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How can iOS become "exciting" again?
- Thread starter -BigMac-
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I’m not looking for exciting, I’m just looking for it to work without all those bugs
That's fair enough. I guess a lot of people are complaining of iOS having become very stale.
I'm trying to understand what 'exciting' means to people... as I find it quite hard to describe for software
If they could fix the auto-correct on the keyboard again that would be great. It was pretty much flawless from iOS 6 to iOS 10, for me anyways. But ever since one of the iOS 11 updates it's been complete trash. Capitalizing random words mid sentence, swapping out words with ones that make zero sense etc.
I guess I should have mentioned something about what you actually asked in the OP
. I don't want iOS to be "exciting", I want it to work.
3D Touch & interface
To be exciting again iOS will need to be re-design from the ground up. the 3D Touch capabilities will need to play a much bigger part of the experience right now its forgotten.
Media
Apple used to focus a lot on our medias. There is no reason my wallpaper cant be set to an album that shuffles itself every time I open my phone. Why Apple music will shuffle xmas song in July and why live pictures were introduced but never became a standard.
Wallet 2.0
iOS revolutionized transactions with Apple Pay. Last year the Files app was introduced now we are all set up for Apple receipts. Apples integration of digital receipts. Also a solution for NFC Passes, businesses cards and government issued ID’s. No one has Apples negotiating power, if you build it they will come!
Home Screen
the home screen will have to become some type of feed, I imagine a mix between the time machine, siri watch face, notification center, and widget screen. It makes no sense to me that I need apps to lead me to content when its content that should lead me to apps (Jailbreakers think of lockinfo)
Unified experience
To become exiting again ios will need to stop focusing on making its own apps and focus on making existing apps co-exist/unified. I dont want to switch between apps when talking to people or listening to music (TV app are a good example of unified of the type of integration we need but imo Apple has failed doing it gracefully.)
Landscape mode
Also full-blown landscape mode, i dont see why this hasn’t been done yet.
Scenes/Geofences
Right now scenes is only referred to when using HomeKit accessories. But I should be able to set scenes for going to bed (alarms ON, nighttime and DND activates) Additionally I dont need the same apps when I’m on the road than I do when i’m home or at work. The experience and interface should dynamically ajust.
The fact that software-wise my jailbroken iPhone 5 could do more than my iPhone X proves how much catching up Apple has to do. They used to be the compagny that made people say “someone had to think of it!”
To be exciting again iOS will need to be re-design from the ground up. the 3D Touch capabilities will need to play a much bigger part of the experience right now its forgotten.
Media
Apple used to focus a lot on our medias. There is no reason my wallpaper cant be set to an album that shuffles itself every time I open my phone. Why Apple music will shuffle xmas song in July and why live pictures were introduced but never became a standard.
Wallet 2.0
iOS revolutionized transactions with Apple Pay. Last year the Files app was introduced now we are all set up for Apple receipts. Apples integration of digital receipts. Also a solution for NFC Passes, businesses cards and government issued ID’s. No one has Apples negotiating power, if you build it they will come!
Home Screen
the home screen will have to become some type of feed, I imagine a mix between the time machine, siri watch face, notification center, and widget screen. It makes no sense to me that I need apps to lead me to content when its content that should lead me to apps (Jailbreakers think of lockinfo)
Unified experience
To become exiting again ios will need to stop focusing on making its own apps and focus on making existing apps co-exist/unified. I dont want to switch between apps when talking to people or listening to music (TV app are a good example of unified of the type of integration we need but imo Apple has failed doing it gracefully.)
Landscape mode
Also full-blown landscape mode, i dont see why this hasn’t been done yet.
Scenes/Geofences
Right now scenes is only referred to when using HomeKit accessories. But I should be able to set scenes for going to bed (alarms ON, nighttime and DND activates) Additionally I dont need the same apps when I’m on the road than I do when i’m home or at work. The experience and interface should dynamically ajust.
The fact that software-wise my jailbroken iPhone 5 could do more than my iPhone X proves how much catching up Apple has to do. They used to be the compagny that made people say “someone had to think of it!”
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I’ll third the idea that I don’t need iOS to “excite” me. I need it to work well and allow me to be more productive, and get me to my apps and content (the things that should be exciting me).
I want Apple to focus on things like making notifications center better, cleaning up and better organizing settings. Expanding the functionality of the share sheet, speeding up transitions/animations. Things that will actually enhance my use of the phone.
I’d appreciate it if they’d focus less on “exciting features” like new emojis, or changing the layout of the App Store, podcast and music apps just because some people with limited attention spans can’t stand to see something look the same for too long.
I want Apple to focus on things like making notifications center better, cleaning up and better organizing settings. Expanding the functionality of the share sheet, speeding up transitions/animations. Things that will actually enhance my use of the phone.
I’d appreciate it if they’d focus less on “exciting features” like new emojis, or changing the layout of the App Store, podcast and music apps just because some people with limited attention spans can’t stand to see something look the same for too long.
I mostly agree with you, and animojis are a fad i believe.
But I think it is wrong to say people have limited attention spans and can't stand looking at the same thing for too long when they have been looking at it for FOUR years. Essentially the same looking thing OS.
With that logic, would you look at the same movie 12 times a day, for 4 years straight, without ever watching anything else? Sure the resolution of the TV will increase, but it will still be the same fundamental movie. If you do not watch the movie 12 times a day (most people use their iphones throughout the day), for atleast 4 years (ios7-current design), then you have a limited attention span.
Windows 10 is a fantastic example of keeping things fresh, while not confusing legacy users.
What are your thoughts?
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Love it.
Those would be some substancial additions would for iOS
I mostly agree with you, and animojis are a fad i believe.
But I think it is wrong to say people have limited attention spans and can't stand looking at the same thing for too long when they have been looking at it for FOUR years. Essentially the same looking thing OS.
With that logic, would you look at the same movie 12 times a day, for 4 years straight, without ever watching anything else? Sure the resolution of the TV will increase, but it will still be the same fundamental movie. If you do not watch the movie 12 times a day (most people use their iphones throughout the day), for atleast 4 years (ios7-current design), then you have a limited attention span.
Windows 10 is a fantastic example of keeping things fresh, while not confusing legacy users.
What are your thoughts?
Yeah, “limited attention spans” was probably not a good choice of words. It just seems like people want change for the sake of change, regardless of if it’s better or not. I don’t think 4 years is too long to have a similar looking OS. Before that, we had iOS 1 through 6. That was six years of the same iOS. And windows XP was the dominant desktop/laptop OS for over a decade.
I don’t equate an OS to a movie or a TV show. Those are things that designed specifically to entertain. The OS is the platform. It’s the delivery method for your content. When iOS 7 came out, I distinctly remember Jony Ive saying that of iOS 7 would disappear into the background and elevate your content.
For me, it doesn’t need to be exciting, or fresh, or new. It needs to work. I’m just not a fan of changing iOS just for the sake of making it look different while risking making it less functional, when the purpose is functionality.
Don't get me wrong, I love iOS, but I never described it as "exciting".
iOS 11 on a 12.9" iPad Pro is a dream come true. And about all the excitement I can handle.
Consider me yet another who says: No need for excitement, just need it to work without bugs. Ease of use would be exciting.
This is just an awesome and well thought-out post... one of the better I've ever seen when it comes to future iOS features. Specifically, scenes/geofence - that is an awesome concept... one which undoubtedly is protected by patent that is likely hindering meaningful development.
Windows 10 is a fantastic example of keeping things fresh, while not confusing legacy users.
What are your thoughts?
Windows 7 is a fantastic example of keeping things fresh, while not confusing legacy users.
Windows 10 is confusing in the name of keeping things fresh. Windows 10 is terrible. Bah humbug.
I really love all these responses. It's always interesting listening to other peoples perspectives, as it can sometimes change your mind.
I feel as thought it has been validated very well - the want for excitement does not outweight functionality and reliability <3
I feel as thought it has been validated very well - the want for excitement does not outweight functionality and reliability <3
Dark mode, customization of SMS such as having bubble color options, picking your own SMS background pic, being able to place icons where we want on grid, better notifications, customize what information you want to display on either side of notch, perhaps simple color themes to match Apple phone cases or watch bands, more live icons.....
So, Android.
iOS 11 on my iPad Pro has mostly brought welcome changes with a few exceptions (such as removing the two column today screen which seems like an inexplicable step backwards).
I'm not sure an OS should be "Exciting" as such (it should just keep out of the way) but some things they could do to improve for me it would include the following:
Allow users to choose default app for things like email, browser, etc. It's a bit of a mess at the moment where you can "remove" the standard email client but that will then prevent the launching of any mailto links as you can't choose an alternative mail client to handle them
Allow users to permit selected apps to run in the background for as long as they want rather than apps having to jump through hoops. I understand why it's done like it is (to save battery), but even having an option to allow them to run in the background when charging would then improve the user experience for things like downloading lots of movies to the iPad from apps such as Plex, Netflix, etc and uploading photos to services other than iCloud
Allow a grid layout that doesn't always auto-flow so users can put icons where they want
I'm not sure an OS should be "Exciting" as such (it should just keep out of the way) but some things they could do to improve for me it would include the following:
Allow users to choose default app for things like email, browser, etc. It's a bit of a mess at the moment where you can "remove" the standard email client but that will then prevent the launching of any mailto links as you can't choose an alternative mail client to handle them
Allow users to permit selected apps to run in the background for as long as they want rather than apps having to jump through hoops. I understand why it's done like it is (to save battery), but even having an option to allow them to run in the background when charging would then improve the user experience for things like downloading lots of movies to the iPad from apps such as Plex, Netflix, etc and uploading photos to services other than iCloud
Allow a grid layout that doesn't always auto-flow so users can put icons where they want
No, not android, these are features that Apple could do on IOS as well and probably will at some point. Apple already does some of them on their watch.
Yea, basically, except without the carriers screwing with the OS, installing unremovable and useless applications (no, samsung, I really don't want Plants vs Zombies on my phone), blocking rooting, blocking useful features of the phone to promote their own inferior yet similar feature, ignoring major OS updates because the manufacturers haven't updated their skin to that version yet, making a UI/UX so distinct (read: ugly and unusable) that it doesn't even resemble the vanilla Android experience...
I'd like to see more customization on iOS's part, while maintaining what makes iOS better than Android, which is definitely something that's possible, IF they wanted to do it.
Really nice post iFanaddic!
Re: the sentence I highlighted in the Home Screen paragraph, I agree with this but Apple's home screen has become so iconic (no pun intended) that it will be extremely hard for them to break away from the current view of a static grid of app icons. I think the implementation of widgets is a step in the right direction, but it's siloed and my sense is most people don't even use them (probably because they're out of sight, out of mind).
I'm not familiar with lockinfo, and I'm having trouble envisioning how a feed would work.
My thought on how to make iOS "exciting" is to incorporate more dynamic/live app icons (like the calendar and clock icons that change). I know this concept largely failed on Windows, but perhaps Apple could get it right and allow 3rd party app icons to provide info or engaging content via the app icon (e.g. game app could have a video of ingame action or the main character could wave/greet me). Something that would make the icons come to life and compel you to interact with them.
