iPhone iOS has finally gotten so bloated and cumbersome, that I've gone back to my iPhone 4 with iOS 6...

[Sedrick]

I made the mistake of upgrading my 5 to 8.4 and really disliked it's bloat and excessive 'features'. So, thinking that 9 may actually clean it up a bit and clear out some of the bloat, went to 9. What a mistake. I hate every thing about iOS now and nothing is easy nor simple and it now takes 3 steps to do what you used to do in one. More so with each update. My god, using the music app was so bad, I had to buy a 3rd party app just to get simple functionality back. And all this cloud/social/syncing junk jammed down your throat when you just want simple functionality.

So, I finally chucked the 5 (literally against a wall) and took my trusty (and beautiful) iPhone 4 to ATT and had a new sim card added. Now, I'm loving my iPhone again! Size aside, this is what made Apple king of the iPhone market.

Apple has certainly lost their way with their initial simple, intuitive iOS that young and old could both use with little effort. More is not necessarily better. Makes you wonder what they'll keep shoe-horning into an already bloated and un-intuitive OS in coming years.

I'm sorry to say that the bloat and design of iOS 8 and 9 has forced me to consider any other phone maker when my iPhone 4 gives out...

Who else thinks Apple has lost their way with iOS?

 

[bbfc]

I like iOS 9. To me it fixed some of the annoyances of iOS 7 and 8, but it's taken them to iOS 9.3 to finally sort it all out and get the performance back on par.

 

[C DM]

Plenty of these discussions already took place back in the iOS 7 days when the redesign happened. Most people moved on from all of that.

 

[RobbyIdol]

It's 2 steps forward, 1 step back with every update. When iOS 7 came out, I upgraded on launch and immediately regretted it. I didn't learn about 'downgrading' until Apple had stopped signing iOS 6, so I went on eBay and bought a new 4S that still had 6 on it.

Kept that phone as is until I upgraded to an iPhone 6 last summer. iOS 8.4 was actually quite nice to me. Music is the #1 thing I use my phone for, so I was always that person longing for Music.app of iOS 6 when 7 had completely dropped it on its head. I accepted that 6 was never coming back, and so 8.4 was about as close as I was going to get for features I personally appreciated. It wasn't hard to turn off Apple Music and ignore that whole side of the app.

Upgraded to 9.2 last month and, like before, immediately regretted it. The smooth as butter functionality of 8.4 was lost in a mess stutters and lag. They even busted a few simple features of my beloved Music.app yet again that made it a little more annoying to use.

I'm hoping iOS 10 brings back some simple functionality, with a smooth user experience. I don't have high hopes though.

I wonder what iOS 8/9/10 would look like if Jobs were still around...

 

[lovewd]

iOS is maturing, and becoming a more and more complex operation system. While I view this as a really good thing, and I really like the changes Apple has been making in iOS, I can understand where users used to a more simple OS will get confused. I can't agree that they have lost there way, or even that everything in the newer versions takes longer. iOS 6 has no control center, so you're going to have to jump into settings and into sub menus to do things like turn off wifi, change the brightness, turn on/off bluetooth, and whatever else. Also, interactive notifications, spotlight search, enhanced sharing within apps, are all what I (and Im sure others view) as necessary enhancements to make using the OS faster and in many cases easier. So by stepping back to iOS 6, you're pretty much saying, you don't mind a limited, less intuitive feature set, as long as it's "easier to use" (which it can't possibly be in my opinion). Good topic of discussion though, I appreciate your outlook on the subject

 

[gwhizkids]

You know, if you don't like it just move on. Nobody here gains from your litany of complaints.

 

[Sedrick]

I wonder what iOS 8/9/10 would look like if Jobs were still around...

I've been wondering this myself. I'm not sure we'd have the "everything and the kitchen sink" OS we have now...

While I view this as a really good thing, and I really like the changes Apple has been making in iOS, I can understand where users used to a more simple OS will get confused.

It's not confusing, it's convoluted. Try driving down the highway at 70mph and trying to change a playlist or (god forbid) try to go to album view and play an album's tracks from a playlist that's playing. iOS6 (and even 7 if I recall) was about a two tap process. I can't even remember all the steps to get there in 8-9. Just an example of what I'm referring to.

Yes, yes, this sounds like just bitching, but if all the feedback Apple gets is "everything is just great sirs!" then they'd never know when they've gone town the wrong road or letting feature creep ruin the simple iOS experience.

 

[bushido]

you sound old

 

[JM]

you sound old

ok, I'm sorry, but lol.
[doublepost=1453841270][/doublepost]

Plenty of these discussions already took place back in the iOS 7 days when the redesign happened. Most people moved on from all of that.

There's no reason that people can't make new comments. As evident by my reply to OP.
[doublepost=1453841361][/doublepost]

I made the mistake of upgrading my 5 to 8.4 and really disliked it's bloat and excessive 'features'. So, thinking that 9 may actually clean it up a bit and clear out some of the bloat, went to 9. What a mistake. I hate every thing about iOS now and nothing is easy nor simple and it now takes 3 steps to do what you used to do in one. More so with each update. My god, using the music app was so bad, I had to buy a 3rd party app just to get simple functionality back. And all this cloud/social/syncing junk jammed down your throat when you just want simple functionality.

So, I finally chucked the 5 (literally against a wall) and took my trusty (and beautiful) iPhone 4 to ATT and had a new sim card added. Now, I'm loving my iPhone again! Size aside, this is what made Apple king of the iPhone market.

Apple has certainly lost their way with their initial simple, intuitive iOS that young and old could both use with little effort. More is not necessarily better. Makes you wonder what they'll keep shoe-horning into an already bloated and un-intuitive OS in coming years.

I'm sorry to say that the bloat and design of iOS 8 and 9 has forced me to consider any other phone maker when my iPhone 4 gives out...

Who else thinks Apple has lost their way with iOS?

What's interesting to me is that I was not interested in iPhone UNTIL 7 came out. I had a Palm Pixi and I really really really liked their operating system (WebOS). I was considering Blackberry until I saw iOS 7....

 

[teknikal90]

i never thought i'd say this...
but get a windows phone, i feel like that the your best bet today

 

[CTHarrryH]

Gee I'm so glad you started this thread - I wouldn't have known that anyone was unhappy with any version of IOS?
How is that Sony cassette player for your music along with the flip phone?

 

[belfong]

Regarding changing music track while driving - isn't it safer and easier to use Siri?

 

[GIZBUG]

Plenty of these discussions already took place back in the iOS 7 days when the redesign happened. Most people moved on from all of that.

Agreed!

 

[stulaw11]

Buh bye dont let the door hit you. You'll be back when you figure out Windows, Blackberry and Android are even worse/convoluted/bloated.

 

[lagwagon]

try to go to album view and play an album's tracks from a playlist that's playing. iOS6 (and even 7 if I recall) was about a two tap process. I can't even remember all the steps to get there in 8-9

In 9.3 it's one tap to see the album view from a track. You tap the track name in the player and it takes you right to the album.

 

[HankHowdy]

In 9.3 it's one tap to see the album view from a track. You tap the track name in the player and it takes you right to the album.

Yup, very simple. Imaging that.

Music app is simple and really cool.

 

[lagwagon]

Yup, very simple. Imaging that.

Music app is simple and really cool.

I agree the Music app is very simple and I quite like it a lot. The issue many have is they aren't willing or whatever to explore and see what does what in it. They are far too quick to dismiss a feature that is there and claim it doesn't exist when it's just a case of they just haven't discovered whatever the shortcut or gesture is. I will give it to them though that Apple doesn't showcase a lot of these little things very well or at all. But that's half the fun of exploring any given app IMO.

 

[The Clark]

You're no different than the dinosaurs who still use Windows XP because it's "better".

 

[lovewd]

I've been wondering this myself. I'm not sure we'd have the "everything and the kitchen sink" OS we have now...


It's not confusing, it's convoluted. Try driving down the highway at 70mph and trying to change a playlist or (god forbid) try to go to album view and play an album's tracks from a playlist that's playing. iOS6 (and even 7 if I recall) was about a two tap process. I can't even remember all the steps to get there in 8-9. Just an example of what I'm referring to.

Yes, yes, this sounds like just bitching, but if all the feedback Apple gets is "everything is just great sirs!" then they'd never know when they've gone town the wrong road or letting feature creep ruin the simple iOS experience.

I wouldn't say its bitching. You have every right to your opinion in how you think the OS should operate. You are correct about the Music app, but I don't mind all the extra taps and what not because I'm in love with the UI

 

[I7guy]

I've been wondering this myself. I'm not sure we'd have the "everything and the kitchen sink" OS we have now...


It's not confusing, it's convoluted. Try driving down the highway at 70mph and trying to change a playlist or (god forbid) try to go to album view and play an album's tracks from a playlist that's playing. iOS6 (and even 7 if I recall) was about a two tap process. I can't even remember all the steps to get there in 8-9. Just an example of what I'm referring to.

Yes, yes, this sounds like just bitching, but if all the feedback Apple gets is "everything is just great sirs!" then they'd never know when they've gone town the wrong road or letting feature creep ruin the simple iOS experience.

Which highways do you drive? I want to avoid them.

 

[Andres Cantu]

I made the mistake of upgrading my 5 to 8.4 and really disliked it's bloat and excessive 'features'. So, thinking that 9 may actually clean it up a bit and clear out some of the bloat, went to 9. What a mistake. I hate every thing about iOS now and nothing is easy nor simple and it now takes 3 steps to do what you used to do in one. More so with each update. My god, using the music app was so bad, I had to buy a 3rd party app just to get simple functionality back. And all this cloud/social/syncing junk jammed down your throat when you just want simple functionality.

So, I finally chucked the 5 (literally against a wall) and took my trusty (and beautiful) iPhone 4 to ATT and had a new sim card added. Now, I'm loving my iPhone again! Size aside, this is what made Apple king of the iPhone market.

Apple has certainly lost their way with their initial simple, intuitive iOS that young and old could both use with little effort. More is not necessarily better. Makes you wonder what they'll keep shoe-horning into an already bloated and un-intuitive OS in coming years.

I'm sorry to say that the bloat and design of iOS 8 and 9 has forced me to consider any other phone maker when my iPhone 4 gives out...

Who else thinks Apple has lost their way with iOS?

Really? I would argue the opposite with iOS 7's control center.

 

[kiranmk2]

I really don't understand what has gone wrong with iOS 9. iOS 7 was all about the new look and the visual effects that went with it which slowed devices down. iOS 8 added all the continuity and handoff features which also slowed devices - painful at the time, but it was building the foundation for the future. iOS 9 was supposed to be about recovering the performance now all the important features have been embedded, but it seems to have gone wrong. What is odd is that the engineers have managed to maintain speed (and even improve it in El Cap) with OS X updates so I don't understand why they can't fix it with iOS.

 

[Merkie]

I don't necessarily agree. I think it's always hard to keep a balance between functionality and usability. I think Apple really hit the sweet spot with iOS 9.