Disappointments so far

[IvanX]

Based on what has been showcased to date, I have a a coupe of disappointments that do not seem to be cured in iOS 10 (at least, not yet):

a) Being able to block a number -- as it stands in iOS 9, you can block a contact, but not a number. This is a pain, since it makes no sense to create a contact for those annoying telesales calls. There should be a choice between a number and a contact.

b) Top row of launch centre is not configurable -- never needed to use "do not disturb", rotation lock and my Bluetooth is always turned off. I would rather have a toggle for mobile data, auto-brightness and VPN.

c) Stock apps -- been beaten to death, but the fact that you can hide but not remove them is a kick in the teeth.

d) Modal alerts -- certain apps seem to be very aggressive about triggering modal alerts, mostly when it comes to lack of data access they seem to desire. It should be possible to disable them on the iOS-wide basis.

e) Incremental app updates -- anyone who has a few MS Office apps on their iDevices knows that every time MS update their just a little bit, it means 1+GB of app updates need to happen, potentially on multiple devices.

A a few general shortcomings in iOS:

f) Lack of enforced standardisation -- Apple likes to blow its trumpet about how unified and seamless its platform is, but until this week Netflix didn't have PiP in their app. That is almost 9 months which, for a major app, is huge. The likes of MLB At Bat had it same day. I can buy stuff on Amazon and check my Amex account with TouchID, but I cannot sign into Skype without my password. Apple needs to get tougher on developers so that features are released for the benefit of users sooner. It's no good throwing the toys out into the playground and saying "here developers, here is what you have to play with", Apple should take charge. Providing some form of authentication? Need to support TouchID. Doing video playback? Need to support PiP. Movie theatre chain app? Need to support Wallet and mobile tickets. You get the gist.

g) Easier cleaning of cache for apps -- Apple refuses to bump the minimum capacity for an iPhone to 32GB, so those 16 gig models eventually fill up. So many apps store loads of, what I would consider, rubbish in their cache. For example, my Facebook app has 4 times as much data as the size of the app itself. Not saying that apps should not be allowed to store temporary data, but it should be possible to clean it up in an easy way (without reinstalling the app).

h) WiFi sharing -- just as it is possible to use an iPhone's data connection, it should be possible to allow another device to piggyback on an iPhone connected to WiFi. For example, in certain environments, a particular set of login credentials allows only one active session (think hotels, guest wifi in certain companies), so it would be useful to have an iPhone as a hotspot for WiFi too.

i) Stale apps in the App Store -- there are lots of orphaned apps in the App Store that have not been developed for years and still charge for their use. It should be possible to report apps to Apple that are dead. Not sure how it would sit with them, since they get a cut of every sale, but it will be for the better of the App Store.

j) Social network and content portal integration -- currently, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo are sitting pretty in iOS. What about LinkedIn and YouTube?

I will probably think of some more, but these should be enough to kick start the conversation.

 

[C DM]

a) You can block a number that shows up on the list of recent calls without it having to be a contact or anything like that.

c) What would actually uninstalling them really accomplish vs. basically hiding them?

e) As far as I know the updates are already mostly incremental/delta updates.

i) While it would be good to have apps that are updated and supported, having older apps that still function doesn't really seem like a bad thing (again, as long as they work and do what they say that they do). Every user can then decide for themselves if it's an app that they need/want.

j) I believe at least YouTube is integrated in some fashion, just doesn't quite seem to have a separate/special settings area in the Settings app.

 

[lagwagon]

Based on what has been showcased to date, I have a a coupe of disappointments that do not seem to be cured in iOS 10 (at least, not yet):

a) Being able to block a number -- as it stands in iOS 9, you can block a contact, but not a number. This is a pain, since it makes no sense to create a contact for those annoying telesales calls. There should be a choice between a number and a contact.

b) Top row of launch centre is not configurable -- never needed to use "do not disturb", rotation lock and my Bluetooth is always turned off. I would rather have a toggle for mobile data, auto-brightness and VPN.

c) Stock apps -- been beaten to death, but the fact that you can hide but not remove them is a kick in the teeth.

d) Modal alerts -- certain apps seem to be very aggressive about triggering modal alerts, mostly when it comes to lack of data access they seem to desire. It should be possible to disable them on the iOS-wide basis.

e) Incremental app updates -- anyone who has a few MS Office apps on their iDevices knows that every time MS update their just a little bit, it means 1+GB of app updates need to happen, potentially on multiple devices.

A a few general shortcomings in iOS:

f) Lack of enforced standardisation -- Apple likes to blow its trumpet about how unified and seamless its platform is, but until this week Netflix didn't have PiP in their app. That is almost 9 months which, for a major app, is huge. The likes of MLB At Bat had it same day. I can buy stuff on Amazon and check my Amex account with TouchID, but I cannot sign into Skype without my password. Apple needs to get tougher on developers so that features are released for the benefit of users sooner. It's no good throwing the toys out into the playground and saying "here developers, here is what you have to play with", Apple should take charge. Providing some form of authentication? Need to support TouchID. Doing video playback? Need to support PiP. Movie theatre chain app? Need to support Wallet and mobile tickets. You get the gist.

g) Easier cleaning of cache for apps -- Apple refuses to bump the minimum capacity for an iPhone to 32GB, so those 16 gig models eventually fill up. So many apps store loads of, what I would consider, rubbish in their cache. For example, my Facebook app has 4 times as much data as the size of the app itself. Not saying that apps should not be allowed to store temporary data, but it should be possible to clean it up in an easy way (without reinstalling the app).

h) WiFi sharing -- just as it is possible to use an iPhone's data connection, it should be possible to allow another device to piggyback on an iPhone connected to WiFi. For example, in certain environments, a particular set of login credentials allows only one active session (think hotels, guest wifi in certain companies), so it would be useful to have an iPhone as a hotspot for WiFi too.

i) Stale apps in the App Store -- there are lots of orphaned apps in the App Store that have not been developed for years and still charge for their use. It should be possible to report apps to Apple that are dead. Not sure how it would sit with them, since they get a cut of every sale, but it will be for the better of the App Store.

j) Social network and content portal integration -- currently, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo are sitting pretty in iOS. What about LinkedIn and YouTube?

I will probably think of some more, but these should be enough to kick start the conversation.

You can block numbers. Phone app > Recents > tap the "I" icon > scroll down to "Block This Caller".

They can't fully delete stock apps because they are deeply integrated into iOS. The new feature in iOS 10 does remove the app data and hides it from your Springboard. (Fully removing the apps wouldn't save you much space anyways)

Incremental updates I believe is on the developer. Wether f they choose to do delta updates of full sized updates.

App developers are responsible for adding new features to their apps. Not apple.

Better auto cleaning cache and old unused data I believe is coming to the new AFS (Apple File System)

 

[vertsix]

I like point g. I used to hate having to reinstall apps over and over to clear cache.

But I have 27.6GB free, so I don't really care anymore.

 

[DaveTheRave]

g) Easier cleaning of cache for apps


j) Social network and content portal integration -- currently, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo are sitting pretty in iOS. What about LinkedIn and YouTube?

Agreed on the cache issue. The SiriusXM app is horrible in that regard.

As for LinkedIn, I see so much garbage shared my my network I wish it was more difficult to share content!

 

[Shirasaki]

A) You can either block a number from recent page, or just create a temp contacts with number only or only name, block it, and remove contacts. This involves multiple steps but not a deal breaker for most.

B) this set is based on massive, not individual. I use DnD almost every single day and I need BT on and off easy to access. I would not be happy if these two are moved elsewhere. Sure, configuration is good, but current state is not bad for me.

C) I, somewhat don't know what you can do if, like music app, is completely removed. Can you still play music? Or podcast? Anyway this is new in iOS 10 only time can tell.

D) turn on restrictions and don't allow changes, most of your "modal alerts" will go away.

E) yes. This depends on developer. If you are worrying about data, turn on auto update on iTunes and update your apps using iTunes only, not on any other devices.

F) PiP needs iPad, and not all of us have the latest iPad. Touch ID needs hardware support, and not all of us have at least iPhone 5s. Maybe you will argue "what I say is need" but what if Apple now does not allow developers to cover all devices? I mean, developer can only choose to either support PiP or not? Sounds insane but not impossible.

G) I don't think cleaning cache without deleting app has any fundamental difference between deleting and reinstalling app. Sure , having it would be great but not that necessary.

H) no comments.

I) having old apps still function, yeah, is good. Especially there are still a huge amount of app developed in pre-iOS 7 era, skeuomorphism lovers may like those apps.

J) maybe adding google account integration is nice. However those apps from single company has already achieved internal integration. Log in google calendar, use YouTube without another sign-in. Same for Facebook and messenger. Not what you want but close enough.

 

[Cinder6]

c) Stock apps -- been beaten to death, but the fact that you can hide but not remove them is a kick in the teeth.

Talk about a first-world problem. Those apps take up less than 150MB.

 

[IvanX]

a) You can block a number that shows up on the list of recent calls without it having to be a contact or anything like that.

c) What would actually uninstalling them really accomplish vs. basically hiding them?

e) As far as I know the updates are already mostly incremental/delta updates.

i) While it would be good to have apps that are updated and supported, having older apps that still function doesn't really seem like a bad thing (again, as long as they work and do what they say that they do). Every user can then decide for themselves if it's an app that they need/want.

j) I believe at least YouTube is integrated in some fashion, just doesn't quite seem to have a separate/special settings area in the Settings app.

a) Yes, just noticed that.
c) Save space, both on the device and screen. Besides, apps that Apple chooses to bundle with their devices should not be treated any different to 3rd party apps: if I want to remove them, I should be able to.
e) I doubt it. Those apps always show in their full size in the list of available and installed updates and the download progress swirl is usually representative of downloading the full amount.
i) That depends on your definition of "still function". There are lots of apps whose functionality is continuously degraded. This is especially true of apps that either use APIs or scrape websites. Also, those old apps are less likely to have Retina support, less likely to have support for the newer screen sizes. So devs get paid while users' experiences stagnate as a result? You could say "well do not use the app", but that is not the point, especially when there is no good alternative and why should people shell out extra?
j) Yes, there is share sheet support but then what is the point of those 4 being system-wide?

You can block numbers. Phone app > Recents > tap the "I" icon > scroll down to "Block This Caller".

They can't fully delete stock apps because they are deeply integrated into iOS. The new feature in iOS 10 does remove the app data and hides it from your Springboard. (Fully removing the apps wouldn't save you much space anyways)

Incremental updates I believe is on the developer. Wether f they choose to do delta updates of full sized updates.

App developers are responsible for adding new features to their apps. Not apple.

Better auto cleaning cache and old unused data I believe is coming to the new AFS (Apple File System)

a) Yep, as stated above, I missed that.
c) What is so integrated to the Stocks app? I do not have an iWatch but the app cannot be deleted, what is so integrated about that? I could go on.
e) Incremental updates should be mandatory if you already have the app installed. Having to download hundreds of meg is wasteful.
f) Yes, developers add features, but Apple is in charge of the ecosystem and determines the array of features from which developers choose. I should not be at the mercy of developers to decide when to add features. Apple mandates support when it came to Retina, when it came to larger screen sizes and, from January 1st of 2017, for all comms to be HTTPS. Developers need to be embracing these new features quicker for the benefit of users.

I like point g. I used to hate having to reinstall apps over and over to clear cache.

But I have 27.6GB free, so I don't really care anymore.

g) Good for you. If Apple does not want to make the move with the hardware because they are afraid that it will hurt their profit margins, they should enable it with the software.

Agreed on the cache issue. The SiriusXM app is horrible in that regard.

As for LinkedIn, I see so much garbage shared my my network I wish it was more difficult to share content!

j) Back when Facebook and Twitter integration was announced, it was all very exciting. These days, share sheet rules so it beggars belief why they are still there. Cynical thought: because those companies pay Apple for some preferential treatment.

A) You can either block a number from recent page, or just create a temp contacts with number only or only name, block it, and remove contacts. This involves multiple steps but not a deal breaker for most.

B) this set is based on massive, not individual. I use DnD almost every single day and I need BT on and off easy to access. I would not be happy if these two are moved elsewhere. Sure, configuration is good, but current state is not bad for me.

C) I, somewhat don't know what you can do if, like music app, is completely removed. Can you still play music? Or podcast? Anyway this is new in iOS 10 only time can tell.

D) turn on restrictions and don't allow changes, most of your "modal alerts" will go away.

E) yes. This depends on developer. If you are worrying about data, turn on auto update on iTunes and update your apps using iTunes only, not on any other devices.

F) PiP needs iPad, and not all of us have the latest iPad. Touch ID needs hardware support, and not all of us have at least iPhone 5s. Maybe you will argue "what I say is need" but what if Apple now does not allow developers to cover all devices? I mean, developer can only choose to either support PiP or not? Sounds insane but not impossible.

G) I don't think cleaning cache without deleting app has any fundamental difference between deleting and reinstalling app. Sure , having it would be great but not that necessary.

H) no comments.

I) having old apps still function, yeah, is good. Especially there are still a huge amount of app developed in pre-iOS 7 era, skeuomorphism lovers may like those apps.

J) maybe adding google account integration is nice. However those apps from single company has already achieved internal integration. Log in google calendar, use YouTube without another sign-in. Same for Facebook and messenger. Not what you want but close enough.

a) Yep, can't believe I did not notice the Block Called bit. It should really be in the "Block" menu in Settings > Phone.
b) Never used DnD because I can just put the silent mode on. Do not have any BT devices so BT has no use to me. By making it configurable, you would make it relevant and useful.
c) If you do not use Apple's app and use Spotify or Prime music, there should be no reason to keep it.
d) I don't follow, how do restrictions stop an app from trying to ask for data connection and throwing a system alert?
e) Incremental updates should be the default standard. Got the app? Here is this small slice that updates the relevant stuff. Don't have the app? Installs the whole thing with app thinning to boot.
f) If you do not have the hardware, you do not have the hardware. If the app does not have the functionality, what hardware you have or do not have is irrelevant. Make it a software problem, not a hardware one. It is a very bad experience to migrate to newer hardware and not be able to take advantage of its features because the developer of an app did not add it (yet or ever).
g) If you re-install the app, you may lose settings/logins/etc and have to enter that information from scratch. Quite inconvenient. With cache cleaning, the app stays as it but gives back space I do not want it to have.
i) As I mentioned in the other reply, the current approach is basically to the disadvantage of users if a developer decides to dump the app and not develop it further. They would still get paid for either new purchases or subscription renewals but users do not benefit from new features. It should be a level playing field. Develop the app or do not get paid. If you are going to leave, make it and services it provides free.
j) Yeah, either open up that internal integration via an API or remove it and let everyone use share sheets.

Talk about a first-world problem. Those apps take up less than 150MB.

So what? On low-capacity devices that can be a lot, not to mention screen space they use.

 

[Shirasaki]

c) If you do not use Apple's app and use Spotify or Prime music, there should be no reason to keep it.

But what if those apps includes fundamental services which other apps required to play your music? Can you still just smash them into dust bin?

d) I don't follow, how do restrictions stop an app from trying to ask for data connection and throwing a system alert?

I use QQ a while and without restriction, it constantly pops up to instruct me allowing location services for that app. After adding restrictions, such pop ups never show again.
So I say this is possible to block pop ups.

e) Incremental updates should be the default standard. Got the app? Here is this small slice that updates the relevant stuff. Don't have the app? Installs the whole thing with app thinning to boot.

Based on how Mac App Store app updates, I would say this would take quite a while to achieve this goal. But wait, does iOS 9 actually allows incremental updates?

g) If you re-install the app, you may lose settings/logins/etc and have to enter that information from scratch. Quite inconvenient. With cache cleaning, the app stays as it but gives back space I do not want it to have.

Then what about developer set login credential as cache files? Cleaning cache would also clean those login credentials, settings etc, which is basically the same case uninstalling app and reinstalling app.

 

[C DM]

a) Yes, just noticed that.
c) Save space, both on the device and screen. Besides, apps that Apple chooses to bundle with their devices should not be treated any different to 3rd party apps: if I want to remove them, I should be able to.
e) I doubt it. Those apps always show in their full size in the list of available and installed updates and the download progress swirl is usually representative of downloading the full amount.
i) That depends on your definition of "still function". There are lots of apps whose functionality is continuously degraded. This is especially true of apps that either use APIs or scrape websites. Also, those old apps are less likely to have Retina support, less likely to have support for the newer screen sizes. So devs get paid while users' experiences stagnate as a result? You could say "well do not use the app", but that is not the point, especially when there is no good alternative and why should people shell out extra?
j) Yes, there is share sheet support but then what is the point of those 4 being system-wide?

a) Yep, as stated above, I missed that.
c) What is so integrated to the Stocks app? I do not have an iWatch but the app cannot be deleted, what is so integrated about that? I could go on.
e) Incremental updates should be mandatory if you already have the app installed. Having to download hundreds of meg is wasteful.
f) Yes, developers add features, but Apple is in charge of the ecosystem and determines the array of features from which developers choose. I should not be at the mercy of developers to decide when to add features. Apple mandates support when it came to Retina, when it came to larger screen sizes and, from January 1st of 2017, for all comms to be HTTPS. Developers need to be embracing these new features quicker for the benefit of users.

g) Good for you. If Apple does not want to make the move with the hardware because they are afraid that it will hurt their profit margins, they should enable it with the software.

j) Back when Facebook and Twitter integration was announced, it was all very exciting. These days, share sheet rules so it beggars belief why they are still there. Cynical thought: because those companies pay Apple for some preferential treatment.

a) Yep, can't believe I did not notice the Block Called bit. It should really be in the "Block" menu in Settings > Phone.
b) Never used DnD because I can just put the silent mode on. Do not have any BT devices so BT has no use to me. By making it configurable, you would make it relevant and useful.
c) If you do not use Apple's app and use Spotify or Prime music, there should be no reason to keep it.
d) I don't follow, how do restrictions stop an app from trying to ask for data connection and throwing a system alert?
e) Incremental updates should be the default standard. Got the app? Here is this small slice that updates the relevant stuff. Don't have the app? Installs the whole thing with app thinning to boot.
f) If you do not have the hardware, you do not have the hardware. If the app does not have the functionality, what hardware you have or do not have is irrelevant. Make it a software problem, not a hardware one. It is a very bad experience to migrate to newer hardware and not be able to take advantage of its features because the developer of an app did not add it (yet or ever).
g) If you re-install the app, you may lose settings/logins/etc and have to enter that information from scratch. Quite inconvenient. With cache cleaning, the app stays as it but gives back space I do not want it to have.
i) As I mentioned in the other reply, the current approach is basically to the disadvantage of users if a developer decides to dump the app and not develop it further. They would still get paid for either new purchases or subscription renewals but users do not benefit from new features. It should be a level playing field. Develop the app or do not get paid. If you are going to leave, make it and services it provides free.
j) Yeah, either open up that internal integration via an API or remove it and let everyone use share sheets.

So what? On low-capacity devices that can be a lot, not to mention screen space they use.

c) Apple has pointed out that all together those apps take up only around 150 MB of space so you wouldn't really get meaningful savings from that, especially if you factor in that most people would really only care about getting rid of a few of them and not the majority, let alone all. Even on a low capacity device that is effectively meaningless (because if something like 100 MB--if you are even willing to get rid of majority of stock apps to get that--is what makes a difference then there are bigger things to free up space that are needed as this wouldn't even be a band aid solution for that, let alone a realistic one). As for removing the icon and all that, that's already what it does in iOS 10.

e) The size that is shown is actually the size of the app essentially not the update that you are downloading. Not sure why Apple does it like that, but it's been observed by quite a few people in many threads discussing this kind of thing.

i) Well, I'm not really sure about splitting hairs, the point I was making is that if the app still works and still does what it describes that it does, then it's still a valid app even if it doesn't have ongoing support and hasn't been updated in a while.

 

[cynics]

Do the things you like about it outweigh your disappointments?

Might be time for a change.

 

[SMIDG3T]

Based on what has been showcased to date, I have a a coupe of disappointments that do not seem to be cured in iOS 10 (at least, not yet):

a) Being able to block a number -- as it stands in iOS 9, you can block a contact, but not a number. This is a pain, since it makes no sense to create a contact for those annoying telesales calls. There should be a choice between a number and a contact.

b) Top row of launch centre is not configurable -- never needed to use "do not disturb", rotation lock and my Bluetooth is always turned off. I would rather have a toggle for mobile data, auto-brightness and VPN.

c) Stock apps -- been beaten to death, but the fact that you can hide but not remove them is a kick in the teeth.

d) Modal alerts -- certain apps seem to be very aggressive about triggering modal alerts, mostly when it comes to lack of data access they seem to desire. It should be possible to disable them on the iOS-wide basis.

e) Incremental app updates -- anyone who has a few MS Office apps on their iDevices knows that every time MS update their just a little bit, it means 1+GB of app updates need to happen, potentially on multiple devices.

A a few general shortcomings in iOS:

f) Lack of enforced standardisation -- Apple likes to blow its trumpet about how unified and seamless its platform is, but until this week Netflix didn't have PiP in their app. That is almost 9 months which, for a major app, is huge. The likes of MLB At Bat had it same day. I can buy stuff on Amazon and check my Amex account with TouchID, but I cannot sign into Skype without my password. Apple needs to get tougher on developers so that features are released for the benefit of users sooner. It's no good throwing the toys out into the playground and saying "here developers, here is what you have to play with", Apple should take charge. Providing some form of authentication? Need to support TouchID. Doing video playback? Need to support PiP. Movie theatre chain app? Need to support Wallet and mobile tickets. You get the gist.

g) Easier cleaning of cache for apps -- Apple refuses to bump the minimum capacity for an iPhone to 32GB, so those 16 gig models eventually fill up. So many apps store loads of, what I would consider, rubbish in their cache. For example, my Facebook app has 4 times as much data as the size of the app itself. Not saying that apps should not be allowed to store temporary data, but it should be possible to clean it up in an easy way (without reinstalling the app).

h) WiFi sharing -- just as it is possible to use an iPhone's data connection, it should be possible to allow another device to piggyback on an iPhone connected to WiFi. For example, in certain environments, a particular set of login credentials allows only one active session (think hotels, guest wifi in certain companies), so it would be useful to have an iPhone as a hotspot for WiFi too.

i) Stale apps in the App Store -- there are lots of orphaned apps in the App Store that have not been developed for years and still charge for their use. It should be possible to report apps to Apple that are dead. Not sure how it would sit with them, since they get a cut of every sale, but it will be for the better of the App Store.

j) Social network and content portal integration -- currently, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo are sitting pretty in iOS. What about LinkedIn and YouTube?

I will probably think of some more, but these should be enough to kick start the conversation.

In regards to the stock apps, deleting the apps would effect the core functionality of the phone. They don't take up much space anyway and all people wanted was to hide them from the Home screen anyway.

 

[vertsix]

g) Good for you. If Apple does not want to make the move with the hardware because they are afraid that it will hurt their profit margins, they should enable it with the software.

It's kinda your fault for buying a 16GB device.