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]

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.

 

[TBoneT]

deckeda[/url]":4qgeiwmw]After the dustup this summer about Home Sharing disappearing I didn't see it mentioned in the "thorough" review.

It is back. It is tricky to find, though. In the Music app, it's in with the sorting options. When I started the Videos app, the first thing it asked was which library to use. As far as I can tell, everything works the way it used to.

 

[jslaff]

Seems as if iOS 9 dropped the shuffle slideshow option from Photos. A shame--I used that a lot.

 

[adamsc]

One more bit of fragmentation. Ad-blockers require 64-bit, so the iPad 2, 3 & 4 cannot run them.

Fragmentation is when a developer has to account for a feature which isn't present or works differently on different devices – e.g. iOS 9 deprecated the older NSURLConnection API in favor of NSURLSession, which was added in iOS 7. If you had a significant number of users on iOS 6 or earlier that would risk fragmentation if it meant that you had to maintain two different versions.

Content blocking doesn't pose this problem because nobody has (or could reasonably ship) an application which depends on a content blocker being available.

 

[InlineRanger]

SraCet[/url]"zvqt9ua]

InlineRanger[/url]"zvqt9ua] ... 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.

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?

 

[InlineRanger]

PSA:

If you want to downgrade to iOS 8.4.1, you likely have less than a week to do so before Apple stops signing the .ipsw file. Note that if you decide not to upgrade to iOS 9, Apple will leave a perpetual red badge on your Settings icon as a "friendly" reminder. Sigh.

 

[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.

 

[lochness]

The update was released yesterday, yet it still isn't showing up on either my iPhone or iPad. Is something weird going on, or are Apple just making it available to groups of people over the course of several days?

 

[Daniel Smith]

TBoneT[/url]":3m5ixl91]

deckeda[/url]":3m5ixl91]After the dustup this summer about Home Sharing disappearing I didn't see it mentioned in the "thorough" review.

It is back. It is tricky to find, though. In the Music app, it's in with the sorting options. When I started the Videos app, the first thing it asked was which library to use. As far as I can tell, everything works the way it used to.

Yeah, tricky to find (in the drop-down menu with "Albums", "Artists", etc.), and very hard to detect -- once you're sharing a library, there are almost no UI cues that you're looking at a shared library rather than a local one. (Most reliable way to find the answer is tap-tap back to the "Home Sharing" menu and see where the check box is.)

I have a moderately-large library (7500 tracks), and I'm happy that Home Sharing actually works now -- attempts to connect in previous versions, since iOS 5 or so, time out. But connecting is still tediously slow, taking minutes. I don't understand how both iTunes and Apple TV can offer basically the same functionality while loading in a few seconds. Sure hope the new Apple TV won't be sharing the iOS code...

 

[MilanKraft]

The Ginger Rat[/url]":238ag13n]

MilanKraft[/url]":238ag13n]STAY AWAY IF YOU HAVE AN iPHONE 4S + iOS 7.x!!

Attempted two installs and both get stuck on the White Screen of Death ("Swipe to Upgrade"). Factory reset didn't help. Others on the interwebs having the same problem and not just with 4s models apparently. I think though it is only happened to 4x and 5x customers, not 6x as far as I've seen.

Apple did a bang-up job of testing this in a variety of install scenarios on 4s apparently, though.

My 5S refused to let me skip 8.4 (.1?). I had to update first before it would load 9.

My iPad went directly from 7 to 9 without problem. I did it mainly for the security benefits but it definitely is laggier.

I think this is the issue. iTunes wanted me to install 8.4.1 all day (it wouldn't show me iOS 9). But later when I looked in the iPhone settings via wifi, it said I could go straight to iOS 9. It lied.

I think there's a reason iTunes keeps telling everyone to go to 8.4.1 and it's because there's a problem going to 9 from 7. Ingenious Apple expects us to read minds instead of assuming the server hasn't been updated with 9, which is what most people thought.

They should pop up a simple dialog: if you want to upgrade iOS 9, you must install iOS 8.4.1 first. Durr.

 

[kriket011]

I just don't like the new San Francisco typeface. Everytime I read about it here on Ars, the typeface change is downplayed, like it's a minor difference, it's a bit less round, less soft, marginally more legible on non-retina devices etc. But nowhere does it say it looks uglier.

I'm aware that it's not a big deal, and that everyone will have to update regardless of the font, and everyone will have to make do with it, like it or not.

But, for a company that puts so much effort in their design of every little detail, and claims to have superior design compared to everyone else, I have to say, the old typeface was better!

There Apple, I've said it first.

 

[lezmaka]

I guess my expectation of a thorough review needs to be revised. Seems like they just hit the major features that everyone else covers. Maybe I missed some things that were in the review, I read it over a couple days.

Some new/interesting stuff I've come across so far:

Additions to the share sheet in Safari
Find on Page (in addition to the old way of going through the address bar)
Request Destop Site
Save PDF to iBooks (been wanting something like this for a while)

Long press on a PDF attachment in Mail and there's a new option for Markup and Reply. It lets you draw on the PDF, add text, zoom in on an area, and even add your signature.

With the phone locked, double click the home button will bring up the cards in Wallet so you can be ready to pay or get a loyalty card ready to scan.

 

[stormbeta]

SraCet[/url]":qtgzhnk8]

SPCagigas[/url]":qtgzhnk8]
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.

 

[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.

 

[Zarsus]

And that’s where you get to the one place where Apple really trumps Google, at least until Google adds this feature to its own mapping software. Apple has noted the number and location of every station entrance and exit, as well as the shape of the station itself.

Actually it appears Google Maps has this functionality already, at least in Tokyo, however it doesn't seem to utilize the knowledge of a station's entrances and shape to guide the user, instead treat the station as a single point on the map.

 

[robotic_tourist]

I haven't read through the comments to see if anyone else has posted this, but an iTunes install of an OS update still needs a not-insignificant amount of free space. Yes, less than OTA, but it's definitely more than nothing.

UPDATE: I just did an iTunes install and it said I needed 770MB. Farewell, Garageband, I never really used you anyway.

 

[robotic_tourist]

kriket011[/url]":26nvqafd]I just don't like the new San Francisco typeface. Everytime I read about it here on Ars, the typeface change is downplayed, like it's a minor difference, it's a bit less round, less soft, marginally more legible on non-retina devices etc. But nowhere does it say it looks uglier.

I'm aware that it's not a big deal, and that everyone will have to update regardless of the font, and everyone will have to make do with it, like it or not.

But, for a company that puts so much effort in their design of every little detail, and claims to have superior design compared to everyone else, I have to say, the old typeface was better!

There Apple, I've said it first.

I quite like San Francisco, at least in normal format. I think it adds to Apple's branding. Helvetica Neue is superb, but anyone can use it.

On the other hand, San Francisco in small sizes, like on the Apple Watch is nowhere near as good. It's too close to Roboto. Roboto is great on maps, but everywhere else it is absolutely awful. It's bad as a UI font, it's bad as body text and it's bad when used in headings. I'm not sure which I dislike more: Arial or Roboto.

 

[imhassan]

" iOS 9 doesn't feel like it needs a major bugfix release before we can recommend it without hesitation for every device that supports it (and we should know, we tested it on most of them)."

Actually, this is not 100% correct. iOS 9 has slowed down the performance on iPhone 6 Plus and other models too but iOS 9.1 improves on that: http://www.ithinkdiff.com/ios-9-1-hands-on-impressions/

 

[ChrisG]

DLed iOS9 this morning on my Air Mk1; anecdotally, things don't seem any slower, and in fact, the GMail app seems to run more smoothly now than previously so far.

Biggest thing for me is the Safari ad-blocking (i.e. it may actually get me to start using Safari now) although I think the way the ad-blocking extensions are handled is extremely clumsy to the point of being dumb. There is nothing built-in which tells you that you first need a third-party ad-blocking app, and then that you need to activate that app from inside Safari to block the ads - this is utterly, utterly un-intuitive.

I've tried the dedicated Adblock Browser on Android and iOS, and it's simply not a good browser - Chrome, with ads, is actually faster and smoother in use than the AdBlock Browser is whilst natively blocking ads. Who knows; Maybe Google will step up with a modified version of Chrome in response.

 

[TBoneT]

MilanKraft[/url]":2mcnny86]

The Ginger Rat[/url]":2mcnny86]

MilanKraft[/url]":2mcnny86]STAY AWAY IF YOU HAVE AN iPHONE 4S + iOS 7.x!!

Attempted two installs and both get stuck on the White Screen of Death ("Swipe to Upgrade"). Factory reset didn't help. Others on the interwebs having the same problem and not just with 4s models apparently. I think though it is only happened to 4x and 5x customers, not 6x as far as I've seen.

Apple did a bang-up job of testing this in a variety of install scenarios on 4s apparently, though.

My 5S refused to let me skip 8.4 (.1?). I had to update first before it would load 9.

My iPad went directly from 7 to 9 without problem. I did it mainly for the security benefits but it definitely is laggier.

I think this is the issue. iTunes wanted me to install 8.4.1 all day (it wouldn't show me iOS 9). But later when I looked in the iPhone settings via wifi, it said I could go straight to iOS 9. It lied.

I think there's a reason iTunes keeps telling everyone to go to 8.4.1 and it's because there's a problem going to 9 from 7. Ingenious Apple expects us to read minds instead of assuming the server hasn't been updated with 9, which is what most people thought.

They should pop up a simple dialog: if you want to upgrade iOS 9, you must install iOS 8.4.1 first. Durr.

My experience, since the 1st iPhone, is that iOS updates are slowly phased throughout the day. I usually don't have the option until pretty late in the day. Sometimes iTunes gets the update first, sometimes my phone gets it first. They weren't trying to hide anything or force you to do an intermediate upgrade, they were trying to keep their servers from overloading. You, in your impatience, couldn't stand to wait just a bit longer and did extra work as a consequence.

 

[binki]

Ok guys, let's talk about that ad-blocking!

So, how much exactly do you make off ads for a single user who browses your site daily and reads, say, 5-7 articles per day? I'm asking because I would be more than willing to pay you monthly subscription fees to get rid of ads entirely! A German tech site (golem.de) introduced a monthly ad-free subscription program last year and while I don't read that site, I would totally pay monthly to read ArsTechnica ad-free!

 

[deckeda]

Daniel Smith[/url]":3dq7bktq]

TBoneT[/url]":3dq7bktq]

deckeda[/url]":3dq7bktq]After the dustup this summer about Home Sharing disappearing I didn't see it mentioned in the "thorough" review.

It is back. It is tricky to find, though. In the Music app, it's in with the sorting options. When I started the Videos app, the first thing it asked was which library to use. As far as I can tell, everything works the way it used to.

Yeah, tricky to find (in the drop-down menu with "Albums", "Artists", etc.), and very hard to detect -- once you're sharing a library, there are almost no UI cues that you're looking at a shared library rather than a local one. (Most reliable way to find the answer is tap-tap back to the "Home Sharing" menu and see where the check box is.)

I have a moderately-large library (7500 tracks), and I'm happy that Home Sharing actually works now -- attempts to connect in previous versions, since iOS 5 or so, time out. But connecting is still tediously slow, taking minutes. I don't understand how both iTunes and Apple TV can offer basically the same functionality while loading in a few seconds. Sure hope the new Apple TV won't be sharing the iOS code...

Thank you both; that tells me it's not working for me yet despite being setup everywhere correctly.

 

[the_frakker]

SraCet[/url]":2s1r84u7]

the_frakker[/url]":2s1r84u7]

mrsilver[/url]":2s1r84u7]

the_frakker[/url]":2s1r84u7]

SraCet[/url]":2s1r84u7]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.

 

[Fredy Eliot Cáceres Martínez]

Apple Maps is still virtually useless in Peru. Google Maps is vastly superior here.

 

[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.

 

[Daniel Smith]

I have a moderately-large library (7500 tracks), and I'm happy that Home Sharing actually works now -- attempts to connect in previous versions, since iOS 5 or so, time out. But connecting is still tediously slow, taking minutes. I don't understand how both iTunes and Apple TV can offer basically the same functionality while loading in a few seconds. Sure hope the new Apple TV won't be sharing the iOS code...

... and I take it back. After updating iTunes (don't know if this is relevant or not), my latest attempts at Home Sharing today are all getting stuck and refusing to load. Maybe I just got lucky when it tested it. Ultimately, no, years later, after multiple major OS releases and updates to the Music app, after dropping the feature and then putting in the engineering effort to bring it back, Home Sharing still doesn't work.

Really getting tired of this crap.

(An Apple discussion thread for anyone who's curious: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5334240 )

 

[anon_coward]

ltcommander.data[/url]":3v5e445w]Weren't A5 devices in particular a target for performance improvements in iOS 9? So does iOS 9 feel more speedy on old A5 devices than iOS 8? It's doubtful it'll be iOS 6 level of speedy, but perhaps iOS 7.1 fluid?

it's noticeably faster on my ipad 2

 

[DavGreg]

Having used the Betas of both iOS 9 and El Capitan, I can tell you I see bugs in the release version of iOS 9 that have been reported and remained for some time.

Some Podcasts that are available download then disappear.
Syncing via Lightning-USB of iTunes content comes up with some distinctly funky results.

The data available on m iPad Air2 shows differently on different screens within iOS and another completely different number on iTunes on My Mac. There was no problem with sync on the most recent Beta.

Apple, please take the burden of all media off of iTunes in favor of something that works properly- and no the answer is not over the air cloud sync.

 

[SPCagigas]

InlineRanger[/url]":22h4llzs]

SraCet[/url]":22h4llzs]

InlineRanger[/url]":22h4llzs] ... 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.

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?

1. I think you're pulling a usage case out of your rear-end to justify a flawed argument. Would you really scroll through 20+ apps in the recents list instead of going directly to the app on the home screen? I don't think so -- the vast majority of times I use the recents list is to switch between one or two programs repeatedly, not to go back to something I ran yesterday morning. Aside from that, according to Gartner stats, the average smartphone user has about 40 apps on their device -- on an iPhone 5, that's just over two pages of apps on the homescreen, even if you don't use any folders. There's no way it's faster or easier to scroll through 20 recent apps than it is to swipe one or two pages and tap on the app you want to use.
2. I don't think you understand how iOS multitasking works.

 

[SPCagigas]

Fredy Eliot Cáceres Martínez[/url]":1jvn942e]Apple Maps is still virtually useless in Peru. Google Maps is vastly superior here everywhere.

T, FTFY

 

[Rich C.]

kriket011[/url]":3ixpbkk0]I just don't like the new San Francisco typeface. Everytime I read about it here on Ars, the typeface change is downplayed, like it's a minor difference, it's a bit less round, less soft, marginally more legible on non-retina devices etc. But nowhere does it say it looks uglier.

Gotta say I agree with you, it looks uglier and kind of blocky as an iPad UI font to me. But I'll give it some time to see if it grows on me. Not that I have a choice.

I like it on the watch, though. Maybe it's a just better font for tiny text.

 

[Rich C.]

binki[/url]":1k7zpzoi]Ok guys, let's talk about that ad-blocking!

So, how much exactly do you make off ads for a single user who browses your site daily and reads, say, 5-7 articles per day? I'm asking because I would be more than willing to pay you monthly subscription fees to get rid of ads entirely! A German tech site (golem.de) introduced a monthly ad-free subscription program last year and while I don't read that site, I would totally pay monthly to read ArsTechnica ad-free!

Get an Ars Premier subscription, it's well worth the $50 a year / $5 a month. No ads, articles load instantly and take up the whole page, you can download PDFs for offline reading, plus the full-text RSS feeds alone would justify the cost. I get more mileage from this than my New York Times iPhone subscription.

 

[random1189]

" For every “good” site that tries to keep ads well-behaved and unobtrusive (hi), ..."

Really? ARSTechnica is the reason I first installed an ad blocker. Every page is covered in video ads that are really annoying. I don't read this site on my iphone or ipad because it didn't have blocking. I would only come here on chrome with ABP running. On this page it is currently blocking 8 items. (Of course, you aren't as bad as mmorpg.com which has 33 items blocked on the home page)

 

[InlineRanger]

SPCagigas[/url]":33yvyub1]

InlineRanger[/url]":33yvyub1]

SraCet[/url]":33yvyub1]

InlineRanger[/url]":33yvyub1] ... 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.

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?

1. I think you're pulling a usage case out of your rear-end to justify a flawed argument. Would you really scroll through 20+ apps in the recents list instead of going directly to the app on the home screen? I don't think so -- the vast majority of times I use the recents list is to switch between one or two programs repeatedly, not to go back to something I ran yesterday morning. Aside from that, according to Gartner stats, the average smartphone user has about 40 apps on their device -- on an iPhone 5, that's just over two pages of apps on the homescreen, even if you don't use any folders. There's no way it's faster or easier to scroll through 20 recent apps than it is to swipe one or two pages and tap on the app you want to use.
2. I don't think you understand how iOS multitasking works.

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)_/¯

 

[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.

 

[HotelQuebec]

Feature fragmentation on iOS is horrible. Devices prior to iPad Air and iPad Mini 2 would greatly benefit from things like adblock that would minimize the load from ads and improve the browsing experience.

 

[evan_s]

InlineRanger[/url]":1zpioxit]
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.

 

[gettersetter]

I think Apple maps has reached feature parity with Google Maps, and almost let me ditch my standalone GPS. I even prefer the 3D satellite view over street view to quickly tell me if I'm exactly where I need to be. There are two caveats, however.

When routing for navigation, Google Maps lets me quickly hit an option to "Avoid Highways." As a local truck driver sometimes you just want to keep it on the streets. If I jump on a highway, then G Maps gets the hint and goes with it. Apple maps, even in iOS 9, has no such feature I can see.

And for crying out loud, when typing a hyphenated address in Queens, NY, like 37-26 108 street or something, Apple maps doesn't offer any usable suggestions, whereas G Maps can and does. Apple requires a postal correct address *without* a hyphen such as 3726 108th. Sure it will generally figure it out and route you even with the hyphen in there but it would sure be nice to get a live suggestion closer than Turkey. Seriously. I've tried several times a day for a year and the hyphen chokes the suggestion process.

I know Queens is just an outer borough of NYC but we use the hyphen here *all the time.* What the hell, there's only 2.3 million people that live here, and only two major international airports.

The weirdest part: if you drop a purple pin on a house in *Queens* by long pressing (not in Manhattan or any other borough) the address is returned hyphenated! Like 108-02 or 46-100. It's just the live suggestions that are broken. So clearly someone over at Apple knows how things are done in this neck of the woods. Probably was all the bug reports I filed

 

[gettersetter]

HotelQuebec[/url]":2b51gb4j]Feature fragmentation on iOS is horrible.

Compared to what? Older devices are lucky to even have support! There were no guarantees. But if they can't have 100% feature parity it is "horrible fragmentation?" I don't think that means what you think it does.