iOS 9.2 Beta 4 Bug Fixes, Changes and Performance Adjustments

[DoctorKrabs]

Another thing about bugs is that you have to decide which is more important to fix. Fixing bugs that more people have to deal with is much more important. So, yes, they should fix your pet bug. But don't pretend they need to rush and ignore anything else because of something a person likely has to go out of their way to do.

From what I'm seeing on the wiki post here, 80% of the bugs are about the UI. From 9.0, many complaints were about the Settings app list not starting from the beginning. In 9.2 beta 1, Apple managed to go through their priorities and fix that minor UI bug. I think they got the big ones. What would be one bigger than a list not starting from the beginning? Maybe one that requires a force reboot to recover from?

That basic NC/Siri cut off bug is very easy. It's not "going out of the way" to do it. Once you are aware of it, you can do it in your sleep.

What are some more important bugs that you think should be of higher priority, other than given security fixes? We're not dealing with 9.0 Beta 1 here. They've done enough that they can start refining the UI.

 

[bandit1976]

It's something I can try to do just like any kind of bug. Saying it only happens if you try is too absolute. The whole thing about bugs is that you fix them even if they're rare because it gives that much more polish. I don't know what you think the whole point of refinement updates like 9.1 and 9.2 are if fixing things like this aren't the point.

Are you serious? It's getting ridiculous!

 

[rmadera]

For what it's worth, I completely agree with DoctorKrabs. Pre-iOS 7, Apple treated UI bugs like these with the same amount of importance as a critical user bug, such as Mail acting up for example. Just because Apple works differently nowadays and only mainly prioritizes critical bugs doesn't mean that it's the right approach. If anything, it shows how they've dropped the ball in some respects, as seeing these bugs surface (no matter how obscure) does indeed take away from the fit and finish of the OS and the overall feeling of quality.

 

[0004986]

Well you are not doing all those steps with both hands. Try that and it will probably lockup for you. I am still PO'ed that I cannot use CC smoothly while talking to Siri because I do that almost every............... well I never do that, but if I wanted to I would want it smooth. And I hate when I open NC and close 1/2 way, double press home then turn up the volume with my other hand while talking to Siri and it locks up. Man that is annoying. Come on 9.3!

You know most people would need more than two hands to even start considering this as a daily scenario. It's definitely a bug and appreciate your effort in successfully finding one, just that it's too hard to come across with daily use.

 

[C DM]

For what it's worth, I completely agree with DoctorKrabs. Pre-iOS 7, Apple treated UI bugs like these with the same amount of importance as a critical user bug, such as Mail acting up for example. Just because Apple works differently nowadays and only mainly prioritizes critical bugs doesn't mean that it's the right approach. If anything, it shows how they've dropped the ball in some respects, as seeing these bugs surface (no matter how obscure) does indeed take away from the fit and finish of the OS and the overall feeling of quality.

Given various UI inconsistencies that were present in iOS even before iOS 7, what really demonstrate that that in fact has been the case vs something else?

 

[rmadera]

Given various UI inconsistencies that were present in iOS even before iOS 7, what really demonstrate that that in fact has been the case vs something else?

My first iPhone was a 4S and I've owned every one since. I very clearly remember the experience, and I've been following these forums since. There were no bugs present like the one mentioned above, which renders the device completely unresponsive. Sure, there might've been small issues, but nothing on this scale. I don't care how obscure it is or how specific the actions you have to take to bring it up are. They shouldn't happen. Period. This isn't the way it was before, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that they do better. They have in the past.

 

[DoctorKrabs]

Given various UI inconsistencies that were present in iOS even before iOS 7, what really demonstrate that that in fact has been the case vs something else?

What specifically? What are some fatal UI issues in iOS 6?

My first iPhone was a 4S. I very clearly remember the experience, and I've been following these forums since. There were no bugs like the one mentioned above, which renders the device completely unresponsive. Sure, there might've been small issues, but nothing on this scale. I don't care how obscure it is or how specific the actions you have to take to bring it up are. They shouldn't happen. Period. This isnt the way it was before, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that they do better. They have in the past.

If anyone tries to discredit this because of it being retrospect, I have an iPhone 4 with iOS 6 on it right now. I can't make it freak out like I have been able to with 7.0 - 9.2 Beta 4. It is rock solid. If anyone feels like showing that it isn't, I'd like to see some of the problems. People are saying that in theory, iOS 6 has these issues but nobody's found them in the 3 year old OS while I've found worse in 2 months of iOS 9 and 3 weeks of 9.2.

 

[0004986]

I know it won't be perfect, but before iOS 7, iOS was way closer to perfection. The reason it was better before is because Scott Forstall was a genius of a software engineer that cared about these details and refinements. Same with Steve Jobs. Steve would have gone on a tirade about bugs like this if they ever surfaced in public releases or if the iOS team was slow to fix them.

There isn't a bug that can lock up the device like this in iOS 6.1.3 or even 6.0. They have been around for three years and in all that time, nobody has found a concrete, absolute way of making them fall apart like iOS 9 does. Or iOS 8. Or iOS 7.

It's not just the fact that I can do this that makes me perceive lower quality. It's how easily I can do it combined with all the other issues, some of which have actually been added with 9.2.

Asking for the same quality that iOS once had shouldn't be an unreasonable demand.

I request you to reconsider your facts before you blurt anything out. Jobs was never a genius when it comes to software. He had his OCD for the details in design, that shifted the focus towards the UI elements and not just confining to functionality, but never an expert in code. His focus was more about the UI and UX, which is now an integral part of software development, thanks to him.

And as for the quality part, the only reason you were able to even comment on a software before everyone else is cuz of the Public Testing which is another thing Jobs would never approve of. The perfect versions of iOS you call them have a lot of grievance forums filled with possibly millions of posts. I do agree Forstall as an expert in iOS development.

I'm a software developer myself and I've never heard anyone use the "term" perfect software or even one close to perfection. You couldn't find out the bugs in the prior versions cuz it was only released to the developers and their concerns are about the interaction of their application with the iOS rather than just beating a dead corpse. And just cuz you didn't have a chance to test out previous versions doesn't make them golden.

 

[Act3]

I thought my iphone 6 was doing ok with ios 9.1, until I messed with a 5S display model at a walmart in Florida still running 7.0, difference hand in hand is very noticeable. Just goes to show that time will allow one to adapt to iOS 9 and its level of performance.

I havent tried 9.2 on my phone yet, however, 9.1 on my 6 seems the same performance wise in the UI as my air 2 that is running 9.2 beta 4

 

[ahildebrand12]

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.

The iPhone 5 doesn't use the Metal API for rendering animations. The iPhone 6 does, and the animations on it are WORSE then on the iPhone 5. They should just go back to using OpenGL, which rendered the animations AMAZINGLY smooth, and for sure a lot better than Metal.

 

[uhaas]

I don't think people are saying certain bugs shouldn't be fixed, lag or NC lookups, they're saying you've made your point over and over and are wearing us out sifting through the forums with your justifications. It's a bug, report it and it will get fixed in time.

Prior to iOS 8, most .1 releases focused on bug fixes, most .x.x fixes focuses on major critical bugs that were widely experienced. Since 8.x, many .x releases were about now functionality releases that may or may not have contained bug fixes. 9.1 is an enhancement release (mainly) and not a bug release, that's 9.2. There was clearly a shift to a more waterfall release with incremental changes along the way. Prior to 8.x, most major releases were x. oriented, iOS 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 (which brought us Apple Maps and certainly had people up in arms about the diminish of Apple software).

This is not about fanboy experience, from what I've seen in the last few months on MR. I often report substandard experiences I'm having without backlash, but I don't run over them same point over and over again. I let it out, mostly to see how widespread it is, and report fixes to my issue if I come across it. I also report Thames to Apple in bug reports.

I'm excited to get iOS 9.2, I'm experiencing daily major bugs, like contact search. I'm a developer, but I don't run betas even though I can, because I need stable daily drivers. I just don't have the budget for many spare devices to lie around in testing betas.

The modern waterfall design introduces more bugs into the release process. We sacrifice that for earlier access to new features. It's the way most shops do things now. Whether it's right or not is another story. Every iOS release has had issues going back to iOS 3, when I got my first phone. Texting MMS, Exchange access, iCloud issues, Maps, crashes, etc.

iOS 7 was a major departure in iOS design. We went from bit maps to a more responsive adaptive flow-based design. We're still dealing with fallout, but are able to support a wider variety of device sizes as a result. It's a good thing, but it did slow some things down. Which leads to a balance Apple always has to make between performance (graphics speed) and battery life. They need to constantly adjust to balance and optimize for both. Each iOS release gets it right near the end of the release train. I know Apple promised a lot with Metal, and I believe we'll see it, even if we don't yet. In the end, it will be better performance with better battery life. I'm not trying to be a fan or make excuses, it just takes time. And with a waterfall design, that's still a few .x releases away.

Why do I stick with iOS, because they will fix it, it will be free, and I'll get that release quickly when it becomes available. In the mean time, I'm living with bugs, sometime maddeningly frustrating like you. I report them. They may get fixed. I have a few that haven't.

 

[ahildebrand12]

We need even more discussions about worsening the UI performance, so that it gets into mainstream media. They managed to destroy the whole premise of what iOS had compared to the rival OS and they never hesitated to mock them about it.

1) Blur effect didn't change nor does it look different.
2) Older hardware like the iPhone 5 can draw the blur just fine (no support for Metal).
3) 64 bit devices stutter with blur and in other UI elements (have support for Metal.
4) iOS 9 uses Metal throughout system apps as advertised on WWDC and Apple website compared to iOS 8, which didn't use Metal.

You don't have to be a ****ing rocket scientist to come to a conclusion.

Here's another test if you want stutters: open a video in YouTube app, then drag the video to bottom right as if you want to make it smaller. Stutter **** fest, compared to iOS 8.

EXACTLY!!! Apple needs to stop using Metal to render the UI. What's even worse than the animations being laggy? The fact that animations on the iPhone 5 perform better than on my 6. The control center animation is what bothers me the most. Even on the new iPhone 6s the Control center animation isn't as smooth as the iPhone 5.

 

[rmadera]

I don't think people are saying certain bugs shouldn't be fixed, lag or NC lookups, they're saying you've made your point over and over and are wearing us out sifting through the forums with your justifications. It's a bug, report it and it will get fixed in time.

Prior to iOS 8, most .1 releases focused on bug fixes, most .x.x fixes focuses on major critical bugs that were widely experienced. Since 8.x, many .x releases were about now functionality releases that may or may not have contained bug fixes. 9.1 is an enhancement release (mainly) and not a bug release, that's 9.2. There was clearly a shift to a more waterfall release with incremental changes along the way. Prior to 8.x, most major releases were x. oriented, iOS 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 (which brought us Apple Maps and certainly had people up in arms about the diminish of Apple software).

This is not about fanboy experience, from what I've seen in the last few months on MR. I often report substandard experiences I'm having without backlash, but I don't run over them same point over and over again. I let it out, mostly to see how widespread it is, and report fixes to my issue if I come across it. I also report Thames to Apple in bug reports.

I'm excited to get iOS 9.2, I'm experiencing daily major bugs, like contact search. I'm a developer, but I don't run betas even though I can, because I need stable daily drivers. I just don't have the budget for many spare devices to lie around in testing betas.

The modern waterfall design introduces more bugs into the release process. We sacrifice that for earlier access to new features. It's the way most shops do things now. Whether it's right or not is another story. Every iOS release has had issues going back to iOS 3, when I got my first phone. Texting MMS, Exchange access, iCloud issues, Maps, crashes, etc.

iOS 7 was a major departure in iOS design. We went from bit maps to a more responsive adaptive flow-based design. We're still dealing with fallout, but are able to support a wider variety of device sizes as a result. It's a good thing, but it did slow some things down. Which leads to a balance Apple always has to make between performance (graphics speed) and battery life. They need to constantly adjust to balance and optimize for both. Each iOS release gets it right near the end of the release train. I know Apple promised a lot with Metal, and I believe we'll see it, even if we don't yet. In the end, it will be better performance with better battery life. I'm not trying to be a fan or make excuses, it just takes time. And with a waterfall design, that's still a few .x releases away.

Why do I stick with iOS, because they will fix it, it will be free, and I'll get that release quickly when it becomes available. In the mean time, I'm living with bugs, sometime maddeningly frustrating like you. I report them. They may get fixed. I have a few that haven't.

Let me just say that I think your reply was excellent. You totally get it and empathize.

 

[C DM]

My first iPhone was a 4S and I've owned every one since. I very clearly remember the experience, and I've been following these forums since. There were no bugs present like the one mentioned above, which renders the device completely unresponsive. Sure, there might've been small issues, but nothing on this scale. I don't care how obscure it is or how specific the actions you have to take to bring it up are. They shouldn't happen. Period. This isn't the way it was before, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that they do better. They have in the past.

None of that is in question. The discussion has really been about prioritization.

 

[rmadera]

None of that is in question. The discussion has really been about prioritization.

Correct. Prioritization has changed at Apple from prioritizing core user bugs and UI/usability bugs equally to prioritizing core user bugs much much more than the UI/usability ones.

 

[Michael Goff]

EXACTLY!!! Apple needs to stop using Metal to render the UI. What's even worse than the animations being laggy? The fact that animations on the iPhone 5 perform better than on my 6. The control center animation is what bothers me the most. Even on the new iPhone 6s the Control center animation isn't as smooth as the iPhone 5.

I'd rather they just work on Metal to make it better.

 

[Abazigal]

When I was on the iOS 9 beta, I thought my 5s and ipad mini 2 were very smooth, but battery life took a drastic hit and the devices had a tendency to run very hot.

I don't see that same smoothness on my 5s or even my 6S+. I wonder if this is why they removed the metal GPU acceleration, because of the unacceptable hit on battery life?

 

[C DM]

Correct. Prioritization has changed at Apple from prioritizing core user bugs and UI/usability bugs equally to prioritizing core user bugs much much more than the UI/usability ones.

Perhaps it's more or at least partially that there might be more of some bugs or more users encountering some bugs over other ones, which has changed from iOS 6 and earlier days, due to various factors, perhaps even simply because the number of customers and devices has grown so much since those days.

 

[DoctorKrabs]

I request you to reconsider your facts before you blurt anything out. Jobs was never a genius when it comes to software. He had his OCD for the details in design, that shifted the focus towards the UI elements and not just confining to functionality, but never an expert in code. His focus was more about the UI and UX, which is now an integral part of software development, thanks to him.

And as for the quality part, the only reason you were able to even comment on a software before everyone else is cuz of the Public Testing which is another thing Jobs would never approve of. The perfect versions of iOS you call them have a lot of grievance forums filled with possibly millions of posts. I do agree Forstall as an expert in iOS development.

I'm a software developer myself and I've never heard anyone use a perfect software or even one close to perfection. You couldn't find out the bugs in the prior versions cuz it was only released to the developers and their concerns are about the interaction of their application with the iOS rather than just beating a dead corpse. And just cuz you didn't have a chance to test out previous versions doesn't make them golden.

I didn't say Jobs was a software genius, I said both he and Forstall had attention to the details. He would be calling his employees idiots to their faces if he was seeing what we've seen from iOS 7 to 9, and he'd have forced them to fix the issues. I should have made that more clear.

I tried as hard as I could to qualify what I said by saying "I know they're not perfect..." and somehow I'm still being scolded like I said iOS 6 had zero flaws. I said iOS 6 was much more refined than any single version later than it. My whole point is that if there is a bar for a UI polish perfection level, iOS 6 is closER to it than any later iOS. There's nothing really janky about it. Meanwhile, iOS 9 was meant to bring a more polished iOS and it's not even better than what it replaces when it comes to refinement. And then people say "Oh, wait until they release updates like 9.1 and 9.2!!" Then the late betas of 9.2 still aren't polished.

I don't know what your last paragraph means. I have a device with 9.2 and it has UI bugs. I have another device right now with 6.1.3 and I can't find any UI bugs.

 

[Radon87000]

Metal is the main problem here.It reminds me a lot of Mantle on AMD graphic cards.It was advertised as complete harmony between the inner GPU and the API at a very low level ane supposedly improve performance and yet in majority cases Direct X 11 was still faster or as fast as Mantle.I am seeing the same thing here .

Apple should never have tried to fix what wasn't broken.Metal works fine in gaming on iOS.Keep it confined to that.OpenGL worked fine rendering the OS.Why break it?Just imagine that some people feel that iPhone 6s is smooth right now,how it would run had it been running OpenGL on 8.4.1.

 

[dark_knight177]

Apple should never have tried to fix what wasn't broken.Metal works fine in gaming on iOS.Keep it confined to that.OpenGL worked fine rendering the OS.Why break it?Just imagine that some people feel that iPhone 6s is smooth right now,how it would run had it been running OpenGL on 8.4.1.

Metal was never meant to bring better performance. Metal was meant to lock developers into iOS ecosystem to the point where it would be difficult for developers to port their apps into other platforms such as Android.
Don't believe what Apple's marketing says.

 

[wbrat]

I tried as hard as I could to qualify what I said by saying "I know they're not perfect..." and somehow I'm still being scolded like I said iOS 6 had zero flaws. I said iOS 6 was much more refined than any single version later than it. My whole point is that if there is a bar for a UI polish perfection level, iOS 6 is closER to it than any later iOS.

Did you try Maps on iOS6? It was refined as a hell...

 

[kapp2]

iOS 9 is bad performance compared to iOS 7. With iOS 8 and 9. apps start up seconds behind. i think its crazy old mini 2 started running bad on ios 8 allready :/

 

[Abazigal]

Did you try Maps on iOS6? It was refined as a hell...

Maps was a problem of data, not OS version. It's quality is really independent of which version of iOS you are on.

 

[maflynn]

[MOD NOTE]
This thread is off the rails - closing.