iOS 9.2 Beta 4 Bug Fixes, Changes and Performance Adjustments

[cale508]

Cant updates my 6S Plus here... on 9.2 Beta 3, downloading 9.2 Beta 4 via Developer website for 6s Plus and iTunes says its not eligible...

Mine either, I ended up doing the update OTA.

 

[hunt2013]

Apple will take care of you

Actually they haven't 3 times. 2 times in store and 1 time over the phone. They all said the logs didn't show any issues and that any issues would be fixed in a future iOS update.

Also I probably will take your advice of selling it. This is getting ridiculous.

 

[DoctorKrabs]

I really can't describe how bad I think the scrolling behavior in the app switcher has become. It looks awful.. The smoothness is totally gone, now it kinda jumps between switchercards.. In my opinion it's a big step back..

The app switcher is still better than iOS 7-8 but not as refined as it should be.

Scrolling to the far right past the home screen card introduces a whole new bug for 9.2 where if you pull the home screen card to the left side of the screen and tap on it with another finger or press the home button, it jumps in from the opposite side.

Or if you have only one open app, enter the app switcher, and immediately slide as far past the home screen card as possible, it jumps back to the center before you let go, no animations.

Or if you enter the app switcher and slide up for Control Center too soon after, its little pull tab will slide in and then disappear quickly.

I'm sorry for anyone who thinks this is nitpicking, but Apple used to be about refinement, polish, and functionality. For the second wave of "fixes" to an update that was supposed to be about refinement and polish, I'm disappointed in how things like this are not only unpolished, but being made worse in updates meant to fix things.

[MOD NOTE]
I think the lagging/stuttering topic has been beaten to death. Please move on to other issues related to iOS 9.2 Beta 4. No good will come of the continued back and forth on the lagging discussion and it will only derail this thread further.

I still have many other issues to talk about, though! The ones above don't even make up half of them.

 

[Danilo - Italy]

What's funny about 'Reduce Transparency' is that it sits within the 'Increase Contrast' settings, but not only does it make things ugly, it can decrease contrast and makes things harder to read in the notification center. One really obvious example is the 'X' button to clear notifications. I cannot see it at all, there is no contrast with the background whatsoever! Another example is the date/time stamp under reminders.

As others have said, if Reduce Transparency wasn't so ugly and didn't actually decrease contrast I'd use it. I've reported the fact it decreases contrast to Apple- the ugliness is more subjective. But I think part of the ugliness is actually due to the loss of contrast. Too much black!

This is sad because it shows that the teams at Apple in this days don't pay the same attention at the details like they did in the past.

 

[C DM]

The app switcher is still better than iOS 7-8 but not as refined as it should be.

Scrolling to the far right past the home screen card introduces a whole new bug for 9.2 where if you pull the home screen card to the left side of the screen and tap on it with another finger or press the home button, it jumps in from the opposite side.

Or if you have only one open app, enter the app switcher, and immediately slide as far past the home screen card as possible, it jumps back to the center before you let go, no animations.

Or if you enter the app switcher and slide up for Control Center too soon after, its little pull tab will slide in and then disappear quickly.

I'm sorry for anyone who thinks this is nitpicking, but Apple used to be about refinement, polish, and functionality. For the second wave of "fixes" to an update that was supposed to be about refinement and polish, I'm disappointed in how things like this are not only unpolished, but being made worse in updates meant to fix things.

Seems like quite a few people would question the part of it being "better" (with things that are beyond the smaller "nitpicking" ones):

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/app-switcher.1917410/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/anyone-else-not-liking-the-app-switcher.1918193/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/app-switcher-idea.1918508/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-9-app-switching-annoyance.1917785/
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...otification-of-the-app-icons-missing.1914922/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/whats-the-point-of-the-new-app-switcher.1891102/

 

[DoctorKrabs]

Seems like quite a few people would question the part of it being "better" (with things that are beyond the little "nitpicking" ones):

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/app-switcher.1917410/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/anyone-else-not-liking-the-app-switcher.1918193/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/app-switcher-idea.1918508/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ios-9-app-switching-annoyance.1917785/
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...otification-of-the-app-icons-missing.1914922/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/whats-the-point-of-the-new-app-switcher.1891102/

I should have mentioned that it's better in terms of polish and refinement even though it's still not especially polished. The iOS 7-8 app switcher was functionally a giant mess that was able to cause SpringBoard crashes in many early versions, app icons losing sync with the card previews, unwanted responses from two fingers, status bar issues... but it was easier to use. It also felt a lot smoother because it didn't eat GPU resources rendering unneeded blurs.

They've really lost sight of how they want to make depth effects. They started in 7 by making it purely by motion but iOS 9's switcher has shadows and blurs with no motion to signify depth.

 

[Solver]

Cant updates my 6S Plus here... on 9.2 Beta 3, downloading 9.2 Beta 4 via Developer website for 6s Plus and iTunes says its not eligible...

Just tried to update my iPad Air 2 to iOS 9.2 beta 4 on iTunes and got that same message.
Neither the Mac nor windows 10 system would do the update.
Ended up recovering back to iOS 9.1.

 

[kapp2]

Is this an example of the lag that everyone is talking about?

My 6 plus does that on 9.1 while opening options for airdrop :/

 

[ipooed]

The app switcher is still better than iOS 7-8 but not as refined as it should be.

Scrolling to the far right past the home screen card introduces a whole new bug for 9.2 where if you pull the home screen card to the left side of the screen and tap on it with another finger or press the home button, it jumps in from the opposite side.

Or if you have only one open app, enter the app switcher, and immediately slide as far past the home screen card as possible, it jumps back to the center before you let go, no animations.

Or if you enter the app switcher and slide up for Control Center too soon after, its little pull tab will slide in and then disappear quickly.

I'm sorry for anyone who thinks this is nitpicking, but Apple used to be about refinement, polish, and functionality. For the second wave of "fixes" to an update that was supposed to be about refinement and polish, I'm disappointed in how things like this are not only unpolished, but being made worse in updates meant to fix things.

I still have many other issues to talk about, though! The ones above don't even make up half of them.

AMEN!!

 

[The Doctor11]

Seen this today.

 

[Act3]

Is this an example of the lag that everyone is talking about?

not anymore

 

[iOSBry]

Open Cellular Data in settings. Scroll down the list of apps there. I guarantee you will see stutter. It is impossible for a wide performance variation on the same hardware as I have tried out a clean install

Settings-> Cellular is a great example! Moderate speed scroll down and its jumpy and stuttery.

iOSBry

 

[gwhizkids]

What firmware do I use on the iPad Pro???

Whatever Apple has installed there!

 

[Act3]

Settings-> Cellular is a great example! Moderate speed scroll down and its jumpy and stuttery.

iOSBry

We've been informed that this topic is no longer desired to be discussed on this thread.

 

[gwhizkids]

Settings-> Cellular is a great example! Moderate speed scroll down and its jumpy and stuttery.

iOSBry

Man, can't you read the Mod's post? Stop the lag/stuttering stuff. Take it to another thread. There are several to choose from.

So far, this beta seems a bit snappier, esp on my Air2. Battery life on my 5s seems about the same.

 

[Act3]

Man, can't you read the Mod's post? Stop the lag/stuttering stuff. Take it to another thread. There are several to choose from.

So far, this beta seems a bit snappier, esp on my Air2. Battery life on my 5s seems about the same.

stop with the anti lag stuff, great that yours is snappier, goes both ways.. if lag discussion on this thread is discouraged, so should be the smoothness discussion...

 

[Mlrollin91]

Seen this today.

Happens here once in a while, on both 6s and Air 2.

 

[The Doctor11]

Happens here once in a while, on both 6s and Air 2.

I seen it on iPhone 6.

 

[JDabney24]

One thing I find hit and miss is spotlight search. When I'm on cellular data, my spotlight search screen refuses to load the news section and neither does searching for places or people(Wikipedia results), sports scores, restaurants, etc. Once I connect to wifi, it's a go. My LTE speeds are super fast though. Using an iPhone 6s Plus on 9.2 beta 4.

 

[XTheLancerX]

It's because they are going overboard with the use of blur/translucency effects. Replace them with something less demanding and even old devices like iPhone 4S would be magically usable with 60 fps animations.

Blur is killing iOS.

Should we start an online petition to disable blur in operating systems? It's not energy efficient.

Yup blur destroys performance in iOS .Just turn reduce transparency and motion on and even on new devices those things fly with no lag and the moment you turn it off it's back to stuttersville

This is very true. Probably the flat out easiest way to point out lag and stutter to someone who might not see it. Turn on Reduce Transparency (Settings > General > Accessibility > Increase Contrast) and use the phone or iPad as you normally would for a little while (multitasking, Spotlight, Control Center, etc.). Now turn RT off and do those same things. There is a HUGE difference.

Is there any setting you can mess with to make the dock less ugly with reduce transparency on? I dunno why the bottom icons have to get the difficult to read black text automatically and look like crap.

You need to jailbreak but there isn't one out for 9.1

Sorry sanke1 but you are just not making sense. I for one like all the UI enhancements including blur. My iPhone 5 and 6 are just fine with all those demanding animations. I say we start an online petition asking that blur not be removed! My efficiency is fantastic by the way.

Actually, even I like blur effects. But I prefer 60fps performance over some snazzy translucency effect which adds nothing apart from asthetic. It also taxes the hardware too much.

Remember Windows Vista? It was the first OS which implemented blur in Aero interface. Most of the PCs at that time started to stutter and drop frames during animations. You know how Vista turned out to be. Then came Windows 7 which had perfect blur code in Pro & Ultimate versions. Microsoft even went to the extent of disabling blur on Windows 7 Basic edition PCs which had entry level hardware. Windows 8,8.1 dropped blur completely and Microsoft boasted how 8,8.1 ran faster and smoother on old hardware and it did. Now, blur is again making a comeback in Windows 10 but in limited form, start menu and taskbar.

If Apple can't get their blur code/technique right, they must drop it in favor of something else. Plain material background.

If we enable Reduce Transparency in iOS settings, the dock becomes an ugly eye sore. Why can't they leave it completely transparent? No grey background, just the icons and we can see our full wallpaper around them? The performance gain would tremendous. I would keep reduce transparency setting on forever.

So blur is the culprit. Love it but can do without it.

I hope this makes sense to you.

Turn on reduce transparency for you both and leave us alone. No need to change iOS for worse to please two people.

a simple toggle to disable the blur. Just like the one we have for those that want to can the useless eye candy animations. If you want blur and reduced performance , you can have it. If some one wants no blur , allow them to toggle it off for performance.

Agree with you all. I love the blur, hate the performance of it. I'd love to just stay using Increase Contrast but it looks so god awful I can't do it for more than a day.

I hate to say this, but this is ultimately why I'm looking into jailbreaking. I'm sure there's a tweak out there that lets you customize what gets blurring and what doesn't. NoBlur I think lets you do that. Also looking into SwitcherSpeedster or SwitcherTweak to help performance there.

I wish Apple would just let us have switches for where to enable blur and where not to enable blur, but that would be "too complicated".

Hoping that iOS 10 brings a moderate redesign that does away with a lot of blurring.. Doubt it though. Or if Apple could finally optimize it and fix all the issues that occur from more than one overlays for example. My iPad mini 2 has issues simply from the dimming of the screen for a blurred menu or even a regular menu to pop up! Agree to terms for OTA updates stutters, bringing up share sheet in safari, new message from share sheet... ALWAYS have had issues since iOS 7.

Seen this today.

That happened to my iPhone 6 as well. Fixed by going into NC in portrait and back to landscape.

 

[iOSBry]

Man, can't you read the Mod's post?

I could read the Mod's post if I actually saw it but I haven't.

iOSBry

 

[Chocolatemilty]

Wifi on public networks looks to be borked. At my local Starbucks, the usual dialog box to connect to the Google Starbucks wifi will not pop up - also on El Cap Beta 4. Pretty unfortunate, now I'll have to tether to get some podcast editing done before heading home with the noisy kids tonight.

 

[XTheLancerX]

View attachment 601163 One thing I find hit and miss is spotlight search. When I'm on cellular data, my spotlight search screen refuses to load the news section and neither does searching for places or people(Wikipedia results), sports scores, restaurants, etc. Once I connect to wifi, it's a go. My LTE speeds are super fast though. Using an iPhone 6s Plus on 9.2 beta 4. View attachment 601162

Works fine for me. I've found it to be hit or miss though as well, randomly not working. Haven't made any connection to what network is being used though. Did the same things you did with LTE on my Verizon iPhone 6 and it worked fine.

 

[rmadera]

Agree with you all. I love the blur, hate the performance of it. I'd love to just stay using Increase Contrast but it looks so god awful I can't do it for more than a day.

I hate to say this, but this is ultimately why I'm looking into jailbreaking. I'm sure there's a tweak out there that lets you customize what gets blurring and what doesn't. NoBlur I think lets you do that. Also looking into SwitcherSpeedster or SwitcherTweak to help performance there.

As tempting as it is, I wouldn't recommend jailbreaking. It renders your iPhone/iPad vulnerable to a host of things. Not worth the risk at all in my opinion. http://www.macworld.com/article/294...s-why-you-shouldnt-jailbreak-your-iphone.html

 

[0004986]

Settings-> Cellular is a great example! Moderate speed scroll down and its jumpy and stuttery.

iOSBry

I'm new to these and don't usually comment.
How come you're not extinct on the forum yet? I've been following all the lag/stutter drama on this thread and all I see is you consistently nagging about your "Settings->Cellular and scroll lagfest".
iOS 8 is more about polishing the new UI elements introduced with iOS 7. While iOS 9 includes a lot of new features like Proactive which, thanks to the pro-privacy policy of Apple, is processed entirely on the device itself using the processing power of the CPU and other resources unlike Android which uses the power of the Cloud Computing to process all the information and leaves the device's resources for other stuff. The discussion would've been a lot more productive had you paid a little attention to what's happening underneath and why instead of just throwing dirt at whatever you see.
I rarely see a crash in iOS 9.2 betas which was never the case with any other versions before iOS 9 which I'd say is delivering their promise.