Current Events > I legit don't understand what happened to iOS

(+) Yeah! (+)

It used to be the quintessential example of "less is more." It was really well organized and intuitive, while Android was kind of a dumpster fire. But over the past five years or so, those roles seem to have been switching and now Android is the intuitive and minimalist OS, while iOS has become increasingly more inundated with menus, sub-menus and a ridiculous amount of superfluous toggles and weird gestures.

What are some examples of changes to iOS that demonstrate your position?

I like Android more cuz I can play emulators on my phone with no-hassle, and the phone doesn't cost $1000+

I haven't found iOS becoming more difficult to use outside of some iPad multitasking being complicated. The default iOS phone UI should be tweaked to accommodate one-handed use.

That said, I'd rather deal with that then getting an Android phone and knowing it'll only be supported for 1-3 years.

SydneySweenHero posted...

I like Android more cuz I can play emulators on my phone with no-hassle, and the phone doesn't cost $1000+

Me too

*hi 5*

iOS could get away with minimalism when it had minimal features. The problem is that Android has introduced a lot of things that customers now expect that were more easily integrated due to Android's modular nature. iOS is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by adding all these features but maintaining the design that they're known for, but that was fundamentally incompatible with the kind of growth they're trying to do. What they really need to do is a ground up redesign of their UI the way Android has done multiple times now, but I think they're afraid of doing that because it will make it look like they are copying the competition.

BlackOmnimon posted...

Me too

*hi 5*

*hi 5*

My man!

You bought an iPhone, didn't you?

Nice bait topic tc nowhere to be see.

Android is better

CRON posted...

I haven't found iOS becoming more difficult to use outside of some iPad multitasking being complicated. The default iOS phone UI should be tweaked to accommodate one-handed use.

theyre working on it, they changed the address bar to the bottom of the screen in safari which helps a lot

AloneIBreak posted...

What are some examples of changes to iOS that demonstrate your position?

the move toward hidden secret gestures that you wouldn't know about unless you looked up a list of them. nowadays you get a different menu depending on which side of the notch you pull down from. to view your list of apps you have to pull up from the middle of the bottom of the screen and hold it there for a bit, otherwise you just go home.

these are fundamental gestures that we use many times a day. but the visual communication of these kinds of navigation is really poor. You either know how to use it or you don't. It's not something that is communicated well to the user, which is bad UX design. phones are mainstream and they aren't just meant to appeal to people like us who can easily memorize all the intricacies of the interface. They also have to appeal to old people who won't understand why they can't find the place to adjust the screen's brightness when they pull down from the top of the phone.

s0nicfan posted...

iOS could get away with minimalism when it had minimal features. The problem is that Android has introduced a lot of things that customers now expect that were more easily integrated due to Android's modular nature. iOS is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by adding all these features but maintaining the design that they're known for, but that was fundamentally incompatible with the kind of growth they're trying to do. What they really need to do is a ground up redesign of their UI the way Android has done multiple times now, but I think they're afraid of doing that because it will make it look like they are copying the competition.

This makes sense to me

Mist_Turnips posted...

Android is better

Overall, yes. iOS is awful, but there are some truly horrific Android implementations out there.

Most are no where as good as Samsung's One UI

QueenCarly posted...

Most are no where as good as Samsung's One UI

There's legitimately no decent-looking Android UIs out there. The custom theming community is still stuck in the early/mid-2010s.

CRON posted...

There's legitimately no decent-looking Android UIs out there. The custom theming community is still stuck in the early/mid-2010s.

One UI is clean and via the use of Good Lock you can make it do just about anything you want. The tools Samsung provides users to get the most out of their phone is impressive.

Wetterdew posted...

the move toward hidden secret gestures that you wouldn't know about unless you looked up a list of them. nowadays you get a different menu depending on which side of the notch you pull down from. to view your list of apps you have to pull up from the middle of the bottom of the screen and hold it there for a bit, otherwise you just go home.

these are fundamental gestures that we use many times a day. but the visual communication of these kinds of navigation is really poor. You either know how to use it or you don't. It's not something that is communicated well to the user, which is bad UX design. phones are mainstream and they aren't just meant to appeal to people like us who can easily memorize all the intricacies of the interface. They also have to appeal to old people who won't understand why they can't find the place to adjust the screen's brightness when they pull down from the top of the phone.

This is a very valid complaint

my wife has an iPhone XS, which has the button and no notch, and she has no idea how to access these menus on my phone

AloneIBreak posted...

What are some examples of changes to iOS that demonstrate your position?

And the answer was never given.

sktgamer_13dude posted...

And the answer was never given.

Take one look at the Settings menu.

Or the fact that there are literally three different pull down (or up) menus instead of a single unified one.

DarkRoast posted...

Take one look at the Settings menu.

Or the fact that there are literally three different pull down (or up) menus instead of a single unified one.

While I agree with your overall opinion, you are terrible at expressing your points in a convincing way.

DarkRoast posted...

Take one look at the Settings menu.

Or the fact that there are literally three different pull down (or up) menus instead of a single unified one.

Settings looks the same as it always has. Everything is clearly labeled so there really shouldnt be any confusion. The pull down and up menus are straight forward as well. You pull down for notifications and up for everything else like Bluetooth, volume, brightness, flashlight etc. Ive never read any guide or anything to figure this stuff out. Its intuitive

BuIIyMaguire posted...

While I agree with your overall opinion, you are terrible at expressing your points in a convincing way.

Ok here goes:

The fact that every multitasking option is relegated to obscure (and inconsistent) gestures instead of on-screen buttons

The fact that applications often simultaneously have in-app settings as well as settings relegated to iOS's OS-level settings menu

The fact that the pull-down/up menus have minimal customization and don't present the most useful icons when accessed (AirDrop being present, but Mobile Hotspot and Bluetooth options being in sub-menus)

YookaLaylee posted...

Settings looks the same as it always has. Everything is clearly labeled so there really shouldnt be any confusion. The pull down and up menus are straight forward as well. You pull down for notifications and up for everything else like Bluetooth, volume, brightness, flashlight etc. Ive never read any guide or anything to figure this stuff out. Its intuitive

It's not intuitive at all, wtf.

On my Android phone, pulling down the toggle menu gives me a customized lineup of everything I need - WiFi, Hotspot, Bluetooth, Dark Mode, Flashlight and Auto-Rotate. Everything else I removed, making it simultaneously less cluttered than iOS but also significantly faster and easier.

iOS is a real dick about not letting you customize your toggle menus. Everything is a damn sub-menu within those menus and it's SO ANNOYING.

DarkRoast posted...

Ok here goes:

The fact that every multitasking option is relegated to obscure (and inconsistent) gestures instead of on-screen buttons

The fact that applications often simultaneously have in-app settings as well as settings relegated to iOS's OS-level settings menu

The fact that the pull-down/up menus have minimal customization and don't present the most useful icons when accessed (AirDrop being present, but Mobile Hotspot and Bluetooth options being in sub-menus)

Multitasking is easy as hell. Just swipe up, move to what you want to switch to, and if you want to exit an app, slide that minimized app upward.

The OS-level settings listings for most apps just exist as a quick notification toggle. I've never ran into an issue where I had to use both the native and OS-level settings menus in tandem.

I have my Control Center customized with shortcuts to tools/apps that I use often.

Android lets me move files back and forth with a generic OS file-manager, instead of insisting on some middleware I don't want.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Android lets me move files back and forth with a generic OS file-manager, instead of insisting on some middleware I don't want.

iOS being a file management nightmare will probably never change. Because it's an intended feature.

It all culminated with the cringe-as-hell "what's a computer" iPad ad.

File management on iOS is probably the main reason I will never use it.

Android is better for emulation, heck it's finally receiving a good PS2 emulator as well.

QueenCarly posted...

File management on iOS is probably the main reason I will never use it.

I can manage files easily on iOS. Never had any issues with it.

CRON posted...

I can manage files easily on iOS. Never had any issues with it.

Yeah and I can transfer files easily with a floppy disk as long as they're under 1.44 MB

DarkRoast posted...

Yeah and I can transfer files easily with a floppy disk as long as they're under 1.44 MB

I've never had any issues. I can download files from browsers or specific apps, have them either in the default file browser or a third-party one like Documents, and then export/import when necessary.

DarkRoast posted...

Yeah and I can transfer files easily with a floppy disk as long as they're under 1.44 MB

Lmao.

Most decent 'droid phones:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/7/0/AAEhCpAAC8-2.jpg

iPhones:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/7/1/AAEhCpAAC8-3.jpg

It doesn't help that Lightning is so outdated in terms of transfer speeds that the thought of 100+ GB of data transfer to or from an iPhone to a computer makes me cry inside

File middleware is why I dropped my iPod Nano back in the day and I haven't been with Apple since.

DarkRoast posted...

Yeah and I can transfer files easily with a floppy disk as long as they're under 1.44 MB

lol

CRON posted...

There's legitimately no decent-looking Android UIs out there. The custom theming community is still stuck in the early/mid-2010s.

Compared to Apple's strategy of just dumping everything to the home screen, every Android UI is decent looking. I swear, looking at someone's iphone is like helping someone's grandmother whose internet explorer has 37 adware browser bars. Why the fuck does iOS not have a real, functioning app drawer in 2022?

Hop103 posted...

Android is better for emulation, heck it's finally receiving a good PS2 emulator as well.

name?

s0nicfan posted...

Compared to Apple's strategy of just dumping everything to the home screen, every Android UI is decent looking. I swear, looking at someone's iphone is like helping someone's grandmother whose internet explorer has 37 adware browser bars. Why the fuck does iOS not have a real, functioning app drawer in 2022?

Let's not even mention how insane it is that icons have to be organized from top-left, no matter what.

Which is the exact opposite of what you'd want on a giant-ass phone.

s0nicfan posted...

Compared to Apple's strategy of just dumping everything to the home screen, every Android UI is decent looking.

Show me some examples of good-looking Android UIs.

I used to be #TeamiPhone but they really have fallen behind recently. I'm all android for now, although I do have an iPad that I use regularly. But everyday needs, android is just doing it better right now.

ShotgunSilencer posted...

I used to be #TeamiPhone but they really have fallen behind recently. I'm all android for now, although I do have an iPad that I use regularly. But everyday needs, android is just doing it better right now.

TBH Samsung is innovating a lot more in the (phone) hardware space. If I weren't locked into iMessage/Apple Arcade I'd switch, but still.

Android on tablets has always been awful, though.

CRON posted...

Show me some examples of good-looking Android UIs.

Here's a generic picture of an Android UI where you can actually see the home screen background because everything can be customized and ordered and laid out however you would like:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/8/4/AABJX0AAC8_E.jpg

For comparison, here is the iOS home screen:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/8/5/AABJX0AAC8_F.jpg

That's what my dad's browser looks like

On a software level, I like how Samsung One UI makes it easy to use larger devices one-handed. You can push the native Samsung apps towards the bottom half of the screen thus enabling you to access everything you need.

Also like how I can pull my notification panel down from anywhere on the home screen - no need to reach for the top.

DarkRoast posted...

Take one look at the Settings menu.

Or the fact that there are literally three different pull down (or up) menus instead of a single unified one.

Thats not an answer, but you did at least start to answer in another post.

To me, it seems a lot like why is iOS not the same as Android and that you havent gotten used to how iOS does things. Most of the things your complaining about are things I dont think about with how long Ive been with iOS.

Id probably make a similar topic on why Android isnt the exact same as iOS and how the way Android does things isnt how Im used to so Id probably have similar struggles.

SydneySweenHero posted...

I like Android more cuz I can play emulators on my phone with no-hassle, and the phone doesn't cost $1000+

same lol

also having access to browsers with adblocking and 3rd party software repositories is nice