iOS 12 Sending photos in iMessage

[C DM]

Yes...that’s where the disconnect is with this.

Before, all we had was attaching/taking pics in iMessage.

But now I can do HUNDREDS of other things through iMessage. The fact that you (or even I) don’t use it to its full extent yet, doesn’t mean it is t needed and a good change.

I do now find myself using it for Animoji (just upgraded to an XsMax from a 7+), using the GIF apps more now, sending songs with iTunes button, etc.

Old habits die hard...that’s all this is...not bad design or adding stuff that isn’t needed.

Those other new things are new and different, and it doesn't mean that they should change existing basic built-in functions. In fact they haven't even really done that as the camera icon button is still there, but they took essentially half of its functionality and moved it somewhere else.

There can very well be reasoning that could be used to explain the change, but that in itself doesn't mean that there aren't reasons for the previously established way working out better for plenty of users.

 

[MozMan68]

Correct! And I’m in the automotive business and when your repeatedly sending photos all day for hours a day a change like this drives you nuts. Probably adds an extra hour a day. My phone also has 20,000 photos in it 🙂

I’m still confused by posts like this...all the posts above showing that it is now better or at worse, no more presses to get to what you were doing before. How is that causing you an hour more a day?

Still one press to get to recent photos and two to get to all photos...just like before.

Still one press to get to the camera, but now you get the full camera app versus the limited one before (required two presses to get to full camera).

Can you guys just admit that it’s just your habit of using it the old way?

 

[MozMan68]

Those other new things are new and different and shouldn't change the existing basic built-in things. In fact they haven't even really as the camera icon button is still there, but they took half of its functionality and moved it somewhere else.

There can very well be reasoning for changing it and making it work differently, but it doesn't mean that there aren't reasons for the previously established way working out better for many.

Again...the reason for not combining is that you now get full camera capabilities versus the limited one before. To me, that’s a huge improvement.

 

[C DM]

Again...the reason for not combining is that you now get full camera capabilities versus the limited one before. To me, that’s a huge improvement.

And that's all fine and good. Still, to some others that part doesn't really matter much and the change isn't bringing a benefit to them while simply changing how they've gone about things without a point that benefits them. And to others still it comes at a cost of losing a quick small camera view that they were able to make quick use of.

 

[sean000]

And that's all fine and good. Still, to some others that part doesn't really matter much and the change isn't bringing a benefit to them while simply changing how they've gone about things without a point that benefits them. And to others still it comes at a cost of losing a quick small camera view that they were able to make quick use of.

Any change is going to please some and disappoint others. I’ve been on committees where we debated for an hour about which group of people we wanted to please vs piss off by changing a relatively minor (but frequently used) feature of something we manage. Some people hate change even when it benefits them. They hate having their cheese moved even when it’s moved to a location that makes more sense. Often it’s just because they have learned to work with the status quo and they don’t want to have to learn to do something a new way. Personally I kind of like the new way of adding photos, but it took me awhile to stop tapping on the camera icon.

 

[C DM]

Any change is going to please some and disappoint others. I’ve been on committees where we debated for an hour about which group of people we wanted to please vs piss off by changing a relatively minor (but frequently used) feature of something we manage. Some people hate change even when it benefits them. They hate having their cheese moved even when it’s moved to a location that makes more sense. Often it’s just because they have learned to work with the status quo and they don’t want to have to learn to do something a new way. Personally I kind of like the new way of adding photos, but it took me awhile to stop tapping on the camera icon.

There's certainly all of that, just as sometimes a change can make something worse for some.

 

[617660]

I prefer how it was set up before. Its iMessage for gods sake. Its meant to be quick and easy. Having recent photo and a basic camera together really simplified the usage 95% of time.

The way its set up currently is only ideal for 5% of my usage when I actually need to send non-recent photos.

 

[cynics]

Several things going on here.

4+ photos sent via iMessage are sent through a link to iCloud. 3 or less photos sent are sent as the files themselves. This is a requirement with "Messages in iCloud".

There are several benefits and features to this:

Features :

1. Gives the recipient the ability down download the photos anywhere. They can use the link on a PC.

2. Individual photos can be downloaded from the link. So if someone sends you and album from a wedding you were at you can pick out the photos you want.

3. Android users won't receive photos that with degraded resolution and color depth due to SMS compression.

4. Doesn't clutter up group messages as someone sends 15 photos into a group as you are trying to have a conversation. Often times causing people to not see messages.

5. The link sent can be accessed anywhere. So a PC user can easily download the pics at original quality without jumping through as many hoops. There are hoops but it relieves the most difficult ones that would require a wired connection from smartphone to PC for file transfer.

6. Speed of sending groups of photos could be incredibly slow depending on data connection.

7. The resulting battery hit with sending groups of photos/videos, especially when transcoding was required from HEIC and HEIV for compatibility mode has been lessened. This is essentially the export process with video editing btw.

The most important thing, the thing becoming a serious problem was the need for data conservation due to the resulting file sizes some photos can be with high quality phone cameras now a day.

This obviously saves Apples bandwidth since people can glance at photos without downloading the originals. And I'm sure was highly considered in the decision to implement this feature.

However the real issue were people sending albums (or albums size groups of photos) after an event. In a couple clicks (photos, album, select, select all, share, messages) I could not only send you all the pics from the wedding you were just at but I would use up YOUR entire data plan for the month and all of YOUR available storage in iCloud, completely on accident since the average user might not think about that.

Apples solution was to just send a well designed iCloud link that worked well in the messaging app and looked nice on a web browser. Turning the feature off isn't up to the sender, its up to the receiver (why do you care how I view my photos anyway? lol) and the difficulty with a toggle is the middle man (cellular network provider). Relaying that info could be finicky with iMessage and difficult in group iMessages and nearly impossible with SMS (currently at least).

Personally, as someone that has a limited data plan and limited iCloud space (I use it for my Macs file system) I appreciate the change. I was always annoyed when someone would just bombard me with pictures I didn't ask for especially when I was trying to do something work related. At least this way I can choose to look at them, choose which ones I want to use my data and also choose the time I download them (like when I'm on wifi).

TL;DR : You can't annoy, frustrate and potentially waste other peoples money as easily now....sorry.... 🙂