iOS 15 Lets You Drag and Drop Images and Text Across Apps

[Apple_Robert]

False. We don’t owe them anything; they have to earn it.

 

[Kylo83]

Still can’t remove the annoying home bar or see the batt % in the top bar

 

[smoking monkey]

Frankly, since iOS 7 it's been getting worse and worse. I saw a demo of iOS 4 recently and was shocked how much easier, straightforward, and better it was to use compared to now.

I remember playing with an ipod touch original Generation at the store to see if I wanted it and without knowing anything about it, I could use it. It felt obvious. The ios is far more complicated and powerful now, but the aim for Apple should always be about intuitive UI. I think they've gotten away from that a little.

 

[paulwiggins]

Anyone else feel like iOS has become super unintuitive with its weird and almost random gestures and stuff by pressing on invisible areas on the screen with different amount of fingers on top or am I just getting old? It can’t be that cuz half the people I know didn’t even know multitasking was a thing on their iPads 😅

edit: Cross-app drag and drop has been available on the iPad since 2017

i didn’t know this was a thing either!

Agree. I express appreciation to the folks who are going to do the YouTube user videos and highly recommend watching them.

 

[no_idea]

This is like we want to give access between apps but refuse split view like every other phone out there for some reason.

It would be WAY better with a true split view to see both apps rather than this ghost press and hold, keep pressing and switch apps with your other hand. A basic 2 app split view would be far more intuitive than this.

Anyone else feel like iOS has become super unintuitive with its weird and almost random gestures and stuff by pressing on invisible areas on the screen with different amount of fingers on top or am I just getting old? It can’t be that cuz half the people I know didn’t even know multitasking was a thing on their iPads 😅

edit: Cross-app drag and drop has been available on the iPad since 2017

i didn’t know this was a thing either!

I can’t keep up anymore. I have just a handful of gestures I’ve committed to memory that i know on the iPhone and iPad. All these ways of doing things is just too much for me. I’m with you 😃

 

[Channan]

Anyone else feel like iOS has become super unintuitive with its weird and almost random gestures and stuff by pressing on invisible areas on the screen with different amount of fingers on top or am I just getting old? It can’t be that cuz half the people I know didn’t even know multitasking was a thing on their iPads 😅

edit: Cross-app drag and drop has been available on the iPad since 2017

i didn’t know this was a thing either!

I don’t think it has become unintuitive at all. Some new features, maybe, but the basics are still mostly the same. New features like this are great for people who want to learn them, but not necessary if you don’t.

For example, I just completely rearranged my iPad’s home screen today and made a comment to my dad how convenient it is to be able to move multiple apps at a time by holding down on one and selecting more apps that add to a stack under your finger. He said he didn’t even know you could do that. While that implementation may not be the most intuitive, it didn’t make the old method of dragging one app at a time any worse, and it was great for someone like me that took the time to learn a new feature.

 

[citysnaps]

I don’t think it has become unintuitive at all. Some features, maybe, but the basics are still mostly the same. New features like this are great for people who want to learn them, but not necessary if you don’t.

For example, I just completely rearranged my iPad’s home screen today and made a comment to my dad how convenient it is to be able to move multiple apps at a time by holding down on one and selecting more apps that add to a stack under your finger. He said he didn’t even know you could do that. While that implementation may not be the most intuitive, it didn’t make the old method of dragging one app at a time any worse, and it was great for someone like me that took the time to learn a new feature.

Totally agree with your assessment. All it takes is a modicum of curiosity. I think some people have a difficult time mustering a bit of that up, though.

 

[dguisinger]

Anyone else feel like iOS has become super unintuitive with its weird and almost random gestures and stuff by pressing on invisible areas on the screen with different amount of fingers on top or am I just getting old? It can’t be that cuz half the people I know didn’t even know multitasking was a thing on their iPads 😅

edit: Cross-app drag and drop has been available on the iPad since 2017

i didn’t know this was a thing either!

No, I agree.... and they've taken things away that I used to find intuitive.... To this day i still press and hold to rearrange my home screen and get pissed that it pops up a context menu instead (Yes, I know if i do it on a blank spot it works just as i expect). I tried multi-tasking multiple times on my iPad and could never remember how it worked. I hate the changes they've made to selecting text and moving text editing cursor over the years. The thing I hate the most is when i go to look at a notification, and it unlocks because Im looking at it and decides i no longer need that notification, goes to the home screen and I can't find it again by swiping down for notifications, but i never had a chance to read it.

I think the problem with a lot of things is minor tweaks are behavior breaking, but they are small enough they don't force you to step back and completely relearn areas of the system.... its just suddenly things you used to do don't work anymore, and you don't have the time or in my case patience to figure out why.

Then again, they could pull a Microsoft and throw out half the UI for a tablet start screen, to where I just up and left the platform. ..... then again (again), Apple kind of has with Launchpad which refuse to use vs my Applications folder.....

 

[macduke]

Oh, that’s kinda cool I guess. I usually just use the share button. On the iPad this is more natural.

 

[Serban55]

Beautiful feature and lets not forget that you can drag and drop multiple items etc

 

[Unregistered 4U]

There will always be some folks that are unable to grow with the systems that are active today. Doesn’t matter who’s making it. In the future, there will be folks that need someone to help them figure out the newfangled interfaces. However, the younger folks that are learning touch from the start, the ones that will be capable of buying systems for the next 20-30 years, this change is a non-event.

 

[Volkhard Juergens]

Apple calls this GUESSTURES…

 

[JosephAW]

This should come in handy with mail when you have to drag and drop several different PDF attachments into one email.

 

[Bawstun]

Wouldn’t copy and paste be easier and faster?

I actually came here to ask this exact same thing. Isn’t this more cumbersome and time-consuming than just copying and pasting text? And doesn’t the image thing also seem more confusing than just selecting on the add photo option and then finding it to add?

 

[_Spinn_]

Cool. This would be even more useful with split screen apps.

 

[d5aqoëp]

copy and paste seems much more elegant.

Bladdy give me direct access to files system when connected by a USB cable to PC/iMac. Dufus design choices in iOS. Craig Federighi needs to be fired. Didn’t anyone notice how complicated all iOS interactions felt while watching WWDC? I can’t remember a single interaction they showed in the stream. Some mountain climbing photos and mostly Indians with polished American accents. Not a single SE Asian origin person. I am an Indian myself and I believe Apple’s next big market is India. Understand the subtle undertones in the presentation.

 

[Wildkraut]

Apple calls this GUESSTURES…

I call this TORTURE!

 

[one more]

A good idea ridiculously implemented, IMO. What’s the point of it without having a split-screen view on an iPhone? Just to wiggle some elements of the screen around? As others have mentioned, Copy > Paste currently does a much better job at that. Now, if we could have two apps side by side in a split-screen mode, this would be the real thing.

 

[ian87w]

without lifting that finger, use a second finger to swipe out of the app and open another app.

What? How do you do that? I guess I don't have such finger gymnastics in my brain...

 

[One2Grift]

On paper, this looks to be a pretty nifty alt for Copy/Paste. Interested to see how this fairs in my daily workflow.

Well said. On paper it seems cool. But how it flows with tasks is TBD.
For me copy-paste and/or share is a very ‘simple and fluid’ action. But if this new feature makes certain share actions a tad easier? Great.

 

[One2Grift]

YES! The techinology challenge people I help every year are having a harder time using iOS/ipadOS, and i find myself desparately searching for all the off switches for these hidden features that cause them confusion.

The issue is Apple is trying to balance what the technology enthusiasts are demanding to turn iOS into a full desktop OS, versus what the appeal was for iOS in the first place ... simplicity.

Frankly, since iOS 7 it's been getting worse and worse. I saw a demo of iOS 4 recently and was shocked how much easier, straightforward, and better it was to use compared to now.

Simplicity is an underrated virtue IMHO. Apple and, IME, virtually every other tech that has years of numerous release upgrades to its GUI = it creeps more toward a pro environment. It starts to, what I call, get too cute for its own good for the average user.
Apple is guilty of this too sometimes. However, Apple actually has been more stubborn (for better or worse) than most in trying to stay in the ballpark of ‘simple’.
As you noted about enthusiastists (and as you see here on MR unendingly), ‘why doesn’t it do A B C and X Y and Z’ is a constant din. X product does it! Why not Apple! The middle ground is a tough target to hit for Apple and almost every other non new GUI.

 

[svish]

Looks like a nice feature. Will definitely use it

 

[NightFox]

Anyone else feel like iOS has become super unintuitive with its weird and almost random gestures and stuff by pressing on invisible areas on the screen with different amount of fingers on top or am I just getting old? It can’t be that cuz half the people I know didn’t even know multitasking was a thing on their iPads 😅

edit: Cross-app drag and drop has been available on the iPad since 2017

i didn’t know this was a thing either!

Yeah, I read about all these new features on here, think "wow, that's cool and going to be useful", then a few days or weeks later when the chance comes to use them I'm left thinking "what was it was I was meant to tap? Or hold? With two fingers or was it three?". Maybe that's just down to being the wrong side of 50 or not using my phone for hours at a time every day anymore.

I think the whole thing of 'you don't even need an instruction manual' went out of the window very early on with the iPhone - probably when cut/copy/paste was introduced. I think before that it truly was 100% intuitive.

 

[Wildkraut]

What? How do you do that? I guess I don't have such finger gymnastics in my brain...

I already can see the lawsuits coming…

The typical Apple Sheep after 1 year of iOS 15 usage, still trying to justify this feature:

 

[obamtl]

Definitely, I started with iOS 4 or 5. It was very intuitive. First time I picked it up. It was like I'd been using it all along. All the commands and placement of everything in the UI just made sense.

iOS 7 was when it started to change. With features being hidden and placement being unintuitive.

Now so much seems to require a Google search to learn or poking around through tons of menus. Then much else I don't even know I'm missing out on. Unless I happen to come across it in a post.

A large part of that is feature creep. Everythings more complex. Which makes it harder to make everything intuitive.

A lot also has to do with minimalism or anti-skeumorphism. Making things less apparent. The most aggravating thing is when they move a function or command to another category or menu. For example adding mail accounts to settings has changed locations multiple times. To different headings.

All the simple things you could do in iOS 5 can still be done in a simple way. Adding more complex ‘power user’ features doesn’t change the most basic experience for people who only need that.