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Apple Pencil Navigation Functionality to Return in Next iOS 9.3 Beta

I'm confused with what improvements they are claiming to have been trying to make. It just needs to work as a stylus and did, what could the change need to be. Either they are just back peddling and can't just say "we were going to take it away but we won't now" or they are going to make it capable of 3D Touch like features.
 
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OldSchoolMacGuy said:
Lots of babies crying like crazy in the forums yesterday when it was reported (incorrectly) that it wouldn't return. Smart folks knew it would return but that didn't stop plenty from cursing Apple and going on and on about how "STEVE JOBS WOULDN'T HAVE DONE THIS!"
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You had absolutely no idea whether it would return or not. They didn't mention it in any of the developer build release notes. Which quite frankly it should have been mentioned. They always report what is known to be non-functional in the release notes.

I personally believe this was a test to see how the market would adapt to the change and they saw the reception was poor among testers. Otherwise there would be no harm in stating. (Pencil may not work for navigation in this build of iOS.)

A developer building for iPad Pro might want to know what functionality is and is not functional to test their apps against a build. And don't even start with "they should wait till its final" because that's a total load of bs. The Dev timelines are so short if you want to stay with the market you must test on beta software. And re-test on final.

Bottom line. It is good that Apple commented on this. At least to end speculation. One way or another.
 
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XTheLancerX said:
Wow, that is extremely weird of Apple to say something so exact like this, like "It's coming in next beta" rather than be all secretive and vague.
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Probably because it went viral. Maybe they accidentally broke compatibility implementing something else but didn't put a high priority on fixing it since it likely isn't coming out until the 3/15 event and there aren't a lot of Apple Pencil users out there.
 
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I'd say their best bet is to create a toggle for navigation capabilities with the Pencil. Some will want it and others won't, so this is the only way to make both groups happy.

I'm also hoping the next round of iPad Mini and iPad Air models will both support the Pencil. I'd love to have one but I'm keeping my Mini. Apple sold me on a larger screen than I wanted with the iPhone 6 but they won't get me to buy a larger-screened iPad!
 
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It never made sense to me that Apple would offer this functionality and then take it away. If they didn't want people using the pencil for UI navigation they just wouldn't have offered it in the first place.
 
Now people can stop freaking out over this. This also confirms there will be a fifth beta and the next release won't be the final version.
 
Many people have bought this up since the first 9.3 beta and Apple did not respond to any of our radars. As soon as it went viral all at the same time, Apple responded and said it will return in the next beta.

This could've been all avoided if Apple mentioned this in the first beta's release notes or reply to our radars.

I'm glad to hear they'll "undo" this in the next beta.
 
Sounds like the intention was to leave functionality out but that they've been "listening" to the complaints. Good for Apple.
 
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atomic.flip said:
You had absolutely no idea whether it would return or not. They didn't mention it in any of the developer build release notes. Which quite frankly it should have been mentioned. They always report what is known to be non-functional in the release notes.

I personally believe this was a test to see how the market would adapt to the change and they saw the reception was poor among testers. Otherwise there would be no harm in stating. (Pencil may not work for navigation in this build of iOS.)

A developer building for iPad Pro might want to know what functionality is and is not functional to test their apps against a build. And don't even start with "they should wait till its final" because that's a total load of bs. The Dev timelines are so short if you want to stay with the market you must test on beta software. And re-test on final.

Bottom line. It is good that Apple commented on this. At least to end speculation. One way or another.
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The fact they commented on this says they knew the bad press this would cause

They would never come out like this on anything
 
samcraig said:
Sounds like the intention was to leave functionality out but that they've been "listening" to the complaints. Good for Apple.
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Could be that, could be something else entirely. Hard to say what's been going on really with the information that's available (assuming all of it can even be trusted). Ultimately it seems that the end result is a positive one for many, so that's the good part.
 
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Ha, whose genius idea was this anyway.

"We should force people to use a cheap $5 stylus instead of our $100 product."

Maybe they don't want people using the IPP as a computer, so as not to hurt MacBook sales.
 
This Just In: Apple releases new update for (_fill in the blank_) and users are shocked to see (_fill in the blank_) functionality has been removed.

Jon Ives believes the best feature is one that has been removed.
 
The Game 161 said:
The fact they commented on this says they knew the bad press this would cause

They would never come out like this on anything
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Apple has commented on various things in the past (and kept quiet on many others), even Steve Jobs used to reply to all kinds of questions/feedback, some important, some not so much. Hard to draw too many connections one way or another given how all over the board things have been in relation to responses.
 
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To anyone saying this is not a response to public outcry please consider this: Apple usually stays silent about things, and their standard policy isn't to comment, much less on betas. They generally come out only when there is major controversy/outcry.
 
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Jal217 said:
I'm confused with what improvements they are claiming to have been trying to make. It just needs to work as a stylus and did, what could the change need to be. Either they are just back peddling and can't just say "we were going to take it away but we won't now" or they are going to make it capable of 3D Touch like features.
Click to expand...

3D touch would be nice using the pressure sensitivity. Not sure how practical it would be in practice though, sometimes acting like 3D touch other times as a pressure sensitive pen.
 
I wonder if Apple took out of this beta by accident or intentionally. Maybe they just wanted to see what the initial reaction would be.

To clarify, I'm saying that Apple probably had full intentions to put the pencil functionality back in the upcoming beta of iOS 9.3, but they just wanted to take it out for one beta to see how consumers would react.
 
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