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Apple Reveals 'Do Not Disturb While Driving' iOS 11 Feature to Hide Unnecessary Notifications
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I appreciate you trying to help.
I use my phone, hands-free, through my Apple Carplay. My phone stays locked in the center console of my car whilst in motion. Always has. I'm an ex-police officer so I know the drill with the legalities.
However, in my current line of work (a different branch of law enforcement), I need to be able to answer telephone calls immediately, often from unfamiliar numbers, so as to be able to conduct my business. Sometimes, lives depend on it. Yes I know that sounds overly dramatic but honestly, in my line of work, sometimes lives do actually depend on it. Often, but less frequently than calls, text messages come through too that need to be answered immediately.
I do all this currently through voice control and Siri. If the notification function is taken away, without me being able to disable DNDWD permanently, I will need to get a new phone in order to do what I need to do.
So, yes, I do actually "need all that crap in my car."
But again, thanks for the assistance.
Whilst I agree that forcing these features would make sense, I'm still interested to know how this feature is going to work in the following scenarios.
- Driver is using a mapping app that isn't Apple Maps, on their phone, in a cradle. Will DND prevent that from happening? Will the likes of Google Maps and Waze be exempt from the blacked out screen?
- What does this mean for Siri hooked up to a driver's Bluetooth system? Will they be able to respond, hands-free, to phone calls? Will they be able to change tracks in Music, hands-free?
- How will it work with Apple CarPlay? Will this feature be used to force people into using Apple CarPlay and it's seemingly limited apps? If so, Apple need to give its users some serious answers on why Google Maps and Waze might not be available on that platform.
Overall it feels as though Apple hasn't explored those above user cases, or at least hasn't chosen to share details on them, which is a shame. This felt somewhat brushed over in comparison to some features.
I don't personally want it, but it's a waste of resources if you can just click "I'm a passenger" like Waze. It's a false feature they're touting to make things safer, while it actually accomplishes nothing but taking the liability off Apple and placing it on us, the users.
No, it's not a waste at all.
It allows drivers to choose to not be distracted by notifications when driving. I plan to use this feature. People who drive Uber and Lyft will find this VERY useful, because it will block notifications from other parts of the phone when driving and let you concentrate on the driving.
Reckless people will always find a way to be reckless. Inconveniencing all of us because of them is just wrong.
The adoption rate for Apple Maps is pretty high, due in part to the tight integration with other core OS features (Siri, Contacts, Calendars, etc.). CarPlay does not support alternate mapping apps - tight integration is one of the keys to the effectiveness of CarPlay as a "reduced distractions" interface. So I doubt, at least at the start, "CarPlay Lite" would support them. The day may come when CarPlay and DNDWD both do - provided the third-party app is fully compliant with Apple's requirements.
There won't be a "not driving" prompt in a taxi or bus - the feature only kicks in if the device is connected to the vehicle's Bluetooth. As far as private cars are concerned, while there are vehicles that maintain Bluetooth profiles for multiple devices, generally only one of them can be in use at a time - generally, that'll be the driver's phone, since the driver doesn't want to be answering passengers' calls, or calling out on a passenger's phone.
How will it work with CarPlay? It doesn't have to. It's intended for vehicles that do not support CarPlay. As someone who has (and enjoys) CarPlay, I certainly would not choose this less-capable alternative. Now, if you meant, "How would it work in a CarPlay-enabled vehicle?" Most CarPlay systems require a Lightning connection, and if none is made, it's as if CarPlay doesn't exist - it doesn't even show up as an icon on the control panel. It's still possible to use the conventional Bluetooth interface, with the car maker's generally poor voice control, inadequate integration of address book, etc. So if someone would rather use the less capable Bluetooth interface... I'm pretty sure the Do Not Disturb feature would be available.
The point of both CarPlay and this is to reduce distractions. If you hate the idea of limited app access in CarPlay, this isn't droid you're looking for - you won't want to use either of them. And you don't have to.
Despite one person's wish that this does become mandatory, I don't see that happening in today's US political climate. What seems more likely is that the failure to voluntarily use these features will become a consideration in wrongful death lawsuits (if it hasn't already). The defendant will be described as selfish, self-involved, heedless of the well-being of those around him, willfully refusing to use common-sense safety features... And insurance companies may make the use of these features (when available) a condition for receiving safe driver discounts.
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The liability is always on the driver. If there's a lawsuit that has found Apple (or Google, as the developer of Android) liable for distracted driving, I haven't heard of it.
I don't know what makes this a "false feature." It turns off certain, very obviously distracting, features. If a person chooses to not be distracted by them when they go to bed or when they connect to their car's Bluetooth system, there's nothing "false" about it - it's a convenience to those who value it.
Do features like this help keep regulators off Apple's back? Yes. Does providing those features make it harder for the driver to blame Apple? Yes. What of it? The driver isn't required to use a phone in the car. It would likely be safest if the phone was turned off entirely until needed for emergency calls, or when parked at a rest stop. All features like this do is mitigate the risk.
Be careful about what you wish for. There are all kinds of unintended consequences to forcing this kind of thing on people. Not everyone is just casually texting about dinner and gossiping on their phones.
A few years ago, I got a phone call at work in the middle of the day from my sister who told me that my Dad was at the hospital, his condition was not good, and they may soon transfer him to hospice. I jumped in my car and immediately started the 2.5 hour drive to the hospital, not knowing if he would even be there (or alive) when I arrived. I can't imagine how mad I would have been if my phone had cut off all communications with the outside world during those two hours with a forced "I can't take your call/text right now" message being sent to my sisters.
And what if your 16-year-old daughter was driving alone late at night and a strange car started following her closely. Would you want her to pull over (and put herself in danger) in order to call for help? Or would you want her to pick the up the phone and call you or the police for help while still driving down the street?
I could come up with cautionary tales all day long. The point is that sometimes there are legitimate reasons to have a phone live, active and easily available. As long as this is an OPTION, I think it's a great idea. But it should never be forced.
Cars are needed to transport people.
Look, I'm terribly sorry you seem to have fallen on a slippery slope. Most of us are quite good at balancing things like this. For example- recently a gun fanatic in America said something along the lines of "I bet British people wish they had guns to protect themselves with" without actually looking into the stats of this (90 dead in 15 years of terrorist attacks in the U.K., versus something like 60k dead in one year due to firearms in America).
I always thought you could make it mandatory, but you have to do some Simon-like pattern in a small window of time to unlock it while the car is moving. That might make it so the passenger could use it but prevent the driver from using it except at stoplights.
I should patent this and sell it to industry.
I should patent this and sell it to industry.
Please read my post in context. I was specifically replying to two people who want Apple to make it mandatory with no ability to disable.
How often would that ever work? Do you believe everybody using their phone is holding it in their hands, in front of the wheel, in good lighting, far enough away that it would be recognizable by the camera?
What about people who use the phone in their laps? Or on a dashboard mount. Or an air-vent mount? And do you really think software can recognize the steering wheel of every make and model vehicle, in all lighting conditions (including at night, where there is little more light than the instrument panel itself)?
And that's just false negatives. We haven't gotten to the possibility of false positives, where the camera thinks something else in the car is a steering wheel, and it locks up. Or for that matter, if it sees something outside of the car that it thinks is a steering wheel.
You've got an interesting idea, but I can't see it ever being practical. Far too many ways for this to fail. You'll spend a ton of R&D money, complicate the software, lock passengers out of their phones, and still not prevent drivers from using it.
That's not what Apple said. At the keynote, they said they were going to use "Doppler Wi-Fi" to detect when the phone is in motion faster than a certain speed, even if it is not paired with a car's BlueTooth.
And it is not all that unusual for a car to pair with a passenger's phone. My wife's car has BlueTooth and is paired with her phone. When we take long road trips, I am the one who drives, but the car is still paired to her phone, even though she's the passenger.
That won't work. The kind of drivers who are already using their phone unsafely will not have a problem paying attention to the screen in order to unlock it - making them an even greater danger on the road.
And patterns like this are pretty hard for passengers to follow in a moving car as well. All the usual bumps from driving make it pretty hard for anyone to perform precise actions. Just try playing a game as a passenger in a moving car (or even a train or plane.) It can be pretty hard at times.
That's why I was pointing out how excessive or strange your previous comment was ("Anything to curb deaths is welcomed by me.")
Oh we all know. People like to exaggerate claims of others, it's pretty common.
Most likely yes, and also you won't be able to use your device without tapping "I'm not driving".
DND while driving needs to be less in your face. Suppress notifications, but still allow device usage for when you're stopped. Allow exceptions for some apps like Uber. Having to work around DND while driving to use navigation apps like Google Maps is more dangerous than just not using it, I think.
Problem is iOS (and Android for that matter) don’t release completely bug free releases so I wouldn’t trust them to release a “not while driving” mode that would work reliably. Remember it renders your phone inoperable. Hopefully only while driving but I don’t trust them to be able to do that consistently.
Rather than dwell on the possibility of imperfection, consider the possibility of unwanted/unsafe distractions being substantially reduced.
Besides, it's also likely that "It's not a bug, it's a feature." In this regard, I mean that the feature as designed does not work as we wish it had been designed.
The “feature” disables our phones for the most part. I’d like to be able to use my phone to navigate or play music and I would like to shut this “feature” off if it goes haywire and doesn’t let me use my phone because it erroneously believes i am driving. This is a wee bit more than an “imperfection” or “the feature does not work as I wish it had been designed”.
Anyone who thinks this couldn’t happen is ignoring (or ignorant of) the recent history of updates on iOS and Android devices and the “clean up” patches that needed to be released. And consider that this requirement would also apply to Android phones. At least Apple can and usually does the fix its very quickly when the OS gets messed up. Android is all over the place. As a former Android owner with Verizon I can verify that Android updates were something theoretical that happened to other people. JK but boy it took a long time.
The feature is optional, not mandatory. Enable/disable at your pleasure.
There's no difference between recent history and ancient history when it comes to apps. There has never been a time when the one-dot-zero release was perfect, there has always been the need to fix bugs that come to light in daily use. If you can reasonably expect perfection in any aspect of life, I'd like to know about it.
I was speaking solely about the scenario previously posed where the DND feature was mandatory and forced on us as “drivers”. I actually like the feature and plan to use it. But I don’t think it should be mandatory for several reasons, the potential for bugs disabiling phones being one such example.
I don’t expect perfection.
Between that and the record of all computer systems in not providing perfection, especially in initial releases, makes me think “mandatory for all phones” is a very bad idea.Since tech improves at such a fast rate recent history is the only history that is relevant. Looking at the total historical picture is useless as most of it doesn’t apply. So I specify recent history because it makes the point relevant.
How can
A new safety feature is coming to iOS 11 this fall called "Do Not Disturb While Driving," which will block unnecessary notifications to your iPhone when it's connected via Bluetooth to a vehicle. Apple said it'll also be able to use speed-detection to know if a user is in a car while it's moving.
When you're driving, Messages will auto-reply with a specific text message to those trying to reach you that you currently can't reply to their text. Users who are passengers will be able to tell iOS 11 and grant full notification access to their iPhone.
Article Link: Apple Reveals 'Do Not Disturb While Driving' iOS 11 Feature to Hide Unnecessary Notifications
how can the phone tell if you're a driver or a passenger?
A new safety feature is coming to iOS 11 this fall called "Do Not Disturb While Driving," which will block unnecessary notifications to your iPhone when it's connected via Bluetooth to a vehicle. Apple said it'll also be able to use speed-detection to know if a user is in a car while it's moving.
When you're driving, Messages will auto-reply with a specific text message to those trying to reach you that you currently can't reply to their text. Users who are passengers will be able to tell iOS 11 and grant full notification access to their iPhone.
Article Link: Apple Reveals 'Do Not Disturb While Driving' iOS 11 Feature to Hide Unnecessary Notifications
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You can simply select that you aren't driving and it won't enable (you can also set it up so that it doesn't automatically enable).