iOS 18 is the worst software Apple has ever released. I wish so bad I had stayed on 17.7

[AhRiHmAn]

I wouldn't say the worst, but iOS 18 has not been all roses for me... hopefully 18.1 will fix many issues that I shall not digress into now, only that I hate it for the many bugs it has, but love many of the features.

I’ve installed 18.1 RC on my iPad Pro M4 , and tried Apple Music thinking “maybe those bugs are fixed now” , 2 force close in 15 minutes , ok uninstalled again this app.
Can’t believe how they allow crap like that to be released , they don’t have a respectful opinion of their users that’s a sure thing.

 

[twdawson]

Well I finally did it and rolled back to 17.7 on my phone and so glad to have the old photo app back.
Apple watch is in my watch box as it will not work as I was foolish to update it to 11 so I might give it to a relative.

 

[CEmajr]

I agree. This one is definitely the worst one in recent memory. When I had my 15 Pro the video playback had become broken to where long videos were unplayable and the Photos app on the Mac for some reason could no longer read photos from the phone past a certain date (meaning everything had to be Airdropped from the iPhone to Mac). Basically added a ton of time/frustration to my workflow since I mostly use my iPhone for recording videos.

Then there's the Apple Music freezing and crashing which still happens even after upgrading to the 16 Pro. Apple is slipping in reliability but hopefully the coming updates stabilize the software again. At this point I think I'll hold off on upgrading my devices when there's a new iOS version in the coming years. I care about everything working more so than new features and they definitely rushed this mess to market.

 

[SebCohen]

Yep, the Photo app and wallpaper changer are downright awful and goes against the core Apple principle of being simple to use, in my opinion. I’d argue that even the Settings app has become convoluted.

The settings app has been convoluted since the iPhone 6. As in there’s so much complexity in the phone now, the old “basic” layout just doesn’t make as much sense. I struggle daily to figure out where a setting is. In-app, app settings within settings or just basic settings? I’m not using the phone to its fullest because a) there’s no good way to find them or figure them out or b) it’s too complicated or too many steps to use something meaningfully

 

[Rogifan]

Hyperbole much? This sounds like a Reddit post. I don’t get the control center hate. Are people fidgeting with it that much?

 

[Rogifan]

I have to agree that Photos has taken a gigantic leap backwards.

How so?

 

[Alameda]

How so?

I think it’s much more poorly organized.
For instance, the default behavior of Photos since iPhone 1 has been to display your most recently taken photo first. But the new Photos sometimes decides not to do this.

Looking for categories such as People is more confusing and it puts the app into a mode which must be exited by tapping an X which is sometimes visible and other times not visible. And in some modes, the X is on top of the screen and in other modes the X is on the bottom.

 

[flybass]

Hyperbole much? This sounds like a Reddit post. I don’t get the control center hate. Are people fidgeting with it that much?

I’m very conscious of motions which require using extreme ends of the screen. To get out of control center previously, I could pull the panel up from anywhere that wasn’t covered by a button. Now, I need to exit with an extreme bottom Home Screen swipe up. That sort of sucks.

 

[Paddle1]

I’m very conscious of motions which require using extreme ends of the screen. To get out of control center previously, I could pull the panel up from anywhere that wasn’t covered by a button. Now, I need to exit with an extreme bottom Home Screen swipe up. That sort of sucks.

Nope, all you have to do is tap on that same blank space not covered by a button. No swiping is needed.

 

[flybass]

Nope, all you have to do is tap on that same blank space not covered by a button. No swiping is needed.

You’re right. Thanks. Looks like that makes it quite a bit better.

 

[shadowboi]

I think we can all agree iOS 18 is a hot burning dumpster trash.

I agree with you on every aspect you mentioned, specifically control centre with ugly round Apple Watch-esque icons and multiple pages LOL. Why in the world they decided to make this clusterf*** and place music player on second page, it is like the most idiotic idea I have ever seen.

Photos app just broke my heart and makes me hate Apple again. I make lots of photos, and they have ruined the experience of both organizing shots and taking photos – photo previewer is now something resembling dazz cam. I didn’t ask for that. Photos app was probably made in mind for tiktok generation, I guess they won’t like it either.

Settings app is now unusable. They have merged some of the settings and now I often feel lost in the app. I don’t use search, I want to intuitively find what I got used to.

Instead, Apple never addressed user requests. For example why cannot I export all photos at once as folders to Files app for easier copying onto flash drives so I can backup without connecting to mac? Why I cannot turn off recently deleted folder that just takes space when I forget I didn’t clean it? Why faces, object recognition cannot be turned off? Why each iOS version makes camera more blurry than before? So much overprocessing that cannot be simply disabled.

If Galaxy S25 turns out to be what I want – I am back on Android bandwagon. I really need to get all the creative controls back to my hands and a good camera. Not really interested in new iPhones and didn’t like 16 Pro at all, especially considering it runs 18. My 11 Pro will continue being my 2nd phone for stuff like tracking my activity, facetime and such, but S25 will serve a greater purpose of being actually good camera that I can tune in to my preference and organize shots in whatever manner I want. I am still considering whether I should make a switch but I cannot look at my photos since iOS 17 - Apple made something and now they are all blurry, overprocessed and generally cheap. I am sure they didn’t look like that in 2019

 

[HouseLannister]

I think we can all agree iOS 18 is a hot burning dumpster trash.

No, we can’t.

 

[teeshot44]

I think we can all agree iOS 18 is a hot burning dumpster trash.

I agree with you on every aspect you mentioned, specifically control centre with ugly round Apple Watch-esque icons and multiple pages LOL. Why in the world they decided to make this clusterf*** and place music player on second page, it is like the most idiotic idea I have ever seen.

Photos app just broke my heart and makes me hate Apple again. I make lots of photos, and they have ruined the experience of both organizing shots and taking photos – photo previewer is now something resembling dazz cam. I didn’t ask for that. Photos app was probably made in mind for tiktok generation, I guess they won’t like it either.

Settings app is now unusable. They have merged some of the settings and now I often feel lost in the app. I don’t use search, I want to intuitively find what I got used to.

Instead, Apple never addressed user requests. For example why cannot I export all photos at once as folders to Files app for easier copying onto flash drives so I can backup without connecting to mac? Why I cannot turn off recently deleted folder that just takes space when I forget I didn’t clean it? Why faces, object recognition cannot be turned off? Why each iOS version makes camera more blurry than before? So much overprocessing that cannot be simply disabled.

If Galaxy S25 turns out to be what I want – I am back on Android bandwagon. I really need to get all the creative controls back to my hands and a good camera. Not really interested in new iPhones and didn’t like 16 Pro at all, especially considering it runs 18. My 11 Pro will continue being my 2nd phone for stuff like tracking my activity, facetime and such, but S25 will serve a greater purpose of being actually good camera that I can tune in to my preference and organize shots in whatever manner I want. I am still considering whether I should make a switch but I cannot look at my photos since iOS 17 - Apple made something and now they are all blurry, overprocessed and generally cheap. I am sure they didn’t look like that in 2019

I certainly don’t agree and as my signature says, you don’t have my permission to speak for me.

 

[Digital Dude]

Yeah, Apple’s software is a lot rougher around the edges than it used to be. It’s like they’re not even trying anymore, which seems to be a sign of the times where mediocrity has become their new standard. They still have a slight edge over the competition, but just barely. I’m planning to upgrade from my iPhone 12 Max soon, but after 40+ years with Apple gear, I have to admit, I’m tempted to try something different. 🤔

 

[tomtattoo]

If I have to describe my experience with newer versions of iOS, iPadOS, MacOS or WatchOS:
one tap more, one swipe more, one menu more and this a thousand times.
Every week I discover atleast one dumb swipe, click etc. which is too much.
Two years ago I would say I was a real fanboy...but now? I start to really hate them.
From now on new hardware only every few years.
They have lost money - no Watch9 last year and no iPhone 16pro this year.
And they will lose more money - promised.

 

[mtbdudex]

I really don’t know where Apple goes from here or how they fix this without rolling back several changes. Ios18 is glitchy, crashes, it’s very flakey. I have a 15 pro, and I immensely regret putting 18 on it. I should have stayed on 17.7.

The photos app is the worst of it. Everything used to have a common thread of design language. It was so easy to operate. Now you have search bars and other things in random buttons around the screen. No rhyme or reason. It’s not fluid. And that’s if the screen registers your touch as now half the time it doesn’t. Scroll up to get back to your main photos area. Scroll up again because it didn’t register your touch.

The new control center is just overly complicated, what a mess. Oh we can have multiple “pages” of control center? Who asked for this? It’s just getting into bloat territory. Android and its redundant instances of launchers and shortcuts that all do the same thing. To have two pages of control center first you swipe down from the top right of the screen. Swipe up to get to the second page. To get back to Home Screen can you swipe up from the bottom? Nope! First you have to swipe down, get back to control center page 1, then swipe up to go home. Up down up down. What a mess. I messed around with having stuff on page two and it’s infuriating to operate.

I used to sing Apple’s praises to anyone who would listen. It’s all seamless, all connected, etc. This OS is horrible.

It feels like they had multiple teams working on different areas and none of them knew what the other was doing.

I pick up my old jet black 7 and wistfully use ios15, it’s just so clean and easy and all of it makes sense. Then I go back to my state of the art 15 pro, as it burns my thumb tips when I play games on it and the operating system is a complicated mess.

They need to do an ios12 year next year and purely, PURELY, focus on cohesion, and design.

101, did you do a complete backup prior? If so, reload to 17.7 and done.

My family is on the 4 year iPhone upgrade plan. We have 3 with iPhone 14’s, will wait till 18’s are out.
My 2 sons have iPhone 12’s, they will be getting 16’s as Christmas gift.
They are all adults now, so last time “mom and dad” will buy them devices.

 

[bbates123]

I think we can all agree iOS 18 is a hot burning dumpster trash.

I personally like most of the changes...it's a step forward for me.

 

[LionTeeth]

Nope, all you have to do is tap on that same blank space not covered by a button. No swiping is needed.

Interesting that does work. However it still doesn’t stop it from randomly being on page two when you’ve definitely left it on page 1 last time you used it. An Os absolutely brimming with petty annoyances.

 

[Paddle1]

Interesting that does work. However it still doesn’t stop it from randomly being on page two when you’ve definitely left it on page 1 last time you used it. An Os absolutely brimming with petty annoyances.

I haven't had that bug, but I am running the 18.1 RC. It always opens on page 1 for me no matter where I leave it.

I never thought about people not knowing about tapping to close and being negatively affected, I used that even on iOS 17. I'll keep in mind to mention it if anyone is having trouble with the new CC.