I have been for a long time in both android an Apple camp, but i have never quite felt the need for widgets... sure, i see that they are usefull, but for my use they are just meeeh... but otherwise the iOS 14 beta is great, stabile and i have remarkable battery-stamina compared to other betas.. Apple have done a great job here 😁
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Not Really Loving iOS 14
- Thread starter sird28
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I replaced my homescreen with Siri Suggestions now, 4 apps in the Dock and the rest is in the library. I’ve always launched most apps from the search bar anyway - much faster to drag down and type 1-4 characters. Having to organize apps into folders was a proper nightmare for my OCD, I’m happy they are out of my sight.
Other widgets are a waste of space right now, like the Reminders 2x2 which only tells me how many reminders there are on one of the lists. I get the same amount of information from the icon badge or a complication on the Watch. They need to use that real estate better.
Other widgets are a waste of space right now, like the Reminders 2x2 which only tells me how many reminders there are on one of the lists. I get the same amount of information from the icon badge or a complication on the Watch. They need to use that real estate better.
Welcome to the Internet! It must be your first day 😁
Agree re a better use of real estate. I have trouble switching reminder lists, too. But not bad for a first effort.
As far as I'm concerned, there's only one purpose for a widget on the home screen— to put a big fat battery indicator that can be seen at any time and easily.
That widget (Battery SOC) makes home screen widgets worth it— and maybe a clipboard clearing widget
That widget (Battery SOC) makes home screen widgets worth it— and maybe a clipboard clearing widget
Widgets and the App Library are nice surface-level features... but the real star of the show and game-changer is going to be App Clips.
The fact that we will be able to have full-blown app UIs WITHOUT having to review, consider, download and commit to keeping an app will change the mobile industry as we know it.
I suspect the majority of current apps that we've well-learned to organize over the years will go away from our phones altogether. We will tap actionable buttons throughout the web, messages and the real-world to invoke the workflows we need with those 'apps' when we need them – and not have to even think about them the rest of the time.
The whole reason the 'tuck-away' design of App Library was created is to start churning the thought of permanent apps from our now-established way of thinking in the first place. Of course it will take about a year or so of 3rd party developer adoption before the power of App Clips will start to show through... but don't look at Widgets and the App Library through the lens of them being 'a faster horse'. We are being introduced to a new type of transportation altogether – App Clips – and it will do entirely different things than horses used to altogether.
Marcel Bradea
CEO, Happ
The fact that we will be able to have full-blown app UIs WITHOUT having to review, consider, download and commit to keeping an app will change the mobile industry as we know it.
I suspect the majority of current apps that we've well-learned to organize over the years will go away from our phones altogether. We will tap actionable buttons throughout the web, messages and the real-world to invoke the workflows we need with those 'apps' when we need them – and not have to even think about them the rest of the time.
The whole reason the 'tuck-away' design of App Library was created is to start churning the thought of permanent apps from our now-established way of thinking in the first place. Of course it will take about a year or so of 3rd party developer adoption before the power of App Clips will start to show through... but don't look at Widgets and the App Library through the lens of them being 'a faster horse'. We are being introduced to a new type of transportation altogether – App Clips – and it will do entirely different things than horses used to altogether.
Marcel Bradea
CEO, Happ
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Agreed. Has anyone figured out what the 'categories' in the App Library are? I'm thinking that it *might* be the App Store category that the developer assigns when they release the app. For example, our church has an app - the options (in the App Store) are 'Education' or 'Lifestyle'. The church team chose 'Education', and that is where it went in the App Library. I have not had the time (or inclination) to go through and check every app that I have installed, but it appears to be a good guess as a starting point.
If that is truly the case, then the organization KIND OF makes sense. But, as with most things, YMMV.
I agree with you regarding an eventual “app-less” device, but with services instead. However, App Clips just strikes me as a disaster waiting to happen. It seems to be dependent on developers/service&retail providers jumping on board. It’s also requiring users to scan the QR codes to get started. I’m just not seeing it, at least not in the short term. Shortcuts has been around 2 years and was to have similarly revolutionized things: “Order Philz Coffee” and all. Only recently have major retailers finally started to implement this and my Starbucks shortcut keeps failing.
Don’t get me wrong, I think this is where we are headed ultimately. But it may be a long and rocky road ahead...
I think exactly the opposite. Funny.
Never used spotlight on my iphone in 8 years.
Hmm I'm not sure how Shortcuts was set to solve this. Shortcuts is a strictly power-user feature that requires explicit set-up on behalf of users (that definitely seems bound to fail, though I doubt mass uptake was a goal for those in the first place).
App Clips have launch points in Safari, Messages, Maps (all digital) as well as QR and NFC (physical) - https://developer.apple.com/app-clips
They are the direct equivalents of Google/Android's Instant Apps (launched 2 years ago) but this kind of play has always required Apple to do it for it to work (Android is way too fragmented to solve for something that requires this level of streamlined-ness).
As one of those developers and understanding the costs required to push through app downloads, I can tell you we've waited about 5-6 years for iOS to do this and there will be HUGE motivation to push through App Clips from the developer/business ecosystem, because the alternative is crazy expensive (app download adds, social media campaigns, re-engagement and retention campaigns etc).
Apple has done it extremely thoughtfully. Not without flaws, but I am pleasantly impressed by the approach – ESPECIALLY with the launch of the custom QR-codes, something the scanning age has needed (in North America) for mass adoption and to form new habit formation. Asia has been ahead of this front for a while. Everything is 'smart' and scannable. But unlike the West their modern economies formed in the mobile age, so the business models to support on-the-go commerce were established way ahead of the West – which has been stuck in the advertising and TV/desktop-age mindset.
It will work
For those with anal-retentive tendencies among us (my hand is up), the Siri Suggestion widget is totally unusable. Sure, it appears to be based on recent activity or what Siri 'thinks' you may be thinking at the moment, but aside from having 8 app icons displayed, there is no rhyme or reason to the order of those icons. It's like someone at Apple said "muscle memory? we don't need no steenkeen muscle memory!".
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Hmm I'm not sure how Shortcuts was set to solve this. Shortcuts is a strictly power-user feature that requires explicit set-up on behalf of users (that definitely seems bound to fail, though I doubt mass uptake was a goal for those in the first place).
App Clips have launch points in Safari, Messages, Maps (all digital) as well as QR and NFC (physical) - https://developer.apple.com/app-clips
They are the direct equivalents of Google/Android's Instant Apps (launched 2 years ago) but this kind of play has always required Apple to do it for it to work (Android is way too fragmented to solve for something that requires this level of streamlined-ness).
As one of those developers and understanding the costs required to push through app downloads, I can tell you we've waited about 5-6 years for iOS to do this and there will be HUGE motivation to push through App Clips from the developer/business ecosystem, because the alternative is crazy expensive (app download adds, social media campaigns, re-engagement and retention campaigns etc).
Apple has done it extremely thoughtfully. Not without flaws, but I am pleasantly impressed by the approach – ESPECIALLY with the launch of the custom QR-codes, something the scanning age has needed (in North America) for mass adoption and to form new habit formation. Asia has been ahead of this front for a while. Everything is 'smart' and scannable. But unlike the West their modern economies formed in the mobile age, so the business models to support on-the-go commerce were established way ahead of the West – which has been stuck in the advertising and TV/desktop-age mindset.
It will work
I’m pulling for it. But I do see user uptake issues.
You’re not forced to use either widgets or app drawer. I’m not to excited them other than the smart widget that adapts to your habits. But picture in picture got me excited, and the phone app and Siri not taking up the whole screen
I've been away from ios since 12 I think. This is exactly the kind of update I wanted to see which will be great for my eventual return to iPhone.
From my standpoint it seems like apple are actually listening and taking on board what ios users want to see. I hear they are even letting you set default apps away from the standard safari, Mail etc. This is a big step forward. I for one am looking forward to trying it.
From my standpoint it seems like apple are actually listening and taking on board what ios users want to see. I hear they are even letting you set default apps away from the standard safari, Mail etc. This is a big step forward. I for one am looking forward to trying it.
Hm... Do you remember the names of all your apps? I have about 160 apps and I only remember the names of very few of them.
IOS 14 Drives me crazy for one reason. I've gotten accustomed to searching for an app as a fast way to launch it. Now search doesn't show apps, you have to go to the app library to search for apps. It's remarkably annoying.
Yeah, the search is much more comprehensive but when you’re looking for an app, that’s not very helpful.
Interesting... I knew that pressing on the spacebar would allow you to move the cursor... is the whole keyboard thing new or was it always that way?
Like others have mentioned, I keep two rows of my most often used apps on the home screen (primarily because I want to see my wallpaper), and I put the rest in folders on a second screen. I frequently use Spotlight to launch apps that are on the second screen.
I’ve found the widgets to not be particularly valuable: they seem more like large app icons with a little bit more info, but hopefully, they’ll become more useful to me as developers expand the functionality.
One thing that I do like about widgets is that they push my apps toward the bottom of the screen where they’re easier to reach on a large iPhone (of course, this obscures my wallpaper). I do wish Apple would let us place apps wherever we want.
I haven’t found the App Library/Drawer to be particularly useful for me. I’m sure that others will find the new features useful, and perhaps the final version will offer more functionality than I can imagine at this point.
I do like being able to watch a video in PIP and being able to move the window entirely off the screen while continuing to hear the audio.
Beta 1 has also been remarkably stable for me.
I’ve found the widgets to not be particularly valuable: they seem more like large app icons with a little bit more info, but hopefully, they’ll become more useful to me as developers expand the functionality.
One thing that I do like about widgets is that they push my apps toward the bottom of the screen where they’re easier to reach on a large iPhone (of course, this obscures my wallpaper). I do wish Apple would let us place apps wherever we want.
I haven’t found the App Library/Drawer to be particularly useful for me. I’m sure that others will find the new features useful, and perhaps the final version will offer more functionality than I can imagine at this point.
I do like being able to watch a video in PIP and being able to move the window entirely off the screen while continuing to hear the audio.
Beta 1 has also been remarkably stable for me.
They could've literally just slapped PiP into my phone and I would've been satisfied. That has been huge given that I'm on a FaceTime call during 75% of my existence. I guess I'm easy. I like the widgets and App Library, too.
That whole keyboard thing was introduced some time ago (iOS 12 maybe?). Then they took it away for some of the phones and left us with the space bar cursor (probably in anticipation of QuickPath).