iOS 8 May Streamline Notification Center, Remove Game Center App, and More

[TwoBytes]

Apple may be simplifying existing apps like Notification Center, doing away with the "All" and "Missed" views and combing them into one “Notifications” view. The new Notification Center will contain "Today" and "Notifications" views, making it easier for users to keep track of items that are immediately important. Voice Memos also will see a redesign with controls that distinguish between recording and playback functions.


So they are going to make iOS 7 like iOS6 and do away with the complications that iOS 7 brought? Good.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Don't kill me for asking, but what's the purpose of TextEdit now that Pages is free and we've had Notes since forever? I never use it on the Mac.

Pages is for Word Processing, Notes for Note Taking, and TextEdit for Text Editting - if you don't know what Text Editting is, you don't program. The real question is: who the heck wants a text editor on an iPhone? If Apple wants to find a way to let people code on iOS, I think you're going to need to invent a new IDE that looks nothing like we've seen before, because current IDEs need a lot more space than even an iPad screen offers.

 

[winston1236]

Can anyone tell me why Preview would be a good app to have? Isn't it just a photo viewer??

Note: I have just woke up so I might be loosing the plot.

For scanning.

 

[Digital Skunk]

For scanning.

That and it's by far a lighter, skinnier PDF viewer and editor. Adobe Reader is just too heavy, and it's their "lite" version.

Preview would be very welcomed, as would TextEdit, although, word processing on the iPhone isn't a strong point of the device. The iPad would see better use.

 

[Urban Joe]

....how long to wait

geeze....the Big Apple has really doubled down on the iOS UI. Frankly, I've grown tired of it. OK, that's an UNDERSTATEMENT. They really need to update the whole "tile board" UI / app navigation and focus more on user flow. I wouldn't even mind a different UI for iPhone vs. iPad. Things really haven't changed since the first iteration on the first iPhone. Is this rocket science....hell no. But somebody at Apple surely must think it is. These painfully small, baby-step-type incremental updates are getting pretty annoying.

I would like to see a couple of the screens (say #1 & possible #2) dedicated to provide more dynamic information with a new layout (thinking a combination of cover flow and existing tiles). Then have the app tiles on the subsequent pages. Would also like to have several options for organizing / navigating / managing apps. For example, have a toggle that reorganizes based on most frequently used apps / alphabetical / most recently updated ... etc.

Again...this is not rocket science but obviously getting things done at Apple is more political than Washington, DC. I wish they would "refocus" their attentions on the big picture and get over dawdling over the minutia.

 

[robertcoogan]

Better ideas -

Allow users to get rid of Apple apps that they don't want taking up space on their iPhone/iPad. I'd like to get rid of Stocks, Weather, and Passbook.

I like the idea of getting rid of Game Center (another one I would dearly love to delete), and embedding it's functions directly into games that support it. Other apps that would also be better if Apple would allow their functions to be embedded into apps (and this includes linking to iCloud data where necessary): Notes, Calendar, Contacts, Videos, Voice Memos, and Compass.

I have a whole (last) page on my iPhone 5 filled halfway with these apps. I can't delete them, and would really, really, really love to do so. Also I would LOVE to do away with Notification Center in it's entirety.

 

[Small White Car]

For those asking, both Text Edit and Preview on the Mac allow you to save files to their iCloud Silo.

These apps are simply a way for people who do that to get these documents on their iOS devices.

Given that, I strongly suspect they'll fall into the category of apps that are suggested when your phone is new (like the Podcast app or iTunes U) and not ones that are installed by default.

 

[Tyler23]

Allow users to get rid of Apple apps that they don't want taking up space on their iPhone/iPad. I'd like to get rid of Stocks, Weather, and Passbook.

I like the idea of getting rid of Game Center (another one I would dearly love to delete), and embedding it's functions directly into games that support it. Other apps that would also be better if Apple would allow their functions to be embedded into apps (and this includes linking to iCloud data where necessary): Notes, Calendar, Contacts, Videos, Voice Memos, and Compass.

I have a whole (last) page on my iPhone 5 filled halfway with these apps. I can't delete them, and would really, really, really love to do so.

Just put them all in a folder together?

 

[secDJ]

Bring Full Screen Caller ID

Besides much better appearance, its also about accessibility...

BRING BACK FULL SCREEN CALLER ID!!!

 

[SMIDG3T]

This probably won't go down well but here goes...

If Apple work on speed, making Notification Center and Control Center easier to use, add quick reply, improving Maps then I'll be a happy person.

 

[akbarali.ch]

So much of info for still far off OS that still wont see light of day for another 3 months, let alone the BETA period itself.

 

[acslater017]

Exactly what I was thinking !!! Arent iOS and OS X teams working togeter now ? why they miss things like that is beyond me ...

They are probably working on an interface that works well within iOS 7's new layout. The execution in OS X is pretty straightforward since the fly-in animation was well-established and windows just pile on top of each other.

Keep in mind, iOS and OS X still bounce ideas off one another. Quick reply - or "interactive notifications" as they called generically - were sort of present in iOS 6. That's when we got the ability to ignore calls with a "Can't talk right now" message.

 

[Agent-P]

You had me at "remove GameCenter"

(disclaimer: I know there are people that actually use GC, but for me personally it's a waste of an icon space. Like Stocks)

 

[Vasilioskn]

Agreed- get rid of Game Center. And for gods sake let us delete the stocks app.

I wish they would give an option to go back to classic look mode. The ios 7 look is so bland and gross. My dad hasn't updated and when I used his phone the other day it cemented my feelings on how it looked better before.

That and ios7 has crashed more times on me since it came out then all the other ios releases combined.

 

[Parasprite]

Don't kill me for asking, but what's the purpose of TextEdit now that Pages is free and we've had Notes since forever? I never use it on the Mac.

To open plists—

oh wait...

 

[Limboistik]

They should really show notifications in chronological order, starting with the most recent on top.

With so many apps and emails, if you just barely miss the notification banner coming down, I want to know what it was, and as it functions right now, if I just open the notification center it's grouped by apps, which makes no sense.

It's better to let me know what I just missed.

 

[ghostface147]

A good way to make notification center much better is to actually notify us that there is something in notification center. I know several people who don't even know notification center is there.

It doesn't have to be a status bar icon, but maybe a flashing status bar. Who knows.

 

[TC03]

Sounds like solid, reasonable moves. I'm a fan of 90% of what iOS 7 did - especially with 7.1 - but Notification Center was just poorly done. It essentially becomes a second inbox to triage and clear. I still have notifications that are extremely irrelevant. Oh great, Dark Sky told me it was going to drizzle 2 days ago.

Hopefully Today view becomes a bit more Google Nowish, and "All" view learns to clean up after itself or be more relevant.

Turn of notifications you don't want in Settings. Make sure you only receive relevant push notifications.

Also, decide for some apps if a lock screen notification is enough, you can turn off notification center for those apps. I do it for apps that send me football scores. I get notifications for each goal for the teams I follow, but once I unlock my phone the notification is gone.

I've been doing that for quite some time now and it really improves how useful your phone is. Imo, push notifications are the future so keeping them relevant and preventing spam is key.

 

[akbarali.ch]

Allow users to get rid of Apple apps that they don't want taking up space on their iPhone/iPad. I'd like to get rid of Stocks, Weather, and Passbook.

I like the idea of getting rid of Game Center (another one I would dearly love to delete), and embedding it's functions directly into games that support it. Other apps that would also be better if Apple would allow their functions to be embedded into apps (and this includes linking to iCloud data where necessary): Notes, Calendar, Contacts, Videos, Voice Memos, and Compass.

I have a whole (last) page on my iPhone 5 filled halfway with these apps. I can't delete them, and would really, really, really love to do so. Also I would LOVE to do away with Notification Center in it's entirety.

If you compare the iOS to Android or Windows phone too, i think iOS is already quite lean. And, one can easily grab all those Apple apps and put them in a folder. But i understand, some may like to delete it altogether, i doubt one would gain much space from it as those apps are almost empty shells and containers take very less space, unlike productivity apps like 'Pages'

 

[TC03]

They should really show notifications in chronological order, starting with the most recent on top.

With so many apps and emails, if you just barely miss the notification banner coming down, I want to know what it was, and as it functions right now, if I just open the notification center it's grouped by apps, which makes no sense.

It's better to let me know what I just missed.

That's a setting in Settings.

 

[Parasprite]

Agreed- get rid of Game Center. And for gods sake let us delete the stocks app.

Everything about this, throw in the OS X one as well.

I wish they would give an option to go back to classic look mode. The ios 7 look is so bland and gross. My dad hasn't updated and when I used his phone the other day it cemented my feelings on how it looked better before.

That and ios7 has crashed more times on me since it came out then all the other ios releases combined.

After submitting detailed crash reports that are specific and reproducible, and dealing with Safari et al. crashing constantly, I installed 7.1 and I haven't had one single crash (and I really really tried to bring it down).

I can't change the iOS 7 look for you, though.

 

[jclardy]

Please redo notification center. At first I was okay with the tabs, but after using it to be quite honest it sucks.

There are precisely two reasons I look at NC - One, to see a recent missed notification. Two, to see the weather/calendar appointments. The "old" way of having widgets then ordering apps was far superior to what we have now. I could see calendar, weather, then missed notifications, all with one single swipe.

Also ditch the text weather widget - I just need to now whether it is going to rain (With some kind of icon) and the highs and lows. With the text widget there are times where it doesn't even display the temperature! What is the point then? I might as well just go straight to the weather app rather than the swipe down, swipe right, then tap to get to the forecast.

And the missed tab is just wasted space, it never has relevant information.

 

[mbarriault]

I support this. Though the addition of unlimited folders has weakened the utility of this solution slightly.

Agreed, though the big problem with folders is finding a particular game. As apps can be sorted mentally by functionality, it's a lot easier to find an app buried in a folder than a game, which the mind sorts internally much like books and music.

Maybe a combination of being able to hide apps from the home screen, smart folders, and view options for folders would prove to be a more generic and useful solution.

 

[RoboCop001]

It would be nice for the USER to get rid of any app they want to.... nice to see stupid game center going away, that was useless. I would love to get rid of other buklshit apps like Passbook (which does NOTHING!), Stocks, newsstand and Apple Maps

While we're at it, refresh the icons so they are pretty again....

lol come on, Passbook is awesome! It's the only way I go to the theatre now. Reserved seats ftw.

 

[petvas]

Lets hope no more bugs.

This is not possible. Let's hope for more stability I would say.