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How much of IOS's features do you actually use?

Abazigal

Abazigal

Contributor
Original poster
Jul 18, 2011
20,907
25,167
Singapore
Sometimes, I just feel like I am missing out on a lot.

  • I am not a fan of social media, so twitter/facebook integration is wasted on me.
    Nor have I a need of maps (which actually turned out to be a mixed blessing given the recent Maps fiasco).
    Rarely ever FaceTime (though it did come in handy as a free alternative to expensive overseas calls when I was abroad).
    Siri is fun at times, but not very practical as she still has problems understanding what I say (eg: keeps interpreting "wake me up at 5.30 as ...5.50". That and I am still quite self-conscious of speaking aloud to my phone in public.
    Passbook still isn't supported much (and the services so far aren't relevant to my interests.
    Shared photostream - not really a photos person, so don't really take much photos, much less share them with others.
    That call-decline with sms feature gets used a lot less than I envisioned. Rarely ever in a situation where I need to decline calls.

It's like...these are often touted as the key selling points/strengths of IOS, yet I find them really useful or relevant to my life. :p

What I do use are safari, email, whatsapp/imessage, airplay mirroring, alarm, mutitouch gestures, iworks for ios, dropbox, notifications, goodreader and a few games here and there.

What about you? How extensively is the iphone a part of your life? :)
 
Most of my time is spent in apps but I do use the following a lot.

Notification Centre
Siri
Reminders
Maps

That is about it for core use, the rest I use now and again but Passbook is worthless to me, Nobody I know uses Facetime or iMessage. My experience is very much app focused.
 
I'd say I use a great deal of them, but with that being said there are still hundreds of tiny other features that go unnoticed and unused to the vast majority, VPN anyone?


-iCloud I use, heavily.
-Passbook I use a bit here and there, AirCanada recently updated to support it which is nice!
-Siri gets used every day. To make calls, send/read texts, play music, etc.
-The Mrs. and I have a shared photo stream which consists mostly of pictures of our new puppy (Pure-bred beagle named Monica).
-Airplay is easily one of our most favoured features as we own an AppleTV and tend to stream almost everything.
-FaceTime we use sometimes, mostly when one of us is travelling.
-iMessage is used all the time, both my brother and sister have iPhone's, and so does the Mrs. So iMessage is where it's at for us.
-Huge list of reminders (worst memory ever).
-Work calendar, shared calendars, etc.
-Several email accounts set up, including a work exchange account.
...and the list can go on and on. My iPhone is at my side all day everyday, heck I'd even use Keynote Remote for my job if I was allowed.


I will say that one feature I find myself never really using is dictation. I use Siri when my iPhone is in my pocket for sending texts, sure, but if I have the phone in hand and am typing something, I'd rather just type it than use dictation.
 
Abazigal said:
What about you? How extensively is the iphone a part of your life?
Click to expand...
The extensiveness of the iPhone in my life has nothing to do with the amount of IOS's features that I use. What I find useful I find to be very useful and IOS is just a better fit than the alternatives out there.
 
takeshi74 said:
The extensiveness of the iPhone in my life has nothing to do with the amount of IOS's features that I use. What I find useful I find to be very useful and IOS is just a better fit than the alternatives out there.
Click to expand...

I suppose I could have worded my question a little better. What I meant was, with so many features in the core IOS, just how many do you use, or have managed to integrate as a part of your everyday lives?

For instance, I do use Siri to set my iphone alarm every night, and make the occasional call / send email / sms, but only for short dictations which I am certain I do not need to edit. :eek:
 
FlatlinerG said:
-iCloud I use this for backing up my phone only
-Passbook Haven't used this yet as there's nothing i would use yet
-Siri I use Siri when i don't feel like typing, which is usually while driving
-The Mrs. and I have a shared photo stream which consists mostly of pictures of our new puppy (Pure-bred beagle named Monica). Ditto with our New Kitten, by the way, do you and your wife happen to be fans of Friends TV Show?
-Airplay Don't use as we don't have apple TV
-FaceTime Have never used except for fun
-iMessage Almost everyone i know has an iphone so iMessage is daily
-reminders I use this on occasion, very helpful
-shared calendars Calendar synced with Gmail calendar
Click to expand...

I just used yours as it was a good list, My answers are in bold next to your topics
 
I'll also use the list from "FlatlinerG"

-iCloud Don't really use
-Passbook Cannot think of a use for this
-Siri Used it a few times when I got the phone
-Photo Stream Never used
-Airplay Never used
-FaceTime Only tried it once
-iMessage Don't use it
-Reminders Use occasionally
 
I'll continue the trend:

iCloud Use for backup - it's nice not to worry about hooking my iPhone/iPad up to my computer to backup, and since I'm on wifi every night, it's always up-to-date.
Passbook Don't use this. Not yet, anyway.
Siri I actually thought I wouldn't use Siri, but it turns out I do quite a bit, especially when I'm driving.
Photo Stream No, don't use this.
Airplay No, though I might use it if I had an Apple TV.
FaceTime Now, I use FaceTime a lot. My mom has an iPhone, and she enjoys getting to see her grandson (since we live 800+ miles apart) on a regular basis. She's good with a computer, but it's nice not having to explain a video chat program. FaceTime just works.
iMessage I only have a few friends who do not have iPhones, so I use iMessage all the time.
Reminders Use these pretty regularly.

So, all in all, I do use quite a few of the core iOS features on a regular basis. Could I get by without them? Sure I could. But they do make things nice.
 
Daveoc64 said:
I'll also use the list from "FlatlinerG"
Click to expand...

Me too.

-iCloud Use it to sync calendar mostly
-Passbook Trying to use it, but not getting alot out of it yet
-Siri I'm still on iPhone 4
-Photo Stream Love having my photos show up on my MBP
-Airplay Never used
-FaceTime Never used
-iMessage Use it, since both my daughters have iPhones, but it is usually slower than SMS
-Reminders Use it once in a blue moon
 
I don't really use Siri as it's not available in Dutch, same counts for passbook really, no use for it (yet) in the Netherlands.

I have been using facetime depending on how my friends use it, seeing not everyone has a FaceTime capable device this is currently quite low. Most other features I use.
 
  • Do Not Disturb is my favorite feature. I have an illness that leads me to sleep odd hours, and DND this has truly improved my quality of life. Knowing that people can't disturb my sleep casually, but can still get through in an emergency is amazing.

    I am a fan of social media, so twitter/facebook integration is a good improvement. I use both often.

    I use Maps fairly often, at least a few times a week. Not so much for navigation, as I am used to using Navigon, but to search. It works well for me. I did use Maps to navigate for the first few weeks, just to see, and it always got me to my destination flawlessly, but I prefer some of Navigon's features.

    Rarely ever FaceTime. Can't remember the last time I did.

    Siri has become invaluable to me; I use it probably a dozen times per day. No exaggeration.

    Passbook is okay so far: I use it. Couple of places, and as it's supported more, I'll probably use it more.

    Shared photostream - this is the feature I use the least. I do love photostream proper, but I don't use the share feature.

    I use iCloud very often. I preferred MobileMe for some things, but I've been using some form of :apple: cloud for years. Don't see that changing.

    I too rarely use call-decline with sms feature, but I do like that it's there.

    I use iMessage All. The. Time. So much so that I wish all of my texting friends would get an iDevice, instead of just most. :p

As you can see, I use the new features quite a bit. After DND, iMessage and Siri are my favorites/most used by far, but I have integrated most into my iPhone experience, for the better.
 
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