iOS 9, thoroughly reviewed

Apple gives the iPad a lot of love as iOS goes back into spit-and-polish mode.

Read the whole story

 

[SraCet]

I'm sad to see Apple cave in re: keyboard letters changing case.

It's distracting and annoying when all the letters on the keyboard change case simultaneously every few seconds.

Apple's continued insistence on their all-caps keyboard was a sign to me that the company still "got it" when it came to making nice UI.

At least this behavior is a user-configurable setting.

 

[SraCet]

InlineRanger[/url]":1216wzro] ... I think it's easier to dismiss multiple apps at the same time on iOS 8. Since the windows are overlaid on iOS 9, you need much more accurate finger placement.
...

I can't think of a reason why you might want to dismiss multiple apps.

There are really only two cases where you would need to close an app manually:
1) The app has gotten itself into a bad state and restarting it might fix whatever bug you've run into.
2) The app registers itself as one of the select few classes of apps that are allowed to run in the background, e.g., a turn-by-turn navigation app, or an audio playback app, etc., and you want it to stop doing whatever it's doing (like audio playback) without futzing with its UI.

Otherwise there's no benefit to manually closing an app.

If the app is not running in the background (and 99% of apps don't) then all you accomplish by manually "closing" it is either deleting its memory image or deleting the screenshot of what it looked like when you last switched away from it. So you are really just saving some memory/storage, which you don't really save anyway because the OS would do that for you automatically if memory or storage were to run low.

It drives me a little bit insane to see all the people who think they're accomplishing something by "closing" all the apps in the task switcher because they think the apps are running in the background (they aren't) or they're taking up memory (they don't, practically speaking).

I guess Apple brought this on themselves to some degree with the design of the task switching UI, which gives the impression that all your apps are running and if you just switch to one of them them it will pick up where it left off because it must have been running in the background...

 

[SraCet]

the_frakker[/url]":2i1k6bv2]

mrsilver[/url]":2i1k6bv2]

the_frakker[/url]":2i1k6bv2]

SraCet[/url]":2i1k6bv2]I can't think of a reason why you might want to dismiss multiple apps.

There are many times I want to dismiss ALL apps from the recent list. I want to clear all that up. iOS forces me to do this a few at a time (3 now with iOS9 on 6+). I tend to build up a long list of apps and I'd don't see why I can't have an option for dismissing everything with a single touch (two touches if confirmation).

Turn this around and ask: Why not have the option to dismiss all apps at once?

Because dismissing any app (beyond the first one or two) doesn't actually do anything?

http://www.imore.com/tipb-answers-close ... sking-dock

At the very least, it clears the list. That's something that's important to me.

What is the possible value of having a clear task switcher list?

I guess if multiple people use your phone/tablet and you don't want the other people to know which apps you've been running then maybe it's a privacy issue?

 

[SraCet]

Beaudotgiles[/url]":2c6xttyu]One more bit of fragmentation. Ad-blockers require 64-bit, so the iPad 2, 3 & 4 cannot run them.

No, it's just progress. Newer software might not run on older hardware, that happens all the time and doesn't have anything to do with "fragments."

Imagine fragments as different parallel paths. For example, if there's a feature on the iPad but not iPhone then that's fragmented, since both might be 100% current but still different.

 

[SraCet]

SPCagigas[/url]":2yvf0ulj]

SraCet[/url]":2yvf0ulj]I'm sad to see Apple cave in re: keyboard letters changing case.

It's distracting and annoying when all the letters on the keyboard change case simultaneously every few seconds.

Apple's continued insistence on their all-caps keyboard was a sign to me that the company still "got it" when it came to making nice UI.

At least this behavior is a user-configurable setting.

I disagree. Their continued insistence on the all-caps keyboard was a clear case of form over function -- which we've been told over and over is anathema to Jonny Ives.

I'm not sure that it is.

It wouldn't surprise me if people could type faster with the all-caps keyboard vs. the one that switches.

The switching might distract people and slow them down. And if they hunt for keys, having the letters take two possible shapes might slow down the hunting process.

Of course both effects might be very small but something that might still show up in a scientific test.

And then I would argue that this case-switching is a case of form over function and not vice versa.

 

[SraCet]

InlineRanger[/url]":c7hgc4s2]
...
Scrolling through 20+ open apps to find the one I want isn't a good experience. After awhile, the multitasking window just becomes another set of home screens. Usually, all I'm interested in is working between a set of my most recently used apps. Sure, they usually get clustered near one another, but why have the clutter of all of my apps listed?

If having every app open in the multitasking view was a benefit with no downside, why wouldn't Apple just preload every single app into memory on boot-up?

The task switcher is to quickly switch between recently used apps.

The app launcher is to switch to an app you haven't recently used.

You seem to want to use the task switcher as an app launcher which isn't its intended purpose and it should be no surprise that it's very poor for that purpose.

 

[SraCet]

stormbeta[/url]":1yihdd91]

SraCet[/url]":1yihdd91]

SPCagigas[/url]":1yihdd91]
I disagree. Their continued insistence on the all-caps keyboard was a clear case of form over function -- which we've been told over and over is anathema to Jonny Ives.

I'm not sure that it is.

It wouldn't surprise me if people could type faster with the all-caps keyboard vs. the one that switches.

The switching might distract people and slow them down. And if they hunt for keys, having the letters take two possible shapes might slow down the hunting process.

Of course both effects might be very small but something that might still show up in a scientific test.

And then I would argue that this case-switching is a case of form over function and not vice versa.

I couldn't disagree more. The static all-caps keyboards forced on users was one of the #1 reasons I avoided iOS, because it drove me bonkers. Having the keys not match what would actually get typed was far, far more distracting and annoying than having them switch.

Huh? Every time you press a key, you look at the key and then look at the letter that appears and make sure they agree? And you go bonkers if they don't? I'm skeptical.

I assume typing on a physical keyboard drives you bonkers too.

 

[SraCet]

the_frakker[/url]":1mkgh6b9]

SraCet[/url]":1mkgh6b9]

the_frakker[/url]":1mkgh6b9]

mrsilver[/url]":1mkgh6b9]

the_frakker[/url]":1mkgh6b9]

SraCet[/url]":1mkgh6b9]I can't think of a reason why you might want to dismiss multiple apps.

There are many times I want to dismiss ALL apps from the recent list. I want to clear all that up. iOS forces me to do this a few at a time (3 now with iOS9 on 6+). I tend to build up a long list of apps and I'd don't see why I can't have an option for dismissing everything with a single touch (two touches if confirmation).

Turn this around and ask: Why not have the option to dismiss all apps at once?

Because dismissing any app (beyond the first one or two) doesn't actually do anything?

http://www.imore.com/tipb-answers-close ... sking-dock

At the very least, it clears the list. That's something that's important to me.

What is the possible value of having a clear task switcher list?

I guess if multiple people use your phone/tablet and you don't want the other people to know which apps you've been running then maybe it's a privacy issue?

I don't understand why this is even an issue to discuss. Maybe I have OCD, maybe children will be on it and hiding apps helps keep them from getting into apps they shouldn't, maybe its for hiding something, maybe it's privacy. It really doesn't matter what the reason is. It may not be a popular requested feature but there is nothing about this that would cause issues for other users.

Heck, Apple could hide this feature behind a long press on the task switcher screen.

It's such an unobtrusive request and would take such minimal effort to add to the OS that it makes no sense that people argue against it.

I am just as confused about why people don't want this feature as others are confused about me wanting it.

I understand very well what this task switcher is showing and doing when I swipe the apps away and I still want this feature.

The fairly obvious answer is that as soon as Apple makes a feature to "close" all the apps in the task switcher, it legitimizes the idea that these apps are somehow taking memory or storage space or processor time and thus need to be closed for the phone to function optimally.

I see enough people constantly closing stuff in the task switcher already because they're convinced it makes the phone run better.

Imagine how much more convinced (and wrong) they'll be if Apple makes a feature that does this for them.

 

[SraCet]

InlineRanger[/url]":364ddn6k] ...
Maybe you misunderstood my argument. Of course I wouldn't scroll through 20+ apps through the task switcher, and obviously saying 20+ is hyperbole to make a point.

My point is that the multitasking view collects more app windows than is necessary, hence why I find three-finger swipe to dismiss useful. This has nothing to do with battery life, or RAM or performance. It has to do with me thinking that having more than the apps I'm working with open is a poor user experience, especially in terms of clutter. (Yes, I realize the most recent apps cluster together).

Maybe I don't know how multitasking works? Apple never deigned to teach me the intricacies of their software design. My experience is that apps tend to accumulate in the multitasking window over the course of a day, certainly more than the 3-5 most recents I'd actually want to switch between. I haven't sat there to check, but maybe Apple kills suspended apps after a period of time. My experience is that they aren't killed after an hour of suspension, a period of time long after an app would be justified as being "recent" to me.

So tell me, what is the Apple-sanctioned way to use an iPhone? Because the "it just works" way isn't working very well for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1) The apps in the task switcher are only clutter if you look at them. Why are you scrolling so much? Just to make yourself upset?

2) Yes, iOS obviously kills apps automatically to free up RAM. Most of the apps you see listed in the task switcher (if you didn't kill them all the time) are just screen shots of what the app looked like the last time you were using it. So when you "close" all your apps you're mostly just deleting some PNG files somewhere.

3) Of course the iPhone "just works." You were able to start your apps somehow, right? You are apparently able to use the home screen to start and switch between apps. It sounds like you would be perfectly happy with your phone if you simply forgot that the task switcher even existed.

 

[SraCet]

gettersetter[/url]":3freyunw]

evan_s[/url]":3freyunw]

InlineRanger[/url]":3freyunw]
Maybe I don't know how multitasking works? Apple never deigned to teach me the intricacies of their software design. My experience is that apps tend to accumulate in the multitasking window over the course of a day, certainly more than the 3-5 most recents I'd actually want to switch between. I haven't sat there to check, but maybe Apple kills suspended apps after a period of time. My experience is that they aren't killed after an hour of suspension, a period of time long after an app would be justified as being "recent" to me.

So tell me, what is the Apple-sanctioned way to use an iPhone? Because the "it just works" way isn't working very well for me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

See that's the thing. There really is no multi tasking in iOS. Apps can not run in the background at all. (ignoring the recent iOS 9 split screen etc). When an app isn't the active app on your screen it is immediately suspended and will be purged from memory as needed. For things like chat programs, music players there are special functions to build a component that handles just the background function but it has very strict requirements and limits. The main app is suspended immediately. If you try switching to one of those really old apps you'll see that it's really just launching again and returning to where you were because it had long been purged out of memory completely. As SraCet it's basically a screenshot of the app the last time it was open and that's all that's left of it in memory.

Add up all those "special functions" and you simply can't assert that apps are not able to run in the background. Of course they can. Nav, music, push email, pebble alerts, chat apps and many more and not just native apps either. It's the rare app that cannot continue to function in some way unless many apps are launched in the interim, forcing nonessential functions to purged. But even in that case, by nav always works, my chats and emails always arrive, news and weather, and so on, even without launching the app at all in many cases. I see the updated widgets.

Most of what you're talking about works due to Apple's push notification system and has nothing to do with apps running in the background.

Example: when you get a message in a 3rd party chat app. The chat service sends a notification to Apple, and Apple pushes that notification to the phone. iOS displays the notification in banner/bubble/whatever form. At no point does the app itself run in the background or the foreground.

iOS allows precious few things to run in the background and usually they have obvious user interactions. The two main things are turn-by-turn navigation and music (audio) playback. If neither of those things are happening on your phone then chances are fairly good that nothing is running in the background.

 

[SraCet]

auxilio[/url]":2nudnr2s]

iolinux333[/url]":2nudnr2s]

ScifiGeek[/url]":2nudnr2s]"Device Compatibility: The iPad 2, third- and fourth-generation Retina iPads, both iPad Airs, and all three iPad Minis."

That makes me regret going for a Samsung Tab Pro even more... I seem to have been abandoned by Samsung on the original OS version forever.

Your comment validates my decision to see if moving to iOS 2 years ago would save me money in the long run. It does. I'm not spending money constantly on piles of Android devices any longer just to try to get a device with less bugs. Instead my old iOS device just gets newer with each update. The Android update model is an unmitigated disaster.

If you're happy with iOS, then great. But that's not really a validating reason. You can find an Android phone that is reasonably bug free and/or receives updates.

Looks like the Nexus 4 and newer (2012+) can still be updated to the current version of Android. Other than the Nexus devices, are there any Android phones/tablets that are 3+ years old that are still receiving timely, official updates to the latest OS versions?

 

[SraCet]

stokestack[/url]":2q6yh9wz]Here's another glaring defect, a feature missing from all iPhones since day one: AUDIBLE NOTIFICATIONS OF MISSED CALLS. It's unbelievable that, after eight years, this basic feature is still missing from A PHONE.

And to add stupidity to this, what did Apple do? Add the feature for TEXTS. You can have up to 10 repeat notifications of a text but ZERO for missed calls.

Apple has ignored this embarrassing and offensive defect since the inception of the device, despite numerous bug reports. This feature was standard on StarTACs of the 1990s! But Apple's handheld Unix computer is too stupid to tell you that you missed a call while you were in the shower. Or down the hall doing laundry while your phone was on its charger (which it will be, since they also idiotically made it thinner at the expense of battery life).

Then don't buy one. Or if you already have one, you can sell it. iPhones retain their value very well.

 

[SraCet]

Grumbley[/url]":2uz5w2x3]I must say, I upgraded at the weekend as I was in search of all these new features and the promise of better performance. I was sadly disappointed.
It's barely-noticably-different from IOS 8
There's maybe a slightly reworked Icon and some minuscule spacing of icons is different
The Task pager thingy is different....but woo
What is noticeably different is the performance is rubbish, much worse than on IOS 8. Even on basic things like typing addresses into safari. It just does nothing then it responds all at once.
There's not much point in them making siri better ( a feature I never use) if you have also made all the basic features I do use much worse
The game centre just doesn't work at all
greatly disappointed, it's like they did no testing on it what so ever

Well, they obviously did quite a bit of testing but I'm also disappointed in the performance of the new release. I'm surprised by the quick downvotes to your post.

My phone has only ever lost 1-2% battery charge overnight while I sleep. My first night with iOS 9, I woke up to find the phone had lost over 50% charge. I know a lot of people have complained about battery consumption bugs in the past with new version of iOS but this is the first time I've been bitten by one, and I've been using an iPhone since 2008. (I haven't seen the problem reoccur though, so that's good.)

I'm also pretty infuriated with Siri's performance in the new release. I use Siri sometimes to text or place calls while I'm driving, and with iOS 9, bringing up Siri is completely unreliable. Long-pressing the home button will sometimes not do anything, or it will sometimes display the Siri "how can I help you" prompt but no animation to indicate that it's listening, or the animation might take between 5 to 15 seconds to start. I assume these bugs will be fixed quickly in a point release but I'm surprised and annoyed that they occurred in the first place.

I will echo your complaint that when you bring up the keyboard and start typing, performance is often crunchy. Especially when typing in the address bar in Safari. It's depressing to see Apple make the fastest mobile processors known to man and then piss away that advantage with software that should clearly be doing whatever it's doing on a different thread.