Too many secret features

[IowaLynn]

The presence of manuals, books of reference was a plus. Cost cutting seemed to result in a dumbed down user. No OS has been "intuitive" and thankfully there is "Missing Manual" and the old books like Ted Landau of MacFixit.

There was a web page of new, modified Apple tech articles. Daily read to keep up. Apple kept making it harder to search out those, common complaint even Apple Discussions. And redesign of product support pages.

Old school from TILs from IBM and others.

Are all settings searchable? and that's without using Siri or voice control.

Lack of a feature system wide in all apps not just a few or only Apple's, and consistent.

Apple won't do a Mac with touch screen, instead tries to in corporate and mimic with the touch pad on rMB. I think time for rMB WITH touch screen though.

 

[C DM]

Yes, I'm aware of that setting and have it enabled. I'm referring to times when I'm on the train or in an office (both have their share of weak signal areas, where my phone says LTE or 4G (when I had At&T) and an iMessage still hangs and doesn't convert to text right away. Yes, when I'm in a better coverage area I can troubleshoot and Google why iMessage takes so long to turn into SMS. But a subtle visual clue at those times would have been helpful to indicate that I could force it to go as text. That's all.

Apple tries to make it easy, it will either go through as text on its own based on the setting that is already selected for that or it will fail and notify you that it failed with the appropriate options after that. What you are trying to do is something that Apple finds less typical for a common user (given that common users go by what is mentioned in the previous sentence basically) and thus the option for that is not completely surfaced. Given the design of iOS and Apple's approach to the typical user it's actually a wonder on some level these types of more advanced options are even available.

 

[DaveTheRave]

Apple tries to make it easy, it will either go through as text on its own based on the setting that is already selected for that or it will fail and notify you that it failed with the appropriate options after that. What you are trying to do is something that Apple finds less typical for a common user (given that common users go by what is mentioned in the previous sentence basically) and thus the option for that is not completely surfaced. Given the design of iOS and Apple's approach to the typical user it's actually a wonder on some level these types of more advanced options are even available.

What I think would help: In the Mail iOS app, you can swipe left or right and get options for Archive, Mark As Read, etc. But when you're in Messages, a swipe only tells you when the iMessage was sent/received. I'd like a common experience. Swiping to get more options for both, rather than swiping on one, but having to do a less well known long touch on the other. Seems more Apple-like and intuitive to have a common way of doing actions with your messages, regardless of whether they're sent my email or text.

 

[johnhurley]

I think I could use a five day class at Disney where you spend two hours each day getting shown tricks and tips.

 

[C DM]

What I think would help: In the Mail iOS app, you can swipe left or right and get options for Archive, Mark As Read, etc. But when you're in Messages, a swipe only tells you when the iMessage was sent/received. I'd like a common experience. Swiping to get more options for both, rather than swiping on one, but having to do a less well known long touch on the other. Seems more Apple-like and intuitive to have a common way of doing actions with your messages, regardless of whether they're sent my email or text.

But in email when you do that you are on the list of emails rather than the email itself, whereas in messages when you do that you are inside the message conversation itself, not the list of messages. Different uses cases basically. But even with that said, that actually demonstrates that a few common interactions (like swiping left or right, or doing a long press, for example) will often surface some options even if one might not be aware of them somewhere.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Yes but what I'm getting at is if you don't know that these things even exist what would you even be looking for? You need to know to look to actually go and look. How many of the other things that you own to do go looking for youtube videos on features that aren't obvious? Are you looking up videos or on the manufactures site of your microwave for things that might not be obvious? What about your garage door opener?

You don't need a manual but if you want to learn all the features there is one. I'm not sure I understand this thread. What is being requested of Apple?

https://support.apple.com/manuals/

 

[C DM]

Double-post.

 

[DaveTheRave]

But in email when you do that you are on the list of emails rather than the email itself, whereas in messages when you do that you are inside the message conversation itself, not the list of messages. Different uses cases basically. But even with that said, that actually demonstrates that a few common interactions (like swiping left or right, or doing a long press, for example) will often surface some options even if one might not be aware of them somewhere.

My use case is forwarding a picture. If its in an email I can swipe and tap to get to the forward option. In Messages, I'd like to swipe on the picture and see an option to forward or copy (the More actions). I don't need or want to forward an entire text chain since they go back ages with some contacts. If not that, an Edit button at top of screen could be there (similar to the Notes app), that after being tapped could give the same More option actions. In my humble opinion a simple Edit button wouldn't be childish or dumming it down, it works well across many Apple apps.

 

[C DM]

My use case is forwarding a picture. If its in an email I can swipe and tap to get to the forward option. In Messages, I'd like to swipe on the picture and see an option to forward or copy (the More actions). I don't need or want to forward an entire text chain since they go back ages with some contacts. If not that, an Edit button at top of screen could be there (similar to the Notes app), that after being tapped could give the same More option actions. In my humble opinion a simple Edit button wouldn't be childish or dumming it down, it works well across many Apple apps.

Within an email that has a photo attachment you wouldn't swipe on it to save or forward it, you'd tap and hold. Similarly within a message conversation you would tap and hold on the picture to do the same. That said, I'm not against something like an edit button of it fits into the interface and typical user interaction for something.

 

[DaveTheRave]

Within an email that has a photo attachment you wouldn't swipe on it to save or forward it, you'd tap and hold. Similarly within a message conversation you would tap and hold on the picture to do the same. That said, I'm not against something like an edit button of it fits into the interface and typical user interaction for something.

No, C DM, I would not do that. You might, but not me. I would forward the email. That's my flow. Especially if the email has multiple pictures.

 

[C DM]

No, C DM, I would not do that. You might, but not me. I would forward the email. That's my flow. Especially if the email has multiple pictures.

You talked of a single picture from an email not the whole email. In any case though, messaging and emailing are similar but not the same, so their usability is different. People don't select to reply or reply all or forward or flag messages it's just a flow of conversation--that's why they exist while email also exists and one hasn't really replaced the other. But we are just needlessly splitting hairs here since I already mentioned that I'm not against an edit button or some other controls where they otherwise would fit into the interface and the typical user flow that is consistent with the context.

 

[DaveTheRave]

I have another question, unrelated to iMessage stuff. I got an email with a PDF. I quickly tap on it and it opens. I confirm the content looks good and want to save it to Notes along with some text I want to type. From the open PDF I can tap the up arrow to send it somewhere...a few Apple apps are there, including Copy to iBooks. But not Notes. But if I close the PDF and go back to the email and do a long press on the attachment, Notes is an option (along with Copy to iBooks). Why do I have to jump back and do the long press to get the Notes option?

 

[C DM]

I have another question, unrelated to iMessage stuff. I got an email with a PDF. I quickly tap on it and it opens. I confirm the content looks good and want to save it to Notes along with some text I want to type. From the open PDF I can tap the up arrow to send it somewhere...a few Apple apps are there, including Copy to iBooks. But not Notes. But if I close the PDF and go back to the email and do a long press on the attachment, Notes is an option (along with Copy to iBooks). Why do I have to jump back and do the long press to get the Notes option?

Seems that the provided options from within the Mail app (which are likely more generic attachment options) are different than from the PDF viewer (which are in one way or another are more specific to PDFs). If the PDF could be sent to Notes and that option isn't there from the PDF view, then it sounds like an oversight of some sort on Apple's part for not having it there (as opposed to having much to do with a "secret" feature).

 

[mariusignorello]

Those release notes may be scary (they're not) but that's where most, if not all of the "hidden" features are "revealed".