than changing the look or making it flat or fat or ??
Does it work and can you find the icon to make it work - to me that is important not a modern or classical or? look.

 

[ZEEN0j]

I only want them to add a drop shadow again, make the Dock less vibrant and get rid of the automatic sorting. I never understood what was wrong with the home screen of iOS 6. The icons were a bit smaller and you could see a bit more of your wallpaper. Regardless of which wallpaper you chose, it always worked. Even though I don’t like the icons, it is something you just have no control of. Some developers put a great amount of work into icons, others just don’t (including Apple nowadays).

I think the main problem is this misguided attempt of using parallax as a substitute. I don’t know what others think of this, but this effect never resonated with me, not even for a second. It just doesn’t look right and it doesn't even work right on my phone or the other phones I’ve seen (the animation barely responds to the motion and the illusion just isn’t there – at all). Sometimes I think that there is a glitch when I see that the icons are misaligned, as it sometimes happens when the gyroscope is not correctly calibrated.

Agree about the dropshadow. And parallax isn't a substitute for it. The effect works for me and looks kinda cool on iPad. But who moves their decide around to ever notice it. What happens is that the home screen looks completely flat and the only wallpapers that work somewhat are blurred ones.

 

[dannyyankou]

"Are Apple" lol

That's correct grammar

 

[C DM]

I'm not sure what the OP wants them to be? square works well for touch. The images are constantly updated.

Despite the thread title, what the OP seems to be talking about is quite a ways off from simply different icons.