iOS 11 Dock and Gesture Controls to Replace 'iPhone 8' Home Button Entirely

[kyykesko]

I'm really starting to like the idea of a split status bar. Having just the time on the left hand side, and then battery/WiFi/Cellular on the right side sounds great. Airplane Mode icon would still take over Cellular/Wifi when toggled.

Status icons for Orientation Lock, Do Not Disturb, and Night Shift can all be easily viewed in the Control Center. Although it's nice, they don't necessarily need their own spot in the the status bar.

Other things, like the Location Services Indicator and Connected Bluetooth could show in an expanded status bar (revealed with a tap or swipe), in Notification Center, or be moved to Control Center.

All in all, I'm getting excited to see what Apple has cooked up.

That's BS. I _NEED_ to know when my phone is in DnD mode. I'm not jumping hoops every time I need that basic information. Same goes with BT connectivity. Orientation lock I can check elsewhere if required. The ideas about the home button replacement also sound pretty retarded. I've enough trouble with getting the current swipe up to register properly while in different apps, not looking forward to actually having to use it constantly.

 

[kdarling]

I don't know a lot about the possibilities of OLED when it comes to use of energy, but what if it displays white to blend in with the white front? Like an always-on feature mentioned a couple weeks ago?

Yes, it would be possible. In fact it's pretty likely that iOS will remain white based, just as Android is (and Android's been on OLED for years). Here's why:

These days, OLED white uses about the same energy as LCD white. But of course with anything darker than all bright white, OLED will use less power than LCD... and that's pretty often.

So you would not be using more power than now on full white pages... yet when viewing media and many current apps, the darker backgrounds will automatically gain the OLED benefit of lower power. It's a win-win for iOS even without any changes.

 

[EastDallasMatt]

IWho else can never get Control Center to come up reliably? The phone often seems to confuse it with button input or accidental touches. I have to drag my finger quite high up and slowly/deliberately. I don’t want to have to do that every time I close an app.

This!
I use Ann Android phone, but I do have an iPad Mini 4 and this has been a penis since day one.
I can't pull up the control center or pull down the notification center on my iPad reliably, so I don't know how this is going to work as a replacement for other functionality.

 

[Gameboy70]

The home button defines the way we use the iPhone. Why does Apple want to change something that works so well?

I hope this phone is a flop and they go back to having a home button in short order. The entire philosophy of iOS revolves around having that button that ALWAYS takes you home.

Entire philosophy? iOS was designed for zero buttons initially. Ive had to persuade His Steveness to add the home button.

 

[kstotlani]

Raise to wake, then facial recognition. Half of it is already on the current iPhone.

Raise to wake was to take a look at the notifications on your locked screen but if the phone unlocks every time then those notifications will not be seen. Maybe cover your face till you finish reading?

 

[jamesrick80]

I wonder how these gestures will impact you when you are driving your car. I guess Apple carplay will need some considerable use for now on without a home button (physical or virtual).

 

[Neepman]

The problem with gestures is that they not intuitive for many people. I use them all the time. But my parents? When they’re baffled by their iOS device, there’s always that one button they can hit. Now, when they’re stuck, the solution will be to swipe a finger up from the bottom. And why are they supposed to think of that? There’s no cue that this is an available action. You have to already know about it.

And not to mention gestures are not the easiest things to consistently execute with less steady and possibly arthritic hands.

 

[Michael Scrip]

EDIT: I should also add that there's no NEED for this change. Nobody is complaining that the home button doesn't work well. In fact the home button + TouchID is one of Apple's greatest innovations.

Truth.

But having a home button means there must also be a bezel... and bezels are apparently bad nowadays.

I agree with you though. I've had three iPhones so far... and I've never been bothered by any of the bezels. I've grown rather fond of the home button and TouchID.

However... I always wondered why they didn't do more with all that extra wasted space:

 

[john123]

They're not cavemen! Just tell them "instead of the home button, just swipe up." They have probably seen bigger changes in their lives than that.

Not really. Older people have gotten used to buttons for decades. The notion of "swiping" is a new thing for younger people.

Forcing people to change by itself isn't a great way to sell products or drive adoption. If that change solves a needed problem, people tend to go along with it. If that change seems like unnecessary complexity, or a solution in search of a problem, then people are either slow to adopt or don't adopt at all. There are literally hundreds examples of business school case studies proving this central point.

As someone who has done a lot of UX and UI work, I can tell you that the same lessons are in the textbooks there, too.
[doublepost=1504147736][/doublepost]

I'm really excited for the new iPhone and will hopefully order one the second pre orders go live but after having lived with the 5S and 6S for four years I am really not sure about getting rid of the Home Button, like how do I pay for things in a store really easy? I absolutely love just double tapping the home button and using tap to pay. I really think it will be stupid if I have to do some sort of retina scan or type in a code. It will feel like 1 step forward and about 3 steps back.

But I have some faith Apple have thought this through, time will tell. TouchID and Apple Pay are some of my favourite features of the iPhone and beautifully integrate into my life. It really makes paying for stuff extremely easy and straight forward.

So let me see if I understand this. You say you're excited—enough to likely preorder ASAP. But you're not sure about losing functionality that you admit to love. So this comes down to blind faith that Apple "thought [it] through," even though your own user experience suggests this is a drawback?

I don't know about you, but when I'm about to throw $1000 at something new, I don't put blind faith in any manufacturer, or even reviews by other people for that matter. Apple has been prone to make more and more polarizing decisions in recent years. Go back about 5 years, and you'll find most everyone on board with their decisions. Sure, there was some grumbling, as there always is, but people understood why changes were happening. You have to go back to the Motorola days to find a time when a large, large contingent of the user base was convinced Apple was doing something completely dumb. (And, I'll point out, that's a great example of when the blind faith in Apple was misplaced. Fortunately, they eventually fixed that mistake.)

 

[Urban Joe]

Unless the screen backgrounds of the ears are color matched its going to really irritate me. It makes the screen look like a sticker that's waiting to be peeled up. I'm afraid this is going to look like some pos Amazon would sell. Here's hoping they can camaflauge it using software magic.

 

[JM]

And when you try to slide a notification the widget page will appear. This happens to me every time. I have to literally concentrate on the precise location of the notification.

Ugh. Forgot about that "gem" of UX
[doublepost=1504149714][/doublepost]

This!
I use Ann Android phone, but I do have an iPad Mini 4 and this has been a penis since day one.
I can't pull up the control center or pull down the notification center on my iPad reliably, so I don't know how this is going to work as a replacement for other functionality.

Please dont ever edit your post haha

 

[Nabby51]

I really hope that isn't the functionality. This is going to confuse the average consumer immensely. I wonder what people will say if they do a home button like the S8. It's 3D touch like in practice but as many people have mentioned it's always there and ready even if the device screen is completely off.

 

[TrueBlou]

And not to mention gestures are not the easiest things to consistently execute with less steady and possibly arthritic hands.

People with very bad arthritis I could see having a problem with too many gestures. Having not seen the iPhone 8 in use I can’t possibly speak to what accessibility features will be available for people with such difficulty. The rest of us will vary from person to person a great deal I would imagine.

While some days are better than others I don’t recall ever having too much trouble with gestures, sometimes it may take a couple of tries. I have more difficulty with the power and home button than I do with gestures.

For sure my ideal replacement for the home button would be, well, the home button. An under screen Touch ID, Taptic feedback solution would be much preferable. I’d even settle for the less preferable notion of it being incorporated into the sleep/wake button than altogether abandoned.

But being an optimist I’m prepared to give an alternative a try in the flesh before I write it off completely, sight unseen.

I mean I (and I doubt anyone else) never did have an issue when we had to swipe to unlock once upon a not too long ago. The oldies seemed fine with that, even my dad had less of a problem with it than he does Touch ID, don’t get me started on that Of course then there’s also the new gesture to use instead of a home button, but if you can learn one, you can learn any. In fact it would be much the same gesture as used to unlock the device it would seem.

If swipe to unlock is combined with a facial recognition system that is as fast, reliable but more importantly as secure as it is alleged to be. Supposedly more so than Touch ID. Then I’m prepared to try it at least. Killing off the muscle memory when it comes to getting back to the home screen will likely take a few days to get used to though.

But if that’s the case I’ll remain disappointed that Apple failed where Qualcomm succeeded.

 

[deuxani]

Raise to wake was to take a look at the notifications on your locked screen but if the phone unlocks every time then those notifications will not be seen. Maybe cover your face till you finish reading?

I think he was missing a step. Raise to wake and unlock your phone with FaceID: you are still at your lockscreen (just like now with the 7, raise to wake and touch, not press, the home button).
In the Bloomberg article it said swipe up to go to phone. What I think they mean is swipe up on the lockscreen to go to the home screen. Which would make sense as the swipe up gesture will be THE gesture on the new iPhone.

 

[TrueBlou]

I think he was missing a step. Raise to wake and unlock your phone with FaceID: you are still at your lockscreen (just like now with the 7, raise to wake and touch, not press, the home button).
In the Bloomberg article it said swipe up to go to phone. What I think they mean is swipe up on the lockscreen to go to the home screen. Which would make sense as the swipe up gesture will be THE gesture on the new iPhone.

That’s my interpretation of how the system (a facial recognition one) would work too.

Essentially the same as it does now with raise to wake if you have it enabled (if not, tap the sleep/wake button first) when you begin the swipe up to unlock, the sensors scan your face in the blink of an eye (pun intended,) if it’s authorised, the phone is unlocked so that by the time you’ve finished your swipe, you are at your home screen. If not authorised, well that’s obvious no?

Ive no doubt the new device is going to turn off some, what? Diehards? Set in their ways? Whatever, as far as I’m concerned I’m all for progress, if indeed that’s what it is.
I’ve wanted a major revamp for a long time and now that it’s finally happening I’m not going to write it off until I at least know exactly what it is.

Yes I’ve grown used to the home button and I like it. For sure I love Touch ID, but and it is a but, if Apple’s implementation of facial scanning is indeed more secure than Touch ID as it is rumoured to be. Wouldn’t that actually be a good thing?

I’m an old fogey and I can cope with change, vive la différence and all that.

 

[SourceSunTom]

I think the power button could replace the home button: it got larger and iOS 11 allows you to swipe up to get to the lock screen instead

 

[ValO]

Couldn' t they use someting like forcetouch on the apple watch to acces controll center? I like the way the apple watch works with a hard press to show options like source for audio, etc. I would even love a hard press anywhere on the screen to go the homescreen.

 

[Mildredop]

I thought the main button on the old Nokias was genius - anyone could pick up that phone and, within seconds, totally understand how the phone worked.

The home button on the iPhone was the same - you didn't need to read the instructions. You'd just play around and, if you got lost, the home button would get you back to where you started.

I'm assuming that if they are getting rid of it it's because Apple know what they've got is even better. I'm excited to see and trust that Apple know what they're doing (and I'm not even an iPhone user).

 

[himanshumodi]

I hope the dock doesn't keep popping up when I am trying to scroll or playing some swiping game on the phone.

 

[bigjnyc]

I’m also curious about the role of the side button. I don’t really buy into the, it’s bigger so it’s easier to press, line of thinking. It may well be true but have any of us ever had much difficulty performing that task since it moved to the side? I’d wager that there’s a lot less people having difficulty with it than those who have no problem.

Not to mention that it’s been fine for what, 3 generations now? I’m inclined to think that if that side button is bigger, it’s bigger for a more important role than being easier to press. Especially considering the device is smaller than the Plus sized iPhones.

Very valid point... I really hope you're right and they do something cool with it. It probably won't be touch ID like some have speculated though because that button is used to lock the phone, so pressing it to touch id and unlock it would make no sense.

 

[Abazigal]

I think the power button could replace the home button: it got larger and iOS 11 allows you to swipe up to get to the lock screen instead

Well, you apparently invoke Siri by holding down the power button now.

https://mobile.twitter.com/_inside/status/903093716814102529

Guess that also explains the new shut down screen that was earlier reported.

 

[Bane-Thunder]

As far as the “notch” is concerned, I don’t really mind if it’s blended in or not. It’s still a massive improvement over the huge chunk of black atop my iPhone 7+ screen. Naturally I’d prefer it blended in, but if it’s not, no biggie.

I’m definitely all in favour of gestures instead of a virtual home button (or perhaps as well as, who knows.) But over the years with iPhone and iPad I’ve always found myself using gestures wherever they’re available to me. It just feels right on a touch based interface. But that’s just my preference.

I’m really looking forward to the official reveal, to see what we do actually end up with. Whatever it is, I don’t imagine myself complaining too much.

We whinge and moan on a semi-regular basis that Apple doesn’t do enough to push iPhone forward. Then we whinge and moan when they change too much. To hell with it, you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs and all that. I think we’re long overdue a major redesign to completely modernise iPhone and iOS and I’ve got reasonable confidence that Apple know what they’re doing with interfaces.

^This guy right here is the TRUTH.

 

[KdParker]

This all sounds messy to me, I guess you'll have to use it to see but it seems like one missed opportunity for 3D Touch... then again maybe this iPhone 8 will not have 3D Touch, their has not been one single report on weather or not it will have it!

Just imagine £1000 starting price and no Touch ID or 3D Touch..!!!'

Ok...am I reading this right?

So there will not be touch ID which is integrated into tons of apps?

Am I the only one that sees this as an issue?

 

[ImBuz]

That's BS. I _NEED_ to know when my phone is in DnD mode. I'm not jumping hoops every time I need that basic information. Same goes with BT connectivity. Orientation lock I can check elsewhere if required. The ideas about the home button replacement also sound pretty retarded. I've enough trouble with getting the current swipe up to register properly while in different apps, not looking forward to actually having to use it constantly.

If you don't like it--don't buy it

 

[KdParker]

Raise to wake??

No Touch ID for security? really?