How does this differ from putting your most apps on the first screen or screens?
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iOS 14 concept
- Thread starter roland.g
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How does this differ from putting your most apps on the first screen or screens?
Did you even read what I said before?
The home screen has other purposes. Moving them all to an extra page does not fix the problem it is a temporary fix that is untidy at best.
The funny thing about “beautiful” concepts is that, if you look past the flashy YouTube video and start thinking about how it applies in other cases, especially for edge cases and accessibility, they typically fall right on their faces.
To everyone, I do have an idea (but I will say since iOS 10 I have felt the need and actually only came up with an idea last week. For the longest time I was hoping Apple would, go figure).
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Aesthetically bad? I work in designs, and it is more Aesthetically good than Android lol if you have 25 apps on your phone, then swipe down and type the name of the name. It’s as easy as that
you’re the only one I’ve heard who has issues with the springboard.
Or even iPadOS now.
Very true, it makes sense on a larger screen device. For a phone with limited space, a swipe over seems ideal to me.
Since this was pretty old, I put my Springboard makeover ideas into a new thread.
forums.macrumors.com
iOS Springboard (HomeScreen) Makeover: Hubs or App Centers
I am one and I think there are many who would want to see a major design shift in iOS beginning with Springboard, aka the grid of icons that is our iPhone home screen. For the first few iOS iterations, Springboard was fine because we only had so many apps. Like a lot of users, I have over 200...
forums.macrumors.com
Exactly, most YouTube concepts are animation student project type things pet projects done by those with the skills to show off their animation skills, moving elements in and out of the screen, etc. and rarely are actual true concepts. I would say it is rare that someone who can create a concept also be a true conceptualizer.
I like the current springboard. Not too much and not too less either that I'd rather jump to Android and enjoy that "being too much". Sure, I like a few revamp and innovation every now then, but not totally change the springboard. I mean I'm coming all the way from the 3GS, I liked it since, I like it till now.
Personally, since iPhone 4s and iOS4 I've never experienced Springboard being unstable/unusable. Should a change occur, proper marketing (support materials & advertising) would be crucial to show which iOS and devices support a new Springboard.
You're critiquing without providing a possible solution or change. You seem like you have a better idea ... I'm curious for you to show us, or describe in detail what would work better.
The icon, app folder/column, list, or tiles has ALL been tried and used on Desktop computing from Unix/BSD to macOS 5:macOS/OSX 10.15 to Linux. I've yet to see ANTHING (even in Linux Gnome/etc) change that. Heck not even within WindowsCE/Windows Mobile/Smartphone Edition/PocketPC Edition, Symbian S60 (2nd/3rd edition) Symbian OS, BlackBerry OS/BB10, PalmOS (even the Palm Cobalt which never saw the light of day), nor UIQ (also based on Symbian/EPOC) provide any change to this.
So ... Im VERY curious for ANY UI designer to show us something fresh, fluid, efficient and yet powerful to go another 10yrs into the future.
Between the average non-typical user, anyone with motor control limitations or that require accessibility adjustments/features, or a power user or support staff will need to accept such a change as being 'better' in their own personal views.
I kind of see this as the argument in the 90's and 2000's where Windows users moaned and rolled over painfully about the 1-button mouse yet very few average user understood or known of the powerful keyboard shortcuts in macOS classic or OSX yet only to DEMAND multiple gestures in a single trackpad button laptop that Apple brought. I'm STILL learning.
I made the argument that keyboard shortcuts was much more powerful and efficient in BBOS/BB10 over iOS as I flipped flopped between both - I.T. Support field - and yet ... that did NOT matter. familiarity, stability, and efficiency in terms of ease of use and reliable support when guiding anyone using the platform could readily understand and apply. iOS won by a huge margin.
So much to consider ... but I'm all ears and eyes. Maybe we'll see this sooner than we all expect. When we do, rest assured many of us will go bonkers until it becomes second nature. THAT right there is why Springboard has NOT been changed nor replaced ... the users ability to use and adapt to it as second nature regardless of experience or background knowledge of the system UI. It's why 2yr olds can use it or aging adults, even those with dementia can use it as second nature.
My vision or idea is an improvement and not a complete overhaul. And I am not a designer. But I hate clutter and think there are elements of the UI, especially folders which a not working and are visually awful.
My solution is outlined in another thread rather than this one about Springboard and App Centers or Hubs. The best term might be Home Screens or App Screens. Leave it to Apple to name it.
My idea is that when you unlock your phone you see a clean wallpaper with the dock at the bottom. A simple swipe left to right brings up widgets as it does now but preferably better implemented with two columns where a widget expands to touch or haptic.
The dock at the bottom has 4 icons or 5 if you want. Consisting of at least Wallet, Home, Apple TV, and an icon that looks like the old home button or maybe the account silhouette.
The Home, Wallet, and Apple TV icons act as folders, or more precisely home screens/app screens. They keep their existing functions but at the bottom like in the current Home and Music app is 3 or 4 items in a mini dock or tabs. Home currently has Home, Rooms, Automation. One of these in each of these apps would say Apps. In Wallet I would say you get Cards, Apps, Passes to separate cards from passes/tickets. When you tap on tabs you get a Home Screen (populated from the bottom up and scrollable if filling the page) of apps that are related to the app they reside in. Home would feature all your smart home type apps, lighting, alarm, cameras, locks, etc. Apple TV would feature all your media apps for steaming etc. HBO Go, Netflix, Disney+, etc.
Wallet would likely be the biggest and like the App Store require categories for Food, Banking, Shopping. By putting all these apps into these apps as folders but not relegating them to 3x3 page after page folders, you get instant access to categorized home screens for those type of apps, especially the Wallet which often contains so many apps you infrequently access.
The final dock app is essentially you. A tap on that shoots up a stack of apps from it, that you order. Phone, Messages, Mail, Safari (or other browser) that you designate for quick access.
Then there are the app screens or whatever they are called. Swipe right to left from your main screen and a spaced list of words (as you have named them like you would folders) appears on the right edge ( though there certainly could be another implementation). Tap on one and it takes you to a home screen rather than folder of that collection of apps. However, given how many app would reside in Home, Wallet and Apple TV along with your Account shortcut, I don’t think you would need many of these.
It is also time to give users the option to stacks apps bottom to top instead of top to bottom as screens have gotten bigger. Or to have apps enjoy free placement.
You may disagree but that is my idea for decluttering and making appdom more manageable.
So I would be forced into a certain way of organising stuff?
What if I didn’t use an Apple TV? Or have any home automation stuff?
It’s as simple as can be now. And you can organise it how you want.
My dock has my most used messaging and calling apps.
My main screen has my main apps on it.
Swipe right has my creative apps.
Swipe left has my other apps, organised in folders such as ‘games’ or ‘education’. For every row of folders, there is the most used app from that category just above it.
Swipe down to search is the icing on the cake and an excellent app launcher to boot.
It’s simple, elegant and I can do what I want. Your way is unnecessarily confusing, more limiting, and achieves exactly the same end purpose than what is achievable already.
I do wish for some changes, I would like to be able to easily put a blank folder in to create space. I would like a ‘more’ option to make icons smaller and have more on a screen, including the dock. I would also like changing the orientation of the phone not to mess with all the app order, but I’m not sure that happens on newer phones anyway.
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The one thing I wish they would have is a way to jump to the actual app if you have a ton and want to delete one. Or can you delete from the search screen?
How is the springboard unusable? Over the years there have been a couple of times where iOS introduced a bug that would sometimes crash springboard (though it would relaunch instantly), but unusable?
You can say that it's old, you can also make the highly subjective assertion that it's stale, but unusable in no way qualifies. Not even remotely close.
I highly recommend searching behance.net for ios concepts. tons of good stuff to find, almost every concept looks WAY better than apples design
The problem with the springboard is that it works so well, people are simply bored of it. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Having experimented with a Windows phone one crazy year of my life before Apple introduced larger phones and I wanted one, I fell in love with a few things like live tiles and "always on" for time and certain message notifications when the screen is "off."
To me, it is no different than what they have achieved with Apple Watch...different faces that are customizable within their preset limitations while still having access to all apps on "page 2" for example (traditional springboard layout).
Or at a minimum, give me the option to start on the widgets page instead of the springboard page when I open my phone. I mean, they have most of what people want right there, I just don't want to take the millisecond of my time to swipe right to get to that screen.
Having experimented with a Windows phone one crazy year of my life before Apple introduced larger phones and I wanted one, I fell in love with a few things like live tiles and "always on" for time and certain message notifications when the screen is "off."
To me, it is no different than what they have achieved with Apple Watch...different faces that are customizable within their preset limitations while still having access to all apps on "page 2" for example (traditional springboard layout).
Or at a minimum, give me the option to start on the widgets page instead of the springboard page when I open my phone. I mean, they have most of what people want right there, I just don't want to take the millisecond of my time to swipe right to get to that screen.
I know it sounds like you guys are talking about a ui redesign. But while I think that would be cool, I can already hear all the people complaining that they don't like it. Last time Apple did a complete redesign it seemed like a lot of people hatted it. People suck and hate change. On the other hand I would love a complete redesign. would make the iPhone feel fresh again.
This is a great vision statement for when a true need exists...for when the current way of doing things is broken or non-existent. Those type of exploitable needs existed before the iPhone, before the iPad, before the iPod.
But applying that thought to something (a system, an interface, a piece of hardware) that’s awfully well-sorted and mature can lead to change for the sake of change. It can lead to butterfly keys just to be thinner than last year’s MacBook, it can lead to iOS 7 which out the gate was an awful box of mostly unnecessary plastic surgery that has been bandaided into being workable 7 years later... Sometimes given too much leeway for “knowing” what the customer wants but when applied to a mature product, all we get sometimes as ”this year’s upgrade” is more embedded non-replaceable components or one more port or partial mm of thickness removed. Now here I am going on my 3rd mac computer in 12+ years wishing I could easily upgrade the Ram, SSD, and battery as I grow more into the machine. ANd I long for an intuititive iTunes or music type app that once again respected my thousands of personal files/content, instead of feeling like Apple thinks all customers want to stream.
iOS’s springboard may have its limitations at times now vs. 10 years ago, now that we expect to do so much on an iPad, but that doesn’t mean that the next Iteration will be better. It’s certain to be different....
I too await, with partial dread.
Well we finally got a step in the right direction.
