After using Apple’s products exclusively for close to a decade, I have seen a pattern emerge with their software updates where every new update introduces a set of trivial regressions in the UX.
- Swipe to seek a video in iOS’ native player has stopped working since I updated to iOS 17. In fact, this paper cut is what prompted me to write this post. I believe it didn’t work on iOS 15 either but worked flawlessly on iOS 16.
- Across all of iOS 16 versions installed on my phone, long-pressing an item on screen (links, app icons, files, etc.) to show the contact menu and selecting an entry in the menu without listing the finger didn’t work. It did until iOS 15 and it does now in iOS 17.
- Spotlight in iOS 14 (and back in iOS 10 or 11, I don’t remember well) took slightly longer to load (and even stutter on iPadOS). I don’t find this issue anymore on the same devices that had this earlier.
- The magnifying bubble that popped up while moving the caret in a text field stopped working around iOS 14/15. It was reintroduced back in iOS 16.
Now, I understand that these regressions are unintentional unlike the botched System Preferences on macOS or the poor handling of Safari UI across iOS 15 and macOS 12.
I also understand that such regressions are bound to happen as no software is 100% QC-able, but it doesn’t mean one has to wait for an entire year to see these get fixed as is the case with the examples I have mentioned.
It could also be the case that these issues are localised to my devices, and that the yearly updates perhaps cleans the slate (the good ol’ reboot-machine-to-rid-error fix). Regardless, I have raised bug reports for all these and more, along with feature requests.
I would like to hear your experiences across major/minor software updates on Apple devices or services.
Also, let this serve as a PSA to file bug reports if you have the time and effort to spare, it helps the developers a lot (Apple or otherwise). Here is a comprehensive guide to report bugs for a variety of Apple’s offerings:
E: Through one of the deleted comments made on this post, I learned that the removal of the magnifying bubble while typing in iOS 13 was intentional.
How long will it take them to fix the system preferences? I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I have to scroll on my huge external monitor to find a setting. Scrolling on a smartphone? Of course, but on a computer with a massive display? Whyyyyy?
I try to rationalise this as a side effect of System Preferences now using SwiftUI, and have given up hope on it becoming sanely usable any time soon.
17 was my first major OS update and 17.1 was the first patch I got for it. All of my share sheet suggestions got fucked. The people I send things to multiple times per day in almost every app no longer appear as Messages suggestions. I get random people I haven’t texted in forever. I also can’t search group chats when sharing to Messages any more unless I do a very specific ordering and that only works some of the time. I can’t find anything about similar problems anywhere and doing resets hasn’t solved the problem for me. What used to take under a second now takes multiple seconds and infuriates me at least once a day.
Ah, the share suggestions never really worked for me.
I know the OS tries to intelligently identify with whom I want to share an item, based on the type of item, recency of conversation, etc. “tries” being the operative term.
The OS does not even honour the app order I manually set under “More” in the share sheet. I remember filing a feedback for this specific behaviour long back.
It worked well enough that I didn’t notice pre-17/17.1. It really disappointed me. I reset all my contacts and did a ton of stuff to try to fix it. I send most things to my partner; my partner no longer appears in the bar even after resets.
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Thank you for sharing the article. I stand corrected, and shall reflect this in my post.
Also, upon going through one of the sources from the article you shared, I found a quote by Craig Federighi on the change
there’s no need to double tap and no magnifying glass getting in your way
Yikes!
In iOS 17.1 videos playing in Safari no longer prevent the screen from locking if they aren’t full screen. Maybe that’s intentional but it certainly seems like a bug. I find it very annoying.
Another Safari regression is the inability to scroll over video elements. Which really breaks the Voyager experience :(
Also, WatchOS 10.1 broke a bunch of complications for watch faces. They usually just fail to render. Which is also very annoying.
WatchOS 10 did fix a bug that was around for a long time. My watch used to fail to measure elevation gain while hiking but it works now. So that’s cool.
Another Safari regression is the inability to scroll over video elements. Which really breaks the Voyager experience
I have noticed this as well. I didn’t realise this was an OS issue. I assumed this was because I am using the TestFlight version of Voyager.
Nope, it’s a WebKit/Safari bug. A fix was merged at the end of September but it hasn’t been released because Apple has the world’s slowest release process for system apps. It sucks that they won’t ship minor patches like that if it isn’t a security vulnerability.
It indeed sucks.
I hope the fix is delivered in one of the point releases rather than the next annual one.
Also, thanks for the information on this! :-)
RE: context menus, I miss the pressure sensitive screens we had on iPhones 5-9. Press extra hard to get a context menu without waiting. There was also a distinct gesture to reposition the cursor in a text entry area.
Force Touch was awesome!
Poor awareness among users and adoption among developers led to its demise. I never really figured which apps had support for Force Touch until I tried using it.
It’s replacement - the long press - just doesn’t fill the shoes of its predecessor w.r.t. UX. But I guess it achieves the same result.
Seek has always worked for me. I’ve owned an iPhone since the 3GS. Obviously changes have been made, but if yours crapped out, that’s not a large scale OS bug.
Same with long press. Never had an issue of it not working. Unless that app itself was bugged.
I would search around or reset settings on your device as cruft can sometimes carry over.
With all that said, Apple constantly refines and reinvents elements on their software. They often have an end game (as with the new hated settings pane) that we are often never made aware of. But that’s how software works. Whether you think it’s worse than it was or not, software will always evolve and change in new ways.
There is no point where iOS will ever be finished. If you want something that will never change, don’t upgrade. If you want Apple to pander only to you because you think you know what’s best for the operating system, oust Cook and take over!
Seems like you are having a hard time comprehending what is actually said in the post. Perhaps a bit more of context may help. Apologies if these weren’t readily apparent in the post.
Seeking a video using the scrubber has always worked, but swiping on a video to seek hasn’t.
Long press always worked while interacting with system UI (and not app UI), but selecting an entry within the long press menu without lifting the finger hasn’t.
I understand that software evolves and regressions are inevitable. That is why I have pressed a bit on submitting feedback and bug reports as it makes the job of the developers easier.
As for your last paragraph, I fail to see how you reached to that conclusion as these are UX are Apple introduced and regressed upon, so I am going to ignore it.
Long press and select without lifting has always worked for me, even in iOS 16.
