The whole point is that you don't have to "check" your phone... No interaction needed, just a glance.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Why is Apple so damn stubborn to never include notification LED in its iPhone brand?
- Thread starter Hal~9000
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
The whole point is that you don't have to "check" your phone... No interaction needed, just a glance.
Nope. You're still not getting it and you're still doing the exact same thing. Trying to universalize your opinion and insulting anyone who doesn't happen to agree with you. Pathetic.
----------
That's what we call a cheap shot. It isn't true though, at least in my case. If Apple adds an LED notification light I'll still be of the same opinion that I'm of right now: that it's a redundant, unnecessary feature that runs contrary to Apple's overall notification strategy and one I'll never have any use for.
It would not be redundant. There is no handsfree way to check if you have any messages. Hey Siri doesn't count as it is highly situational.
This just underscores the fact that you're misunderstanding our gripe with you.
It doesn't matter that you don't want LED. That's your preference, as you've said before, and nobody ought to care what your reasons are.
What we do care about is why it matters to you if Apple provides the feature for those of us that do want it. Dare I say it again? If you don't like it, YOU CAN JUST TURN IT OFF.
Ironically, you seem to be doing the same thing here.
"Universalizing your opinion" as if you not wanting something is justification for someone else not getting it. And then insulting the poster by calling him "pathetic."
Am I misinterpreting this?
Yes. You are. I don't care whether or not Apple adds such a light. I'm not arguing against it. I don't personally want one and I've explained why I don't think it's necessary. But I don't begrudge anyone their opinion. That's the whole point of what I've been saying for the last two days in this thread. I called his post pathetic because he keeps tossing insults at people who he thinks are disagreeing with him and trying to shut his opinion down. No one is doing that. All I've been saying is that it's a fool's errand to try and suggest that one's opinion is representative of objective fact and that using that assumption as a springboard to call people fools and ignorant and idiotic etc. is highly insulting.
----------
You clearly have me confused with someone else. It isn't my position that Apple should deny you your light. It's my position that I don't want one and that I seriously doubt that Apple will add one. Your claim that it matters to me if they add one, as if I'd hit the roof if such a thing happened, is nothing but assumption on your part. Faulty, incorrect assumption.
----------
Depends on how you define "hands free." There's no persistent "hands free" way, but there are most certainly several "hands free" notification options on the iPhone already.
Really? So after hours of not using your phone an LED will tell you missed whatsapp/kik/groupme messages, plus email sms and missed calls?
No, you will check your phone regardless after that duration. Everyone does. Its a redundant feature that becomes annoying.
Why hours? Why should I check my phone after getting up to get a glass of water, pee, or whatever? Why can't my phone just tell me I missed something? Aren't these supposed to be smart phones?
And if it is so annoying, don't use the feature. Is it hard to not use something?
----------
Which are what exactly? Hands free means without touching my phone - which I wouldn't do if my hands are dirty/wet/etc, or if I'm physically not close enough to it. Remember, we're talking about notifications that you have missed. Not ones that are coming in.
Think about how everything on the iPhone is so intuitive, even a super old dude can use it.
What does that circle button do? One thing.
The two buttons? guess what> up and down = volume. Makes sense.
The only button left? Power.
...Ok now what does that notification light mean? What are its rules? I dunno I have to find out. Do I want it on or off? What are the setting options I don't know.
But now I can't sleep at night because the notification keeps blinking. And Im an old man its hard for me to stay asleep.
That doesn't matter.
It doesn't really matter.
Its not a necessary feature. Simple. Just don't need it.
Surf Monkey (Tonight, 12:19 AM):
Surf Monkey (6 hours earlier):
Now that that's been cleared up, I wonder if you actually think there's any single feature on iOS that is unanimously turned on or off. It seems unlikely to me. In other words, it should be clear we're all already paying for certain features we have no intent of ever using.
Out of curiosity, then, how do you feel about the features you currently use, that someone else has no intent of ever using, yet paid for anyway?
Surf Monkey (6 hours earlier):
Now that that's been cleared up, I wonder if you actually think there's any single feature on iOS that is unanimously turned on or off. It seems unlikely to me. In other words, it should be clear we're all already paying for certain features we have no intent of ever using.
Out of curiosity, then, how do you feel about the features you currently use, that someone else has no intent of ever using, yet paid for anyway?
You do realize that everything you just said is directly applicable to the existing LED notification, right?
BTW, the "circle button" does many things. At least 5 that I can immediately name - (1) go home, (2) Touch ID, (3) Siri, (4) Reachability (5) App switcher.
Volume buttons? Also acts as a shutter release. Power+Home? Screenshot.
You're pretty off base using those as examples.
Not really, remember, I did say this:
So to expand on that, what it means is that other simple things are obvious and intuitive, while an LED is cryptic (if not how its executed but in historical precedent) and we feel like we need to read a manual to decipher what is going on.
Im talking fundamentally, on a mass appeal level. Not you and me. But consider what it means to someone who doesnt know anything about the smart phones.
As far as pointing out the alternate features related to the home button, it first of all doesn't change or negate my point about the LED being cryptic in nature. Second of all it shows that you kind of missed my point.
You have 2 options:
a) Turning it off. (This means you have a default feature that people have to manually disable and some people don't master their OS like that right away. This is unprofessional as an option)
b) Turning it on. (Now you have to worry about it blinking when you don't want to. Its like blink management mode. Now its another thing to worry about, when is it on or off? What about when I'm sleeping? What about when you get a message and the phone is out of reach and you're lazy, but you're watching a movie and the light blinks and it catches your attention from the corner of your eye and its a nuisance. --but not enough to get up?)
The way it is now is perfect. Heck, you even get a second buzz to remind you.
-If you have your phone on you, you know when messages come in, clearly.
-If you don't have the phone on you, when you get back to it, you're gonna do what you were already gonna do, check the lock screen.
All bases are covered. An LED is redundant and even arguably a backwards step in the principles of simplicity which are cornerstones of the masterful Apple design.
Don't act like you don't know this.
You only have an option for a second buzz for the Messages app. Nothing else. Not even missed phone calls.
The whole point is so you don't have to check the lock screen! No light = no notifications = nothing to see on the lock screen.
How many functions does the home button need before it isn't simple? 10? Having 5 functions on one unlabeled hardware button is hardly simple. You're the one that brought up the home button as an example of Apple's "simple design."
Using the home button is hardly simple. You have to understand what it can and cannot do in multiple contexts and only adds to the complexity of operating iOS. Were you against the addition of reachability? I bet you weren't. (You can substitute the "Siri" for "home button" or "reachability" in this)
If you can say that a proper LED indicator is redundant and a backwards step, can I say that Siri is also redundant and a backwards step? After all, iOS only got more complex and it didn't let me do anything I couldn't do before.
A blinking light is nowhere as complex as other features offered by iPhones.
Is the current LED indicator unprofessional? How are the two options you presented any different from the choice that is offered currently by Apple? Why can't we ask for a better version of what we already have?
If you get annoyed by it, don't use the feature. Why is that so hard to accept?
Why is it also so hard to accept that a hands-free method to see if you have notifications is a good thing?
Last edited:
You only have an option for a second buzz for the Messages app. Nothing else. Not even missed phone calls.
As it should be. Texts are all that matter like that with immediacy and relentlesness. The point isn't that anyway.
The whole point is so you don't have to check the lock screen! No light = no notifications = nothing to see on the lock screen.
I JUST said you were gonna do it anyway. What about instagram stream? What about Tinder matches? List of friends? NEW FORUM POSTS? Gotta double check all those intermittently oftentimes anyways.
How many functions does the home button need before it isn't simple? 10? Having 5 functions on one unlabeled hardware button is hardly simple. You're the one that brought up the home button as an example of Apple's "simple design."
If you push the home button, it goes home, thats all you need to know to start. The rest comes later. But at first, to quote Above and Beyond, just push the button.
Using the home button is hardly simple. You have to understand what it can and cannot do in multiple contexts and only adds to the complexity of operating iOS. Were you against the addition of reachability? I bet you weren't. (You can substitute the "Siri" for "home button" in this)
By the time a user uses siri they have already mastered the phone. While the home button press is one of the first things anyone does on the device.
If you can say that a proper LED indicator is redundant and a backwards step, can I say that Siri is also redundant and a backwards step? After all, iOS only got more complex and it didn't let me do anything I couldn't do before.
No you can't, the analogy doesn't fit. Siri enables a different way to do things which is a much deeper paradigm. You can't compare to the basic/generic function of an LED
Is the current LED indicator unprofessional? How are the two options you presented any different from the choice that is offered currently by Apple? Why can't we ask for a better version of what we already have?
Because like I said, it gets in the way of simplicity. Even as an option. Again, because its not intuitive because of potential to be obtrusive as explained above. Managing it.
If you get annoyed by it, don't use the feature. Why is that so hard to accept?
Why is it also so hard to accept that a hands-free method to see if you have notifications is a good thing?
Its not a "good" thing, its a misguided idea IMO.
I know its clear that it will never happen.
But I even think its not arguable that it even should, or would be useful.
Its just not necessary and there are more downsides than benefits.
Not to mention its ugly and imperfect, asymmetrical, unaesthetic, outdated, tacky.
On top of that its a potential nuisance at worst, and a time save for anti social people at best. "I want to know asap that I have no friends messaging me."
"Don't make me pick up the phone to know the fortune of my rejections and loneliness, let me down gentle with a small beacon of light and hope so i don't have to face reality head on"
Gimme a break.
So
We all like apple products but some things are not very good... I mean if apple come with some little improvements ( for me a led light for notification, a Wacom pen and a decent and useful flip cover along with amoled panel this would be the perfect iphone.... I know that there is Galaxy but iphone is iphone! )
So the most mature way to make this and other things happen is to coordinate our desire.
I elaborate better :
I suggest to make a thread with a pool with various options and then we report feedback to apple, (maybe providing a prove of the feedback sent, but I would say that this is not necessary) then we would see if Apple listen to us....
I think that who like the led would be satisfied if there is one, who doesn't like will not use it, but have the possibility to do if he will want!
P.S. In the past I have leaved a feedback to Apple for the Smart Cover scratching the ipad.... Now we have great smart covers that don't scratch anything!
We all like apple products but some things are not very good... I mean if apple come with some little improvements ( for me a led light for notification, a Wacom pen and a decent and useful flip cover along with amoled panel this would be the perfect iphone.... I know that there is Galaxy but iphone is iphone! )
So the most mature way to make this and other things happen is to coordinate our desire.
I elaborate better :
I suggest to make a thread with a pool with various options and then we report feedback to apple, (maybe providing a prove of the feedback sent, but I would say that this is not necessary
) then we would see if Apple listen to us....I think that who like the led would be satisfied if there is one, who doesn't like will not use it, but have the possibility to do if he will want!
P.S. In the past I have leaved a feedback to Apple for the Smart Cover scratching the ipad.... Now we have great smart covers that don't scratch anything!
What about text replacement apps such as WhatsApp or FB Messenger? No such options.
Many people have other things to do instead of checking their phone 24/7, and only check if there is something worth checking.. Such as new email or messages. Which a light would be able to inform you of and would save you the hassle of dropping what you're doing.
And an LED enables a different way to do things. No more having to touch and interact with your phone to see if there are any notifications. The HORROR!
People manage the notification center just fine. Why can't an LED be managed the same way?
And off centered/asymmetrical cameras, cheap plastic bands, phones that can't lie flat, etc aren't?
You can't be serious with these editorials...
What about this scenario. You texted your friends asking what their plans are tonight, you send the text then put the phone on the charger a few feet away from you. You get a reply and you respond, then you go to the bathroom or get a drink and come back, this is a perfect example of why having a notification light letting you know of a missed text would be useful. Sure you could wake it, but do you want to wake your phone every few minutes waiting for a reply? All I need to do is glance at my phone and see if I have a text waiting for me.
Why do I need to wake it 60 times a day? It's not that important to me to check for missed notifications. If people really wanted to get ahold of me, then they will try me again, if I didn't check the first time.
Seriously, you are fighting a losing battle. A blinky LED light isn't going to change my life in ways I never imagined, so just stop acting like it will.
At least, with Siri, she will tell me what I missed AND read them to me AND let me reply to them. Will your all knowing and powerful blinky LED light let me do that?
I do miss the notification light when I used to use a blackberry. However where would they put it on the iPhone? With all the various cases the bezel is basically covered unless they put it somewhere around the home button or above the screen. Then there would be a bunch of threads complaining how the design sucks etc.
That said, I think there are times a notification indicator would be good when you have your phone placed on your desk or on a dock at work. Sometimes people just want a notification light without having to pick up their phone or interrupt their work flow.
I vote for one hidden on the front of the screen but obvious for the people that don't like it, it can be disabled.
That said, I think there are times a notification indicator would be good when you have your phone placed on your desk or on a dock at work. Sometimes people just want a notification light without having to pick up their phone or interrupt their work flow.
I vote for one hidden on the front of the screen but obvious for the people that don't like it, it can be disabled.
Presumptions. Old dudes.
First, there seems to be a persistent presumption here that users keep their phones in pants pockets (or even wear pants), sit at a desk at work with their phone at the ready, and have jobs where frequent phone fiddling is possible/appropriate/allowed. None of those conditions apply to me, and I know I'm not alone.
Second, if any of you has ever taught a "really old dude" to use an iPhone or iPad, the default notifications are confusing and the notifications options in Settings are dizzying. Neither of the older people I taught would ever call the iPhone simple or intuitive, so they probably wouldn't understand/appreciate any efforts on their behalf to limit features. An LED light would be just as perplexing as a tone, vibration, badge, or banner. Their options are to look up how to change it, ask their children/grandchildren, or live with it - but then they're living with ALL of it, not just a light.
First, there seems to be a persistent presumption here that users keep their phones in pants pockets (or even wear pants), sit at a desk at work with their phone at the ready, and have jobs where frequent phone fiddling is possible/appropriate/allowed. None of those conditions apply to me, and I know I'm not alone.
Second, if any of you has ever taught a "really old dude" to use an iPhone or iPad, the default notifications are confusing and the notifications options in Settings are dizzying. Neither of the older people I taught would ever call the iPhone simple or intuitive, so they probably wouldn't understand/appreciate any efforts on their behalf to limit features. An LED light would be just as perplexing as a tone, vibration, badge, or banner. Their options are to look up how to change it, ask their children/grandchildren, or live with it - but then they're living with ALL of it, not just a light.
what about a home button that has an LED ring around it that flashes ever so softly to let you know that you have a notification waiting for you? I think that would be better than a blinking light.
I do think there needs to be something...I like to be able to look over at my phone without having to activate it in order to see if I have a notification waiting.
I do think there needs to be something...I like to be able to look over at my phone without having to activate it in order to see if I have a notification waiting.
It is redundant to me and I explained why in my prior post..
People are saying - what if I go pee and miss a text? So, instead of just tapping the home button, you want to be able to glance at your phone and have LED? It's an extra half second of work.
Why hours? Why should I check my phone after getting up to get a glass of water, pee, or whatever? Why can't my phone just tell me I missed something? Aren't these supposed to be smart phones?
And if it is so annoying, don't use the feature. Is it hard to not use something?
----------
Once again, it eliminates dealing with the annoying blinking LEDs that happen when you don't feel like checking your phone, but it is sitting there on your desk blinking.
Everyone focuses on the time when they want to check their phone, but I find there were more times when I did not, and still opened it anyway to make the LED stop blinking in the corner of my eye.
Are you aware of how the phone is constructed? Because most likely adding that functionality will change the design of the phone itself in a way that apple doesn't intend. Adding LED's means adding space for them, adding power..etc.
----------
Exactly. This is the obvious stuff people don't get.
And if it is on the front screen, people will complain about losing screen real estate. You can mark that down.
Redundancy is not subjective. It either is or it isn't. The LED does things other notifications don't, so, by definition, it's not redundant. That said, its added benefits may be of no use to you.
You're right, the LED is only a minor convenience. I hope nobody actually thinks not having it is a deal-breaker. That said, those "extra half seconds" add up to those that have grown used to having the LED. Try to understand that.
Then turn it off.
Then turn it off.
All high end Android smartphones have LEDs, and they all have way smaller bezels than the iPhone. In other words, LEDs don't seem to have any negative effect on screen real estate. I'm not saying your forecast is impossible, but it doesn't seem reasonable at all.
- Status