For those concerned about animations on iPhone 7...

[Jayson A]

I solved most of the animation problems in iOS 10.2 on my iPhone 7 Plus by doing the following.

First off... I was having some frame rate stutters when opening Mail or Safari. I couldn't (at first) figure out why it was happening, but it was happening. However, I changed my wallpaper to something less complex with less detail and BOOM those animation stutters went away immediately... weird right? To test my theory, I tried some other wallpapers (even Apple's own included wallpapers) and the stuttering came back. It's only when I set the wallpaper to something smooth (like a gradient or a blur) that the stuttering went away. Again, the wallpaper only affected Mail and Safari's opening and closing animations and it only happens in 10.2 or later.

1. Set your wallpaper to this:


2. By setting your wallpaper to that image, it also mostly solves the problem of the weird app closing animation that Apple has implemented in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models. The animation will appear to be one motion (as opposed to seeing the icons fly in and then the wallpaper move separely). Since this wallpaper is blurred, you don't really notice the extra animation that makes the app close animation look disjointed.

Doing these 2 things will make your iPhone a bit more of a joy to use. The blur wallpaper also looks pretty nice and fits well with the rest of the iOS UI.

PS: I don't need people telling me that their iPhone doesn't stutter or that I have a faulty iPhone. I know what I see and I've tested this dozens of times. Certain wallpapers cause my iPhone to stutter and that's a fact. Certain wallpapers cause my iPhone to not stutter and that's also a fact.

 

[Kjung7]

I'll give it a shot, I like the wallpaper btw haha

Thanks for your input

 

[SumYoungGai]

This also happens on a page with only a few icons on the page. Regardless of wallpaper.

 

[Jayson A]

This also happens on a page with only a few icons on the page. Regardless of wallpaper.

What also happens? What part of my post are you referring to?

 

[Jayson A]

Here's another good wallpaper that doesn't cause the frame rate to stutter.

 

[Suckfest 9001]

ok for real though a wallpaper isn't going to affect performance...

 

[BritishApple]

Nice wallpaper but sadly no change for me. Still noticing it. Thanks for trying though.

For me it's not the wallpaper, it's the icons. That initial second when they begin the closing animation, it's like they're digging their heels in. There's this initial drawn out, almost dragging like motion before the animation kicks into full speed.

Even with a completely black wallpaper I see it. I still enjoy the phone, and this doesn't detract from that, but it is a minor annoyance.

 

[johannnn]

Nice wallpaper but sadly no change for me. Still noticing it. Thanks for trying though.

For me it's not the wallpaper, it's the icons. That initial second when they begin the closing animation, it's like they're digging their heels in. There's this initial drawn out, almost dragging like motion before the animation kicks into full speed.

Even with a completely black wallpaper I see it. I still enjoy the phone, and this doesn't detract from that, but it is a minor annoyance.

Why not disable animations (Reduce motion) in Settings?

 

[BritishApple]

Why not disable animations (Reduce motion) in Settings?

Because the fade effect is even worse.

 

[itsmilo]

Why not disable animations (Reduce motion) in Settings?

Thats what i always use and everything is fine. The default zoom in and out when opening and closing apps is driving me up the wall and makes me dizzy lol

 

[johannnn]

Because the fade effect is even worse.

How on earth could a quick fade animation stutter more than a slow zoom in/out animation? Plus it saves battery.

 

[BritishApple]

How on earth could a quick fade animation stutter more than a slow zoom in/out animation? Plus it saves battery.

I didn't say it was worse performance wise. I like the zooming transitions, I don't like the fade. At no point did I say the fade performs worse, I simply don't like it.

As for saving battery, that's another placebo.

 

[Jayson A]

ok for real though a wallpaper isn't going to affect performance...

That's funny, because it does. I've tested it numerous times. Using those wallpapers I've provided here in this thread results in no lag when opening/closing Mail or Safari (other apps aren't affected, just those 2) but when I have a more complex photo, the stutter returns. I'm guessing it has something to do with the scaling process of the iPhone 7 Plus where it outputs a higher resolution than 1080p, then downscales to 1080p. Maybe simpler wallpapers are easier to scale than others and perhaps Mail and Safari are just hitting the threshold. I'd say Apple has some more optimizing to do. I've reported the lag, so hopefully it will get fixed and we can go back to using other wallpapers.

 

[cswifx]

I'm guessing it has something to do with the scaling process of the iPhone 7 Plus where it outputs a higher resolution than 1080p, then downscales to 1080p.

Maybe the anti-aliasing? As far as I know if you have more colours and edges, it's gonna have to do more calculations to get the right anti-aliased image out. Shouldn't the image be cached too?

 

[Jayson A]

Maybe the anti-aliasing? As far as I know if you have more colours and edges, it's gonna have to do more calculations to get the right anti-aliased image out. Shouldn't the image be cached too?

That's a pretty good theory. I wonder what's so different about Mail and Safari specifically and why other apps open really smoothly. Like, I'll open contacts (which is right next to mail) and it's flawless, then open Mail and it stutters (only a few frames are dropped, but it sticks out compared to one that has no frames dropped).

 

[cswifx]

That's a pretty good theory. I wonder what's so different about Mail and Safari specifically and why other apps open really smoothly. Like, I'll open contacts (which is right next to mail) and it's flawless, then open Mail and it stutters (only a few frames are dropped, but it sticks out compared to one that has no frames dropped).

My best guess for Safari would be the WebView trying to load while the animation is playing. I'm not too sure about Mail, because when it starts it should be a list of emails and not a resource intensive control like a WebView.

 

[Jayson A]

My best guess for Safari would be the WebView trying to load while the animation is playing. I'm not too sure about Mail, because when it starts it should be a list of emails and not a resource intensive control like a WebView.

Reduce transparency also makes it smooth regardless of wallpaper. It could be something to do with transparency.
[doublepost=1483111162][/doublepost]Some more wallpapers that don't cause stuttering.

 

[BritishApple]

I think Jayson and I are "seeing" two different kinds of issue. I don't see dropped frames in the animation, I just can't stand the sluggish "dragging" of the initial part of the closing animation (after an app has been open for more than a few seconds).

As has been mentioned, if you open an app and close it instantly, the close animation is as it should be. Leave the app open more than a few seconds, and you get the sluggish start to the close animation and no change on wallpaper helps this.

I've actually began using Reduce Motion and given how fast the 7 is, the phone actually feels much, much faster than previous iPhones I've tried Reduce Motion on.