Apple Needs To Do Better With These Things

Being primarily a user of Apple products over the last 5 years, I've mostly been happy with the way they've performed.  That being said, there are some things about their products and services that have been bugging me.  Things I wish they would change.

Default Apps in iOS:
We have this choice in a desktop operating system.  If I can click on a link in OS X and have it open in Firefox or Chrome instead of Safari, why don't I have that choice in iOS?  The only exception to this seems to be that Google apps can open links in other Google apps like Chrome, but this is not the norm, and we obviously aren't using Google apps all the time on an iOS device.  It's not just the browser though.  Apple Maps is the default mapping application.  Why?  I suppose they would rather have people using their maps instead of Google's, but the simple fact is Google Maps is the mapping app of choice by a large percentage of their users.  It's not just that everything links to Apple Maps, but Siri also uses Apple Maps for anything location based.  The only exception is that you can currently choose your map application by asking for directions "via transit", but that is hokey and still requires you to select from a list. Not only that, but that feature is most likely going away once Apple starts offering transit directions in its map app, as much as we may not want that.

Disable Built-In Apps
There are several built-in iOS apps that just plain don't get used by a lot of people (Newsstand, Passbook, Compass, Stocks).  These apps often just get pushed out of the way as much as possible, so why should we even have to deal with them?  Give us an option in settings to disable those so we can just get rid of the icons.  Maybe it sounds petty, but it will help us keep our home screens organized.  It should also be noted here that newer versions of Android have the ability to disable built in apps through the app settings.

Customizable Control Center
Control Center was probably the best change that iOS 7 brought us, but the way it is today should really should be a work in progress if it isn't.  There are several functions in Control Center that are only used by a few people, so I would like to see it much more customization for each user's needs.  Personally, I don't use Airplane Mode a lot, I don't need to turn Bluetooth off and on very much, I basically never turn on Do Not Disturb manually, and I basically don't use the stopwatch or calculator.  For my own personal use, I would like buttons for mobile hotspot and turning cellular data on or off when I am trying to save some battery.  Apple should be aware that we don't all use our iPhones the same way and therefore having options for different buttons will serve some of us better.  And yes, Android users, I am aware that Android phones typically have more customization options in your notification pulldown menu.

Fix iCloud
My experience with iCloud has not been great.  I've used it for document syncing, backing up device data, syncing app data between devices, iTunes Match, and iMessage.  None of these services have proved to be reliable on a consistent basis.  First of all, I have restored from a backup on many occasions.  I don't recall a single time where I restored from an iCloud backup where it actually completed before I had to sync with iTunes to finish re-installing my apps.  Because of this, I generally back up in iTunes in addition to the iCloud backup just in case of any problems.  Then there's iTunes Match.  If you try to download a playlist from iTunes Match, it better not be a long one, or it may continuously keep trying in the background and drain your battery.  If you turn on the setting to only allow downloading over WiFi, don't count on it working that way all of the time.  I've found if you queue up a playlist to download while on WiFi and then leave your WiFi network, that it will often continue downloading over your mobile data.  Not what you want when you are on a limited data plan.  This last time around, I let my iTunes Match subscription lapse and now use Google Music instead (for free).  Then there's data syncing.  I've tried several podcast apps that sync playback data between devices through iCloud (or at least try to).  You can pretty much expect problems doing this.  So many times have I played through a podcast, only to have it show up on another device as unplayed.  It's so bad that I recently moved to the Pocket Casts app, which syncs with their own server and works between iOS and Android, and has far fewer syncing problems.  I've also tried document syncing between the iWork apps to have it not work as expected.  To this day, I have a Keynote presentation that will show up on my iOS devices and on icloud.com in a browser, but does not show up in Keynote on my Mac.  Why this file never shows up for my Mac is a mystery.  And last of all, there's iMessage.  First there's the many outages Apple has had with iMessage.  Yes, I'm aware there is always texting as a fallback, but if they're going to provide this service, people are going to become dependent on it.  I did a restore from backup recently on my iPhone that got iMessages working on my iPad and Mac again, but I've lost that syncing ability more than once.  Once it is gone, it's generally pretty hard to get it back without restoring from a backup.

Also, I know Apple has icloud.com so Windows users can edit iWork documents in the cloud, but why do they block Android users from using it?

Fix iTunes
Can we just be honest about iTunes?  No matter how much you may love Apple products, you have to agree that iTunes completely sucks, and has for quite a few years.  iTunes today is bloated, slow, and arguably more complicated to use than it ever has been.  To be fair, Apple is trying to have it do a lot of different things such as accessing the store, managing music, movies, tv shows, podcasts, ringtones, books, apps, and playing media all in one piece of software.  But, since it has become a bloated mess, Apple really needs to clean up that mess.  I don't have the answers as far as how to do that, maybe it's something along the line of having separate applications for some functions (like how the Mac allows iPhoto to manage photos on devices).

Live At-A-Glance Data
Android has widgets.  Windows Phone has live tiles.  What does Apple offer as an equivalent?  Nothing.  Some apps try to work around this with push notifications, and I've even seen a few weather apps get around this by having the icon number badge show the current temperature.  In a way this highlights a bigger problem with iOS where virtually any action has to be done inside of an app.  It seems like it should be time for iOS to move beyond just having a grid of icons on the home screen, and make it more useful than it has been.

Siri and Third Party Apps
It bothers me that Siri can perform a lot of functions with Apple's built in apps, but has virtually no support for third party apps.  The most you can do is to tell Siri to launch an app.  There is the work-around solution of asking for directions via transit that allows you to choose a mapping application, but you can't select it through voice, and it most likely will go away once Apple Maps starts offering transit directions.  As far as looking up information with Siri, you can only use the sources that Apple has designated.  Not really ideal if you generally like using Google as an information source.  There's also the issue that Siri just isn't all that accurate.  Sure it's better with iOS 7, but still not accurate enough that I can depend on using it in situations where texting isn't reasonable.  I really only find Siri useful for setting reminders and appointments, and even then I end up having to cancel them at times because of inaccuracies.  I've basically given up on trying to make Siri do anything else.  For a company that generally prides itself in simplifying the experience for the user, Siri simply doesn't do that.

It's Not All Bad
After reading this, I could see people asking why I would even use Apple products if I have this many frustrations with them.  I think there are plenty of things they are doing well.  I like the Mac, and the usability improvements they make with each new version OS X.  I've been pretty happy with OS X Mavericks in general and hope that my 5 year old Macbook Pro can still get another update or two.  For iOS, its shortcomings have become more prevalent as I have owned a Nexus 7 tablet currently running Android 4.4 and some of the additional features that make Android feel closer to being a normal computer.  That being said, my iOS devices are generally more responsive than my Nexus 7.  My experience in general with Android devices is that they may start off feeling stable and fast, but like older Windows machines they often become slower over time, even to the point of having to wait on them for several minutes.  Some of it may be that I generally have about 200 apps on any device at one time, but I feel like the operating system should be able to manage that to some degree so the user isn't having to kill apps and depend on third party utilities to free up RAM.  Right now my preferred choice for a mobile operating system is iOS, but if Android can resolve some of the stability and resource management issues I've seen, who knows what the future may hold?

The Good and Bad of iOS 7

It's been one week since the official release of iOS 7.  During that time, I've been able to experience a lot of good and bad with the changes and decide what works well for me and why.

Not a lot of information taking up a lot of space

Notifications

The Good: I like that notifications are more visible when they come in.  Apple has increased the size of notifications at the top of the screen which does help in noticing them as they come in.  The "All" view of the notifications pulldown is more organized and easier to read, and the x to clear them is much easier to see and touch.

The Bad: I hate that the "Today" view of the notifications pulldown is the default.  Not really a big deal in the grand scheme as I just swipe over to "All", but it seems like the "Today" view is a little bit of information taking up a lot of space.  Another thing I don't like is how the notifications pulldown on the iPad now takes up the full screen.  I thought it was nicer before where you could simply tap outside of the area to make the pulldown disappear.  I'm not sure how to feel about the change on the lock screen where "Slide To Unlock" no longer launches the app for an incoming notification.  Probably the way it should be, but the fact that it's a change in behavior to what we've grown accustomed to in iOS is going to throw us off some.

Only 9 icons?

Icons and Folders

The Good: It never really made sense that folder sizes where limited to just the icons you see on the screen.  Being one who likes to try several apps, I've had several categories where I would have to create more than one folder.  I had 5 folders of Games on my iPhone 5 which I have since consolidated to 1, which has actually reduced the number of home screens I need on my phone.

The Bad: 9 visible icons in a folder sucks, especially on an iPad.  I had a few folders on my iPad that went all the way up to the 20 icon limit of previous versions of iOS, which now is spread across 3 PAGES.

Lock screen controls for the music player have improved

Lock Screen

The Good: I think what Apple has done with lock screen music controls is an improvement.  They are displayed nicely in the upper half of the screen with the progress bar, title, play controls, and volume controls.  The progress bar is a nice addition, and the whole area has a nicer look than the previous lock screen controls that you had to double tap the home button to use.

The Bad: The "Slide To Unlock" is a little less intuitive than the arrow Apple has used with all previous versions of iOS.  It seems like I am actually missing the area to swipe, or just not completing the action when it seems like I should be.

Lots of bright colors in iOS 7, not all of them look great

Design Elements

The Good: Sometimes it's just good to do something different.  The old look and feel of iOS has gotten stale and for those of us who have been using iOS devices for several years, it's a welcome change to be looking at something different.

The Bad: Too much pink in the music app.  Overall I really wish they had used colors that are easy on the eyes, but in several places they use brighter colors which can create more eye fatigue if you are using the device for an extended period of time.  Also the use of < and > in some places like tabbing through form fields is less intuitive than the "Previous" and "Next" buttons they used before.

Users of other operating systems may find
iOS 7's multi-tasking familiar.

Multitasking

The Good: While it does seem to mimic the way other mobile operating systems multitask, having a window view of the app is more helpful and makes better use of the screen space than previously just having the 4 icons across the bottom.  It's also easier to swipe to "terminate" the apps than to hold down on one until they start jiggling and pressing the red minus button.

The Bad: If you are a heavy multi-tasker, it may be a little slower to switch to an app you've been using if you go well beyond the few apps that are visible.  While the window view of the app does make it easier to identify and switch, it does take up more space which can take longer to swipe through.

Lots of settings are now just a swipe away.
It's about time.

Control Center

The Good: The fact that it exists.  Several controls here will be convenient for changing settings quickly.  Some of these settings you previously would have to launch the Settings app and then go a few levels in to change.  It's also more convenient to have music controls here than previously double-tapping the home button and then swiping to the left.  

The Bad: Hard to pick on a feature that didn't previously exist, but they made some questionable choices for quick launch settings, and it would be nice if there was some customization in the settings available to toggle on/off.  For example, I don't anticipate using the rotation lock setting a lot on my iPhone.  Whether or not others will use this is debatable, but for me personally it would be more convenient to have an option to turn on/off mobile hotspot or cellular data.  I also question the choices of Calculator and Timer for quick launch icons, and some have questioned the need for flashlight here.  These could probably be used better, especially if the user is allowed to select their own icons.

iTunes Radio (hopefully) is
a work in progress.

Other Features

The Good: For me, having another competitor in internet radio is ultimately a good thing.  While sometimes buggy, iTunes Radio is a welcome addition in iOS 7 and I hope they are able to improve the service over time.  AirDrop is a nice little addition, although restricted to iPhone 5 and up running iOS 7, and is somewhat unnecessary considering a lot of these file transfers could be done over MMS.

The Bad: Like I stated above, iTunes Radio is buggy.  I've had a few occasions where tapping "Never play this song" would result in that same song being started from the beginning again.  I've also seen a song repeated 2 to 3 songs after being played previously.  I also find it a little strange that tapping the star brings up the menu that marks a song as a favorite or select to never play that song again.