iOS 9.2 (Beta 1) Bug Fixes, Changes and Performance Adjustments

[CupertinoSlave]

Big improvements to multi-tasking on iPhone 4s. Looks like they are concentrating on improving its performance before it is bumped off the update cycle next year with iOS 10.

Since that is 30 FPS there is no way to see frame drops

 

[skwood]

Since that is 30 FPS there is no way to see frame drops

We're talking use-case not FPS counters I think. There are performance improvements...

 

[skwood]

Another interesting video for people concerned about Force Touch lag on 6s+ (in 60fps...) It is apparently improved greatly for multi-tasking force touch and somewhat for home screen.

 

[gordon1234]

I have a playlist of ~1500+ songs and it has never downloaded offline properly from 8.4 to 9.1. The same behavior you described. I've installed 9.2 beta and it finally works! There are several little UI improvements related to offline downloading as well. There's a "progress circle" next to every queued song in the playlist now and the phone icon for offline tracks is slightly tweaked (it has a checkmark on it). on <9.1 you had to back out of the playlist view and tap the "Downloading x songs" at the top to see what was downloading.

I started downloading the playlist at work on wifi, walked home, and checked it. It picked up right where it left off, no more skipping a ton of downloads. It did seem to get stuck once at work, so I killed the music app, re-opened it and it resumed as normal. Overall, it seems to be much more robust than before. I used to be afraid to even let the screen turn off while it was downloading. Now to see if the music actually stays offline.

Well, that's extremely encouraging. When this hits a stable release, I may actually try enabling iTunes Match again.

 

[C DM]

Ridiculous. I love how everyone tries to make lag some kind of Apple enthusiast OCD issue.

What about PC gamers? They play games at 60 FPS. Anything below it is not acceptable. Some even notice differences in 120 FPS vs 60. If they are seasoned to see their games in 60 FPS all the time and you make it run at 30, they notice.
And they get mad.

30 FPS drops are a huge deal. I've been playing GTA 5 on PC, not even at 60 FPS. I play around 45 and when I look back at the console version that is capped at 30, it's still a HUGE difference. Input feels hugely delayed on the Xbox One version and it looks annoyingly slow even though I used to play that way before. This is because I adapted to better performance. Once you go high FPS, you don't go back.

Would it be OCD if iOS started rendering at half the resolution of the Retina display, too? That's another area where you get used to the quality and going back is extremely noticeable even though you used to deal with it in the past. Lol. So imagine if you iPhone started randomly showing jagged text and low-res images. I hope you wouldn't notice it.

That's exactly the issue with iOS 9. We've been seasoned to expect 60 FPS because that's how the 6 ran on iOS 8, the 5s ran on 7, the 5 ran on 6, the 4s ran on 5, and the 4 ran on 4. Apple's set up a pattern of good performance on the inital versions of iOS running on their flagship phone of the time. There's no excuse for drops to 30 FPS on Apple's most expensive, highest specced phone on its first version. The 6 Plus had no excuses for lagging on iOS 8 and the 6s Plus has no excuse for lagging on iOS 9. Period.

We pay for these devices. It's not like Apple can do whatever as if we owe them. They owe the user the same performance or better for a phone that costs more. The user pays for the phone and owes Apple nothing more than that.

Yes, it's totally "everyone". It's exactly those types of absolutes, extremes, and hyperbole that get in the way in many instances.

 

[C DM]

If you get a brand new car that has a scratch on it, that stands out to YOU, would you ignore it?

But plenty of people get new cars that have something that isn't just perfect. Cars are massed produced products do something somewhere in quite a few of them won't be just perfect.

 

[Act3]

I think people are still wishing for any version iOS 8 to be as good as iOS 7.1.2, and those on iOS 7 are wishing any version of iOS 7 was as good as iOS 6.1.3.

And that makes things right ? At least 7.1.2 was released over 2 months before 8 came out unlike 8.1.4 which was about a month before 9.

 

[Shirasaki]

No the icon for "Offline music" or music actually on the device has changed to be bigger and clearer and displayed in more places. In the Recently Added bar for example.

EDIT: I have updated the first post to make this clearer.

OK. I am updating to iOS 9.2 to see if there is anything different.
Anyway, thanks.

 

[TL24]

Another interesting video for people concerned about Force Touch lag on 6s+ (in 60fps...) It is apparently improved greatly for multi-tasking force touch and somewhat for home screen.

Awesome to see! Can't wait for the Public Beta to be released!

 

[Act3]

UI animations are such a small percentage of what we look at when we use smartphones, i

I disagree. I move quite bit between messages, email, Safari and other apps during business day. I see a lot of ui animation and it gives first impression on devices performance.

 

[Shirasaki]

Big improvements to multi-tasking on iPhone 4s. Looks like they are concentrating on improving its performance before it is bumped off the update cycle next year with iOS 10.

This should be the thing they have already addressed in first release.

 

[Jayson A]

The level of obsession with "lag" and "stutter" exhibited here goes well beyond that. It would be more like getting a brand-new car and freaking out because the sound it makes when it accelerates isn't quite to your liking, or the texture of the temperature knob vs the texture of the fan control knob is just slightly different.

No, that would be like taking your car in for an oil change, and now your engine doesn't sound right and some of the knobs are loose. You'd expect your car to be returned in the same condition or better than when you left it.

 

[Jayson A]

The fluidity issues that are present haven't crippled iOS 9, but some folks make it seem that way. I understand the folks that want this to be fixed. I get that, but these issues do not stop me from using my iPhone or iPad. I truly am enjoying iOS 9. Apple working on 9.2 this early is awesome as well. I believe things will be sorted out and we'll have happy fluidity campers soon!

Yes, the lag doesn't bother you, but it bothers me.

 

[scjr]

Yes, the lag doesn't bother you, but it bothers me.

That's what you gleaned from that post? Then yes, I can see it bothers you to the point the OS is unusable.

 

[AppleMan2015]

Big improvements to multi-tasking on iPhone 4s. Looks like they are concentrating on improving its performance before it is bumped off the update cycle next year with iOS 10.

You think it will be removed for ios 10?

 

[skwood]

You think it will be removed for ios 10?

My guess would be iPad 2, iPad Mini and iPhone 4s are dropped for iOS 10.

I would drop iPad 3 (the new iPad) too as one of the slowest iPads still in use but they may keep it around.

 

[C DM]

And that makes things right ? At least 7.1.2 was released over 2 months before 8 came out unlike 8.1.4 which was about a month before 9.

A simple observation about how things are and have been, without justifying anything one way or another.

 

[Radon87000]

How?

I didn't say "it's just your device" or "smooth here". It's been accepted for a while now that iOS 9 does stutter. However it's the relentless few that feel the need to post their dissatisfaction in any and all threads that even mention iOS 9. Claiming because it's utterly useless to them it's fact that it will be utterly useless to all. When the hard truth is, it varies person to person. So for them to keep "scaring" people away from updating because of their blanket statement, that's when others chime in about only each individual user can decide for themselves if it's good enough (for now and will most likely get better over time) and worth the new features.

The constant whine posts about lag are getting borderline childish at this point when they find their way into every single thread related to or not about it. I swear if someone started a thread "I have 9 safari tabs open" just the fact the number "9" is in the title, lag posts would find their way in there. Again, it's not until then do others chime in to provide whatever OP with more usable feedback instead of whiney one sided BS.

Because we are not scaring them,We are only warning them of the performance decrease in iOS 9.

 

[omegis83]

"Add to a Playlist..." text alignment bugs me more than it should.

 

[Shirasaki]

"Add to a Playlist..." text alignment bugs me more than it should.

You know, just remove all three dots. And it will look much better than now.

 

[gordon1234]

"Add to a Playlist..." text alignment bugs me more than it should.

Look perfectly centered to me. Are you maybe mentally failing to consider the ellipsis?

 

[C DM]

Because we are not scaring them,We are only warning them of the performance decrease in iOS 9.

Some aren't, but some are (or at least certainly trying to).

 

[gordon1234]

You know, just remove all three dots. And it will look much better than now.

The ellipsis indicates that selecting this option won't immediately perform an action - there is a secondary step involved (selecting a playlist). This is a long-time standard. Menu items on OS X use the same convention. Every other option in the list immediately performs an action with no further confirmation.

 

[Shirasaki]

The ellipsis indicates that selecting this option won't immediately perform an action - there is a secondary step involved (selecting a playlist). This is a long-time standard. Menu items on OS X use the same convention. Every other option in the list immediately performs an action with no further confirmation.

Yeah. I can understand.

 

[The Doctor11]

Developer friend of mine confirmed that frame drops still exist in the same places. No changes yet.

Jokes aside its unacceptable that my iPhone 6 reminds me of my iPhone 4 at times (which I used up until September of 2014).