3 months iOS 7

[petvas]

iOS7 is now three months old and after using it since the first beta, I have following comments to make:
* I like the new design (most of the times). Maybe a little bit more contrast would be better, but I think this will come at some point
* I love most of the new features
* AirDrop is sth I am not using at all. It is totally useless to me because it works only with iOS devices, no OS X...
* Stability: This is a big issue for me. My iPhone 5S crashes very often, especially in low memory situations or/and using multitasking. The situation has gotten a bit better, but it's just unacceptable for a premium OS to crash so often! Apple has to solve the stability issues ASAP.
* iPad version: It is not optimized for the iPad. The animations stutter, Safari crashes very often and the OS also crashes very often. Apple has to improve here. iOS 7.1 is supposedly going to solve these issues..

I have to say, this is the worst iOS update ever, stability wise. It offers great features, has a refreshing new design but the stability is just not there. I wish the OS were more polished!!! Apple please fix it ASAP.

 

[Armen]

iOS7 is now three months old and after using it since the first beta, I have following comments to make:
* I like the new design (most of the times). Maybe a little bit more contrast would be better, but I think this will come at some point
* I love most of the new features
* AirDrop is sth I am not using at all. It is totally useless to me because it works only with iOS devices, no OS X...
* Stability: This is a big issue for me. My iPhone 5S crashes very often, especially in low memory situations or/and using multitasking. The situation has gotten a bit better, but it's just unacceptable for a premium OS to crash so often! Apple has to solve the stability issues ASAP.
* iPad version: It is not optimized for the iPad. The animations stutter, Safari crashes very often and the OS also crashes very often. Apple has to improve here. iOS 7.1 is supposedly going to solve these issues..

I have to say, this is the worst iOS update ever, stability wise. It offers great features, has a refreshing new design but the stability is just not there. I wish the OS were more polished!!! Apple please fix it ASAP.

I agree with you regarding Airdrop and OSX. It's quite confusing that Airdrop on iOS and Airdrop on OSX do not work with each other.

Stability wise, my iphone 5 running iOS 7 is very stable and with good battery life.

I agree with you about the iPad as well. My Mini hiccups sometimes enough to disturb the experience and remind you that you are using technlogy.

It's been posted many times before but have you tried to restore your iphone as a NEW phone and not restored from a backup to see if stability is better?

 

[Dented]

I do wonder if a lot of the reported "stability" issues with IOS 7 are more to do with the A7 chip, and perhaps some more work they need to do for the 64bit environment on newer devices. On my 5 I can honestly say IOS 7 is solid as a rock with no crashes whatsoever.

 

[furam90]

3 months in already bored to death of iOS7. Can't imagine going another 6 years with the same UI as we did with iOS1-6.

 

[MikhailT]

The stability issues are isolated to the A7/64bit libraries for me. For some reasons, iOS 7 is perfectly stable on the 32-bit devices that my family have but my 64-bit devices, it crashes daily.

iOS 7.1 beta 1 only reduced the crashes slightly but definitely did not fix it completely. Folks are reporting it is crashing like 30% less often.

64-bit Safari in iOS 7 is one of the worst apps I've ever experienced on iOS, it is responsible for majority of app crashes (WebView) on iOS 7. If I don't use any web views, the app remains stable but once I do, it starts crashing all over, including SpringBoard type of crashes.

Hopefully, the next few betas will be focused on fixing web views, that should resolve majority of the crashes on its own.

 

[petvas]

3 months in already bored to death of iOS7. Can't imagine going another 6 years with the same UI as we did with iOS1-6.

It's not the UI, it's because it works exactly the same as before.

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I agree with you regarding Airdrop and OSX. It's quite confusing that Airdrop on iOS and Airdrop on OSX do not work with each other.

Stability wise, my iphone 5 running iOS 7 is very stable and with good battery life.

I agree with you about the iPad as well. My Mini hiccups sometimes enough to disturb the experience and remind you that you are using technlogy.

It's been posted many times before but have you tried to restore your iphone as a NEW phone and not restored from a backup to see if stability is better?

I have tried restoring my iphone as a new device but nothing...

----------

I do wonder if a lot of the reported "stability" issues with IOS 7 are more to do with the A7 chip, and perhaps some more work they need to do for the 64bit environment on newer devices. On my 5 I can honestly say IOS 7 is solid as a rock with no crashes whatsoever.

It seems to be 64bit related. Especially Safari on my iPad crashes often.
My iPhone 5S is certainly more stable than my iPad.

 

[bjb.butler]

3 months in already bored to death of iOS7. Can't imagine going another 6 years with the same UI as we did with iOS1-6.

I don't understand how people get "bored" with the UI. It's not supposed to be some thing that keeps you "excited"... it's an operating system. No one is talking about "OMG I'm so bored with the OSX UI". It does what it does, and that's all that matters.

 

[aicul]

3 months in already bored to death of iOS7. Can't imagine going another 6 years with the same UI as we did with iOS1-6.

What has me bored to death is the prospect of going a single day with this ridiculous "flat" feel !

Life is full of shapes, depth, forms, etc. iOS7 is like being in some form of totalitarian system where everything is pre-set by uncaring bureaucrats

 

[Ann P]

What has me bored to death is the prospect of going a single day with this ridiculous "flat" feel !

Life is full of shapes, depth, forms, etc. iOS7 is like being in some form of totalitarian system where everything is pre-set by uncaring bureaucrats

"iOS 7 is torture", now it's "a totalitarian system". You're still going on about it? Buy a different phone. I mean that in the nicest way possible.

 

[deluxeshredder]

What has me bored to death is the prospect of going a single day with this ridiculous "flat" feel !

Life is full of shapes, depth, forms, etc. iOS7 is like being in some form of totalitarian system where everything is pre-set by uncaring bureaucrats

I'm tired of these comments about the iOS "totalitarism". Everybody is free to switch to Android or Windows Phone.

 

[maflynn]

I'm generally happy with iOS7, though Safari seems to cause me problems. My iPhone and iPads don't really crash either. I'm hoping 7.1 takes care of the minor issues I have had

 

[C DM]

I'm tired of these comments about the iOS "totalitarism". Everybody is free to switch to Android or Windows Phone.

Just as everyone who want to use iOS can also want it to be better.

 

[KALLT]

I'm tired of these comments about the iOS "totalitarism". Everybody is free to switch to Android or Windows Phone.

His comment was about the shift from design-rich apps to a sterile, often white look with basic shapes. Few developers seems to be taking the look to the next level beyond Apple's design ideals, almost as if it's dictated according to a rigid set of rules. Besides, switching to Android or Windows Phone is not going to help you with that, because flat design is where this industry is going. You will only find more of it.

I don't understand how people get "bored" with the UI. It's not supposed to be some thing that keeps you "excited"... it's an operating system. No one is talking about "OMG I'm so bored with the OSX UI". It does what it does, and that's all that matters.

That is true, but there is a limit. The app-focussed iOS invites users to go to the App Store and download apps. Hence part of the excitement comes from trying out new apps to improve the user experience. As soon as every app looks the same more than ever, the excitement can be diminished. Different apps, but more of the same. Of course, an OS is only supposed to provide the foundation for apps. But if there is never something new to learn or experience, then that could make an OS boring. OS X allows a lot more creativity, just like iOS 6 did before. They allowed developers to experiment more, even if the basic UI elements are more or less the same. iOS 7, on the other hand, is much more limiting precisely because of the style adopted.

 

[deluxeshredder]

His comment was about the shift from design-rich apps to a sterile, often white look with basic shapes. Few developers seems to be taking the look to the next level beyond Apple's design ideals, almost as if it's dictated according to a rigid set of rules. Besides, switching to Android or Windows Phone is not going to help you with that, because flat design is where this industry is going. You will only find more of it.

I don't think that all flat designs are made the same, quite the opposite.

Windows Phone was released in the heyday of skeuomorphism, has been designed from scratch and had to make a strong anti-fashion statement. I think it is actually has some great UI work - very classy, unique and conveying the principles of simplicity, vitality and purity. Unfortunately, Windows Phone didn't become very popular due to many reasons, but it did manage to start the flat UI race.

Android initially had a terrible UI that was somewhat reminiscent of early 2000s desktop Linux, but it began improving and evolving very quickly, and at version 3.0 the "Holo" theme came out, which continues to be used today with minor changes. It is nowhere as conceptual and outlandish as Windows Phone, and it feels like a "moderate" flat design (it has subtle shading, subtle gradients and not very flat stock icons) made to bring a coherent and aesthetically credible look to an open platform while not requiring heavy graphics work associatiated with quality skeuomorphism. It also is very often covered with skins which often change the visuals significantly, but even they are mostly designed not to look too out of place with Holo stuff.

Android has become very popular, and by the end of 2012, the flat UI trend was extremely rampant, and the glossy/skeuomorphic iOS 6 UI was viewed by some tech enthusiasts as dated and boring, so a revamp of it did not seem to be something anti-climatic. But instead of carefully renovating the old design (like in case of Sense 5 and Mavericks) Apple gave iOS 7 a whole new skin while keeping the old familliar structure. iOS 7 is definitely a fashion-oriented UI - it is uber-bright (because it's "clean"), uber-flat (because it's in and easy), uber-trendy (and pretty much non-innovative), ultra-colourful (and ultra-ugly) and packed with meandering FX. It is in many ways an antipode to Windows Phone and highly Android-derivered. But under all of this, it is the same old simple iOS.

 

[cwosigns]

My biggest problem is that suddenly I am obsessed with matching my wallpapers to my case (of which I have about 15). I never had that problem in iOS 6 because you couldn't even really see your home screen wallpaper because of the design. In that regard, I would say that iOS is definitely more engaging than iOS 6.

 

[petvas]

I installed iOS 7.1 beta 2 yesterday and especially my iPad Air works great (so far). The animations are much smoother and faster, Safari hasn't crashed (yet) and the OS feels ready for prime time. Apple should have taken more time to finish iOS 7, but at least they made it...I hope iOS 7.1 final comes soon, so that everybody can see the difference. It is a joy using an iPad again. This joy I had lost the last couple of weeks. On the iPhone things never looked bad really, apart from the system crashes. If they managed to fix that, then I will be very happy with the OS.
iOS 7 is feature wise a big improvement to iOS 6. I like the design more and the new features are great. Now (with iOS 7.1) that the calendar has also been fixed, I can start using it again

 

[Badrottie]

iOS 7 is much like Microsoft Vista.

 

[petvas]

There is absolutely no comparison to Vista. iOS 7 just needed 3 months more to mature and that is what 7.1 is about.

 

[KALLT]

I don't think that all flat designs are made the same, quite the opposite.

Your short explanation of these three systems' designs actually demonstrates that flat design is both contemporary and based on set principles. This is especially so for operating systems like Windows Phone that leave much less room for creative designs, as the chosen style only allows for a limited deviation. The same is true for Android and now also iOS. That is the true cost of flat design and the current mindset of iOS developers, namely that design-rich apps are supplanted with 'clean' designs, i.e. white backgrounds, black text and some colourful icons. iOS developers haven't quite tried anything else yet. I agree with aicul when he says that the designs look like as if they were created according to strict and fixed rules without giving developers a bit more breathing room, almost like a bureaucracy that has gotten out of hand.

I agree with you that iOS 7 presents more of a fashion statement than anything else. Since the functionality of the operating system has not changed in any significant way, one can easily assume that there is nothing more to the design change at this point (perhaps later with iOS 8). If there was at least something that would have justified the change, maybe some more functionality or the like. It would have made the switch that easier or acceptable for people (including myself). Instead we are dealing with a system that presents many of the shortcomings of iOS 6. Easier ways to customise and manage the home screen, widgets, just to mention a few. iOS 7 is a change that doesn't go deep, that is why people will get bored with it very quickly, if they are as design-oriented.

There is absolutely no comparison to Vista. iOS 7 just needed 3 months more to mature and that is what 7.1 is about.

I suppose it depends on what Badrottie meant when he wrote that post. To me, iOS 7 is like Vista in the sense that it doesn't offer anything of significance to me other than the new design. Vista was mostly about the new fonts, glass and translucency effects, the major feature aside from a new version of DirectX. Many people then saw Windows 7 as the true successor of Windows XP, because it brought actual improvements in addition to a new design. This is how I feel about iOS 7 too. There is still so much room for improvement on iOS, still things that bug me and the highest priority seems to have been the new look. This was the Achilles heel of Vista, a bad reputation because Microsoft itself was running out of ideas. Apple was one of the notable companies that ridiculed Microsoft for that and it seems to be doing the same now.

 

[I7guy]

I like ios 7. Ipad 2 has a total of 10 crashes since the day 7.0.4 came out. 5s has its share of wonky crashes, but no reboots. Ios 7 is much more pleasing than ios 6.

 

[Dented]

I suppose it depends on what Badrottie meant when he wrote that post. To me, iOS 7 is like Vista in the sense that it doesn't offer anything of significance to me other than the new design. Vista was mostly about the new fonts, glass and translucency effects, the major feature aside from a new version of DirectX. Many people then saw Windows 7 as the true successor of Windows XP, because it brought actual improvements in addition to a new design. This is how I feel about iOS 7 too. There is still so much room for improvement on iOS, still things that bug me and the highest priority seems to have been the new look. This was the Achilles heel of Vista, a bad reputation because Microsoft itself was running out of ideas. Apple was one of the notable companies that ridiculed Microsoft for that and it seems to be doing the same now.

I think that's a misreading of history and both unfair and (at the same time) too kind to vista!

Vista was actually a very major upgrade to XP in terms of the core technologies, introducing things like user access control for example - there was much more going on than just a design refresh. The trouble was it didn't work, and was a poor OS at its very core, and that can't be said about IOS 7 in my opinion.

 

[bahamallama]

I'm with you so far I hate IOS 7 and think it's a complete piece of garbage. I don't mind the way it looks at all in demo and theory it's fine. In Practice a huge steaming pile of dung. I keep waiting with each update to fix any of the problems I have but no. I'm running a new 5s.

If someone leaves me a voicemail over 30 seconds I have to reboot my phone in order to listen to it, then I can only listen once before I have to reboot again.

Any airplay fails constantly, whether it's my apple tv or either of my airport expresses, they are constantly dropping out. Today it started to disconnected from my blue tooth car system randomly as well.

Constant crashes and respringing. I just went to use my phone and dead a a break. it was on prior to me looking. I plugged it in to my computer it didn't show up, no notice on the screen, used my wall charger I use for my iPad and nothing. I finally held home and power down for 30 seconds and it boots up like normal, have no idea what happened there.

Itunes Radio, complete garbage. Crashes constantly.

The base software for switching between cell towers sucks, drops constantly, If I try to walk to my post office, never had a problem with streaming audio from pandora, or itunes match, now they all fail as the phone fails to negotiate from edge to 4g or LTE, if I manually shut off the antenna it picks up 4g or LTE but then itunes radio crashes and needs to restart. I have no idea why IOS 7 wants an edge connection when 4G and LTE are and have been in the area for years.

IOS7 on the iPad is equally terrible, I'm not using an iPad Air but the previous version, it's slooooow and terrible, the 5 finger up swipe takes forever to work and winds up shooting whatever was on the screen a million miles away, like mail drops back to months ago, then cause it's sooo slow if I do it again it then closes the app as it thinks I swipped it up to close it once it does get into task switcher. And the task switcher I think is a great design on a small screen like the phone but on the ipad in landscape mode it's clunky and terrible.

I'm sooo hoping they fix all the flaws to IOS7, I heard they rushed it out, if not I'll be making the switch to another OS when my contract is up. I already know 2 friends that went with the Galaxy due to IOS7 alone. Very unapple like.

Whew! Felt good to rant. If I could down grade to IOS6 I would but of course they don't allow that.

 

[~Ks383~]

3 months iOS 7

I'm with you so far I hate IOS 7 and think it's a complete piece of garbage. I don't mind the way it looks at all in demo and theory it's fine. In Practice a huge steaming pile of dung. I keep waiting with each update to fix any of the problems I have but no. I'm running a new 5s.



If someone leaves me a voicemail over 30 seconds I have to reboot my phone in order to listen to it, then I can only listen once before I have to reboot again.



Any airplay fails constantly, whether it's my apple tv or either of my airport expresses, they are constantly dropping out. Today it started to disconnected from my blue tooth car system randomly as well.



Constant crashes and respringing. I just went to use my phone and dead a a break. it was on prior to me looking. I plugged it in to my computer it didn't show up, no notice on the screen, used my wall charger I use for my iPad and nothing. I finally held home and power down for 30 seconds and it boots up like normal, have no idea what happened there.



Itunes Radio, complete garbage. Crashes constantly.



The base software for switching between cell towers sucks, drops constantly, If I try to walk to my post office, never had a problem with streaming audio from pandora, or itunes match, now they all fail as the phone fails to negotiate from edge to 4g or LTE, if I manually shut off the antenna it picks up 4g or LTE but then itunes radio crashes and needs to restart. I have no idea why IOS 7 wants an edge connection when 4G and LTE are and have been in the area for years.



IOS7 on the iPad is equally terrible, I'm not using an iPad Air but the previous version, it's slooooow and terrible, the 5 finger up swipe takes forever to work and winds up shooting whatever was on the screen a million miles away, like mail drops back to months ago, then cause it's sooo slow if I do it again it then closes the app as it thinks I swipped it up to close it once it does get into task switcher. And the task switcher I think is a great design on a small screen like the phone but on the ipad in landscape mode it's clunky and terrible.



I'm sooo hoping they fix all the flaws to IOS7, I heard they rushed it out, if not I'll be making the switch to another OS when my contract is up. I already know 2 friends that went with the Galaxy due to IOS7 alone. Very unapple like.



Whew! Felt good to rant. If I could down grade to IOS6 I would but of course they don't allow that.

My wife and I also have 5s's and have had none of the issues you discussed. Have you tried restoring your device? If you have already, have you tried performing a clean install?

 

[Dented]

I'm with you so far I hate IOS 7 and think it's a complete piece of garbage. I don't mind the way it looks at all in demo and theory it's fine. In Practice a huge steaming pile of dung. I keep waiting with each update to fix any of the problems I have but no. I'm running a new 5s.



If someone leaves me a voicemail over 30 seconds I have to reboot my phone in order to listen to it, then I can only listen once before I have to reboot again.



Any airplay fails constantly, whether it's my apple tv or either of my airport expresses, they are constantly dropping out. Today it started to disconnected from my blue tooth car system randomly as well.



Constant crashes and respringing. I just went to use my phone and dead a a break. it was on prior to me looking. I plugged it in to my computer it didn't show up, no notice on the screen, used my wall charger I use for my iPad and nothing. I finally held home and power down for 30 seconds and it boots up like normal, have no idea what happened there.



Itunes Radio, complete garbage. Crashes constantly.



The base software for switching between cell towers sucks, drops constantly, If I try to walk to my post office, never had a problem with streaming audio from pandora, or itunes match, now they all fail as the phone fails to negotiate from edge to 4g or LTE, if I manually shut off the antenna it picks up 4g or LTE but then itunes radio crashes and needs to restart. I have no idea why IOS 7 wants an edge connection when 4G and LTE are and have been in the area for years.



IOS7 on the iPad is equally terrible, I'm not using an iPad Air but the previous version, it's slooooow and terrible, the 5 finger up swipe takes forever to work and winds up shooting whatever was on the screen a million miles away, like mail drops back to months ago, then cause it's sooo slow if I do it again it then closes the app as it thinks I swipped it up to close it once it does get into task switcher. And the task switcher I think is a great design on a small screen like the phone but on the ipad in landscape mode it's clunky and terrible.



I'm sooo hoping they fix all the flaws to IOS7, I heard they rushed it out, if not I'll be making the switch to another OS when my contract is up. I already know 2 friends that went with the Galaxy due to IOS7 alone. Very unapple like.



Whew! Felt good to rant. If I could down grade to IOS6 I would but of course they don't allow that.

I have to say a lot of that - particularly the general wireless and voicemail problems - sounds a lot more like a hardware problem than anything I've seen generally reported with IOS 7.

It's not at all unknown for a new OS to uncover or exacerbate some pre-existing hardware flaw. Back in my 3GS days I remember a minor point release coming out which immediately caused me phone problems, with my handset suddenly rebooting mid call. I cursed Apple's sloppy coding for a few weeks, assuming a follow up fix would soon be released for this obvious bug that must have been affecting countless others.. When it didn't come I eventually complained to apple and they promptly replaced my handset without my barely asking - needless to say, even after restoring from my old backup that phone worked perfectly on the same software version and carried on for years without a fault.