Apple Has Delayed Some Planned iOS 12 Features Until Next Year to Focus on Performance and Quality

[bluecoast]

I cant believe the fuss and effort behind the emojis ans animojis. honestly from iOS 10 onwards there havent been any earth shattering announcements. "Files" held so much potential but its implemented poorly.
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In the words of Steve "Customers don't know what they want" - Take a look at Google to see whats possible - Google Lens / PhotoScan / Assistant / predictive assistance etc.

Agreed re. files. Files and iCloud documents are a conceptual mess.

We have a traditional ‘my documents’ folder tree mixed up with the ‘app only’ documents ie pages, sheets, preview, GarageBand etc.

I now have to search for my documents as depending when and how they were created they might be in one of two places (app folders or my mac document folder tree).

It’s gettung very disappointing about how much Apple is letting their user experience slide.

Often times it really does seem that they can only walk or chew gum at the same time. With the resources that they have they should be able to (for example) refresh the caleder app whilst working on the Face ID user experience.

And don’t even mention iTunes on the Mac. That’s now just getting lazy.

 

[Xenomorph]

I agree with this decision - the "features" are becoming trivial and unnecessary, while the bugs are becoming more prominent and obstructive, and OS itself is becoming bloated and inefficient. It took 11.2.5 to make iPad Air 2 run decently with iOS 11, and it's obvious that it wasn't for want of CPU power or RAM.

Efficiency should always trump frivolous "features".

That was where iOS really stood out, in the beginning.

It was missing a lot of features. But what it did do was optimized and polished like crazy. There were so many other smart devices out there, but they were chaotic, complex, ugly. The iPhone was simple and elegant, and to the user, "it just works".

Every release after 1.0 obviously added much-needed features that maybe should have been in there since the beginning. Copy & Paste, folders, wallpapers, cloud backups, OTA updates, Internet messaging, and so on. But after iOS 5, it seems like each release just piles on more and more and more, and they don't seem to care how well those features work, or if people even use them. It's been all about quantity, and not quality. Did people want the parallax in iOS 7? The stickers in iOS 10? The redesigned everything that wastes space and clutters the interface?

Apple is all about "look at ALL the things it can do" and NO LONGER "look at all the things it does WELL".

 

[jonnyb098]

You know as systems grow and get more complex they are more prone to bugs...

Indeed, which exactly why a release like this is needed to take it easy with all the jazzy new features and focus on making iOS rock solid. Every year iOS get really solid RIGHT BEFORE they release a new version that introduces loads of new bugs.

I think iOS 11's fate was telling when the calculator bug took them two months to fix after public release (technically 5 months since it was confirmed to have been a bug all the way back to the betas in June). Thats just sad.

 

[DDustiNN]

Good. iOS 11 has been the worst update yet, as far as breaking things that previously worked perfectly fine. It’s been very annoying.

 

[Cougarcat]

I agree. I really wish they’d do the same with OSX. I few there’s no need for yearly update. Anyone remember Snow Leopard?! Desktop should be rock solid. There’s way too many bells and whistles being added at the expense of stability.

Yes, I remember the data-deleting bug in 10.6.0. (I agree with the sentiment, however.)

 

[EdT]

This is the second time Apple have been said to focus on bugs like this.... under Cooks watch iOS has had more bugs then ever before!

http://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/02/report-ios-9-will-focus-mainly-on-stability-and-performance/%3famp=1


http://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/9to5mac.com/2015/02/09/apples-ios-9-to-have-huge-stability-and-optimization-focus-after-years-of-feature-additions/amp/

Is Cook and co’s idea of iOS releases now one buggy and messy with new features followed by one with no new features but fixes the bugs of the previous release and so on?

Yes. It’s also Amazons, Google, Samsung and most other upper tier electronics sellers.

Go back and look at Apple during the St. Jobs era and you had antenna gate and the original glass phones (I think the 4s which was my first iPhone) and only one distributor (ATT) who didn’t have real 3g but some network standard that they used because it’s what they had. And obsoleting Power PC’s and a few years later dumping Cocoa and bad iPod hard drives.....

You cannot replicate with testing ALL of the software/hardware/app combinations possible with a device and also fully develop next years OS and hardware. Any changes you make might screw up multiple years of OS’s and either need to be fixed quickly OR -here’s a popular option- you quit supporting the older versions and ignore the bad publicity that decision generates.

I have been criticizing a lot of Apple’s choices lately but I don’t live in a dreamworld where my preferences are better than other people’s. But this belief that EVERYTHING under Jobs was sweetness and light while EVERYTHING under Cook is garbage ignores what really has happened at Apple.

 

[Heineken]

About time.

 

[Solomani]

Ina is usually well-sourced. I believe it, and if proven true I'm glad Apple has made this decision. Software is really lacking at the moment.

Yup. There is nothing wrong with occasionally (and temporarily) holding back the "new stuff" in order to improve and stabilize the "older stuff".

 

[jonnyb098]

I will only trust ios updates again when I see all these iPhone 4s, 5, 5s, 5c, 6, etc coming back to life again (as they were in the first place with the old ios versions) in the same way apple once did with the Mac OS (remember when snow leopard came back after the leopard mess.. that yes restored the trust...)

No, I'm not asking fancy-nancy functionalities of the new iOS versions in older phones.. I'm just asking the old ones to stay fast and reliable as they were in the moment people bought them.

Planned obsolescence is not acceptable. Apple has a role at that level and people's trust is absolutely compromised by years of iOS updates turning excellent hardware devices into bricks.
And yes, people actually notice that sneaky very little frame rate reductions and animation slow-downs in the old devices.

Why not to have minimal UI service level to ensure that old devices keep them in the same speed as they were in the first place at least for the core functionalities?
Some people don't care about the performance of the very latest apps, having the last fancy-nancy visual effects or about the very latest nancy things.. They want the core functionalities to stay fast...fast calls, fast messages, fast web navigation. thats it.
why no ensure the developers have a "minimum UI" service level to enable old phones to still leverage current common apps with reduced effects or intensive tasks?

Apple has a great opportunity to increase trust here but simply doesn't care...

Are you new to the tech world? No company gives a crap about a 7 year old phone. A 4S? Seriously? I want what you're smoking.

So you expect a 4S to run ARKit apps? Do portrait mode photography?

Either you're a troll or extremely dense. If we all lived by your thinking we'd still be in horse and buggy.

 

[edgonzalez32]

I remember the days where their laptops blew competitors out of the water with battery life. I’d love to see that too.
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That and I’d love to put certain apps in a “do not disturb” mode while leaving others on

1,000% yes to selective DND. I have to use my phone for work through ring central. Would be amazing to DND everything but ring central.

 

[anthogag]

iOS still doesn't have the ability to quickly and easily name files. You have a File Manager, it's not complete until yo can rename a file. E.g. take a picture and then name it...

 

[ipooed]

I’ll believe it when I see it, this isn’t the first time apple has said this. I believe iOS 9 they said the same thing. Just another marketing strategy promising what they will not deliver yet again.

 

[Glideslope]

Nice. So they do listen after all.

 

[Heineken]

Yearly updates were a big mistake and now they are basically confirming this. What's the point in releasing every September when it takes another 6 months to make it stable and usable. Same goes for OS X.

I'm happy they didn't wait until this so obvious a monkey could notice, then it would be almost too late.

 

[9081094]

I agree. I really wish they’d do the same with OSX. I few there’s no need for yearly update. Anyone remember Snow Leopard?! Desktop should be rock solid. There’s way too many bells and whistles being added at the expense of stability.

High Sierra hasn't got many new features and was supposed to be the "snow leopard". Seriously, all software options from Apple are on the slow road these days. Maps... three new cities added with transits. Flyovers? When was the last new one added? With the new surface tablets getting better and better and chrome desktop too... Siri on the slow road as is the hardware... Key areas apple should dominate .

I always tell myself Apple is secretly working on something big. But I've started telling myself that about 5 years ago. Not much has happened since then except the competition leapfrogged Apple in many areas.

 

[DavidLeblond]

I never had any issues with iOS 11. High Sierra though.... they need to focus on fixing that. "Even Higher Sierra" or something.

 

[naturalstar]

I hope this is true.

 

[canyonblue737]

Vague, a lot of new features in 11.3, so they are ditching those?

I think you are misreading this. The new features in 11.3 (which aren't that big) are still coming. What this is implying is iOS 12 coming fall of 2018 was intended to have a major redesign of the iPhone home page, a full redesign of the CarPlay UI, a big update to Mail, and finally a large and needed change to Photos including new and improved sharing systems... ALL have been delayed until iOS 13 in fall of 2019 so that iOS 12 can focus on improved speed and less bugs. Of COURSE they will still be many new features this fall in iOS 12 but not the "BIG" ones they planned because they realize that iOS 11 has been more buggy then they wanted and they failed to even reach many of the features planned for iOS 11 so far including AirPlay 2 and iCloud Messaging so they must feel they need to not reach for too many large features this fall only to fall on their face again.

As a consumer wanting big new features this is disappointing but being a realist we need less bugs and an iOS that works more seamlessly to make sure it sets itself apart from Android.

 

[The Phazer]

One hopes the same will apply to OSX. It really doesn't need more crappy ports of iOS features that don't fit the platform, it needs a strong security audit, it needs the update mechanisms restoring to their rock solid selves (including no more completely false time remaining estimates throughout the process, just replace them with percentage counters that work for goodness sake) and it needs bug fixes. Reverting many of the daft UI functionality reductions like Disk Utility would be nice, but even those could wait another year if it meant a focus on the other stuff.

I'd even take this over them finally making window snapping worthwhile.

 

[Heineken]

I never had any issues with iOS 11. High Sierra though.... they need to focus on fixing that. "Even Higher Sierra" or something.

In last few days i had plenty. Face ID stuck on unlock, random slowness, unresponsive apps etc.

 

[Baumi]

Great so ios 12 will bring nothing new to the x so much needs to be changed

Headline: Apple rumored to add feature X!
Users: "They should focus on fixing bugs and improving performance!"

Headline: Apple rumored to focus on fixing bugs and improving performance
Users: "So we won't get new features?! Lame!"

 

[LinkinJunior]

I call ******** until we actually see results, ios 11 has been crap and people are also scared to install High Sierra due to it being so unstable. I feel High Sierra and both ios 11 were both rushed, why? Probably iPhone X which most people don’t even want.

 

[AppleMad98004]

I am pretty locked into the Apple ecosystem (MacOS/iOS) but I use Office/OneDrive/and other third party services instead of Apple's offerings just in case i have to drop Apple for Windows and Android someday. It will make it less painful. I would hate to but for the first time I am hedging myself.

 

[mithion]

That's good news for iOS. Version 11 has been very rough although it's getting better. I think it's a wise decision to slow down and polish. I hope they do the same thing with macOS. For a release that was supposed to be an refinement of its predecessor, it has been the most bug filled version since I started using OS X from version 10.5 Leopard.

 

[Askinas]

Give me a new UI