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iOS 7.1 vs iOS 6 UI Design Poll

Which iOS UI Design do you like better?

  • iOS 6

    Votes: 89 27.1%

  • iOS 7.1

    Votes: 239 72.9%
  • Total voters
    328
sshhoott

sshhoott

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 6, 2010
304
0
New things almost always look better at the beginning. The existing polls comparing iOS 7 and iOS 6 were done a while back. Now that we've had iOS 7 for a while now and are used to it, it would be interesting (and more unbiased) to see your design preference of iOS 7.1 vs iOS 6.

Note that this is only a User Interface Design poll, which includes the design of icons, keyboard, general app interface, animations, colors, etc. It doesn't include performance, features, and security of iOS.

Please only vote if you've used iOS 6 before, so the comparison is fair.
 
More of these?

iOS 7 is far better IMO. I only hate hate hate the caller screen on 7.1.
 
Only things I don't like in iOS are a couple of the icons and the 7.1 call screen, everything else looks great.

My wife still has iOS 6, looks really boxy and dark.
 
The animations of iOS 7 are by far better than iOS 6's clunky and flat animations. Design wise, they are both good but iOS 7 is lighter and allows for more fluidity. Icons on iOS 6 were somewhat better being complex but some of them were not so good because of the overuse of gloss and boring colors. iOS 7 are an improvement in some and a negative in others when it comes to icons.*

*In my opinion
 
Funny, I am so used to iOS 7 that I don't even remember what iOS 6 was like really

I don't really pay much attention to it, just a way to get to the apps themselves, so no big deal really, so either is fine with me
 
I'm fine with iOS 7.

Like MacDawg, I don't really pay that much attention to it. I tap the icon, open the app, and get on with it.
 
I'm fine with iOS 7 since iOS 6 looked like iOS 5 which looked like iOS 4 etc. and I was ready for a change, and find it a bit silly to see a poll like this when iOS 8 will likely start hitting the street in a few weeks...
 
I miss the music app from iOS 6 but hopefully it will be improved on in iOS 8 because it can't be any worse than the one in iOS 7.

The phone app in 7.0 was actually fine but completely butchered in 7.1 so I wonder if Apple will respond to the backlash there.

The icons in iOS 6 were arguably far superior than the current ones. Other than toning down the color palette, they should make the stock app icons have a more consistent and harmonious feel on the home screen. I don't hate the actual icon template, it's the execution of which that I'm not crazy about but it can easily be fixed.

Also, while a bit heavy of the texture side, iOS 6 had much better contrast within apps and had easily identifiable buttons. The white space in iOS 7 is almost as excessive as the skeumorphism in previous iOS versions. The plain text action buttons are not modern and clean but they can be very confusing at times and the touch target feels a lot more cramped now. These buttons are an example of Ive's minimalism going way too far.

Lastly, iOS 6 had a better and less obstructive home screen dock and I miss the signal bars in the status bar as the bars are industry standard and was an unnecessary and screen space wasting change.

Other than the music app and the notification center, the functionalities of iOS 7 are undoubtably superior to iOS 6. The UI doesn't necessarily need another radical overhaul but an extensive polishing and refinement.
 
The dock is pants, the signal dots are terrible, the calendar is worse, the notes app is worse, some of the icons are worse and, crucially, battery life is MUCH worse.
Aside from all of that, iOS7 looks better in most areas but overall just isn't anywhere near as polished as iOS6.
 
"New things almost always look better at the beginning."

I disagree with this premise as far as iOS 7. For me, when it was introduced it was extremely jarring and off-putting. At first, it did not seem Apple-like to me. However, after I actually began using it, I started to really enjoy the design. I now prefer everything about it to iOS 6. That said, GameCenter still looks strange to me. The glossy bubbles are out of place both in the icon and in the app. I hope Apple changes it for iOS 8 even though I don't even use the app.
 
iOS 7: For me, euuuuuugh. Barf-worthy (and literally did). The effects are overly-stimulating and are a waste of processing power. Buttons can not be deciphered from info. No day list in Calendar. Just no way in the world I'm going to live with it. After installing a bad Cydia tweak while on OS 6 I was forced to upgrade, and I was absolutely wretched.

iOS 6: Much better, better processing and gets the job done without clunky animations and blurs. It has its effects, but usefully. I have a feel for skeumorphism and detail. Without it, it just doesn't feel complete.

iOS 5: I think this is really the optimum version. I like the glossy navigation bars which they had removed in iOS 6.


In short I have gone through 4 different iPhones of different models to get one with a fast, reliable iOS.
Even though I may be in the minority, Apple should absolutely give us the option to return to our older iOS versions on 3GS+. Then again I am also incredibly sensitive to blur. I'm actually very surprised at the results of this poll.
 
Last edited:
My household still has iOS 6 on 3 out of 4 iOS devices.

I hate iOS 7's design just as much as I did last June, and it was enough for me to put Apple off my radar. Thankfully, I was on Android full time since 2012.

Ever since playing around with a very old Mac many, many years ago, I was amazed by Apple's UI design. It just felt so refined, so understatedly classy, so much nicer than the technically beefier Wintel stuff. Year after year, Apple never failed to deliver on the UI front, even OS X 10.0 was surprisingly refined for a "revolution" product. Until June 10th, 2013.

I don't want to hear any rah-rah about modern/functional "flat" design. I still yet to hear any good arguments for it. I still don't understand how Helvetica Neue Light is a great choice as a system font. I still don't understand how 90s clipart is nicer than photorealistic icons. I still don't understand how a very badly implemented Web-style design defers to content. I still don't understand how these crazy neon colours are nice. I'm still not digging that yummy yellow on white.

Yes, flat UI design is a trend, but Windows Phone and Android have at least made an attempt to implement it well, and I never expected any remarkable UI work from Microsoft and Google. Apple has just ripped off UI assets from these systems, put that on top of the iOS' UI structure, slapped some cheesy FX on top of it and bounced some buzzwords about simplicity, clarity, no ornamentation, etc.

The exact same arguments have been used in defense of 60s-70s "functional" architecture. I don't want to fall prey to this nonsense. I don't want to overpay for hardware to get a UI that is a derivative of more bang-for-the-buck stuff. I don't want to convince myself that fast food UI design is modern and haute UI design is dated, "boxy", "clunky", "dark" and skeuomorphic.

I hate iOS 7.
 
deluxeshredder said:
My household still has iOS 6 on 3 out of 4 iOS devices.

I hate iOS 7's design just as much as I did last June, and it was enough for me to put Apple off my radar. Thankfully, I was on Android full time since 2012.

Ever since playing around with a very old Mac many, many years ago, I was amazed by Apple's UI design. It just felt so refined, so understatedly classy, so much nicer than the technically beefier Wintel stuff. Year after year, Apple never failed to deliver on the UI front, even OS X 10.0 was surprisingly refined for a "revolution" product. Until June 10th, 2013.

I don't want to hear any rah-rah about modern/functional "flat" design. I still yet to hear any good arguments for it. I still don't understand how Helvetica Neue Light is a great choice as a system font. I still don't understand how 90s clipart is nicer than photorealistic icons. I still don't understand how a very badly implemented Web-style design defers to content. I still don't understand how these crazy neon colours are nice. I'm still not digging that yummy yellow on white.

Yes, flat UI design is a trend, but Windows Phone and Android have at least made an attempt to implement it well, and I never expected any remarkable UI work from Microsoft and Google. Apple has just ripped off UI assets from these systems, put that on top of the iOS' UI structure, slapped some cheesy FX on top of it and bounced some buzzwords about simplicity, clarity, no ornamentation, etc.

The exact same arguments have been used in defense of 60s-70s "functional" architecture. I don't want to fall prey to this nonsense. I don't want to overpay for hardware to get a UI that is a derivative of more bang-for-the-buck stuff. I don't want to convince myself that fast food UI design is modern and haute UI design is dated, "boxy", "clunky", "dark" and skeuomorphic.

I hate iOS 7.
Click to expand...

I have friends who have Macs, I literally pull my hair out trying to do the simplest things when they need computer help. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

For people like yourself who don't like IOS 7, you must be happy there are alternatives in the market place. For people like me who like IOS 7, I'm still happy there are alternatives, although at this point my iphone is my cell phone of choice.

I like the streamlined UI and flat interface. IMO, IOS 6 is clunky compared to IOS 7. Apple is headed in a new direction it seems; where Android and WP might be the unintended beneficiary; according to some.
 
deluxeshredder said:
My household still has iOS 6 on 3 out of 4 iOS devices.

I hate iOS 7's design just as much as I did last June, and it was enough for me to put Apple off my radar. Thankfully, I was on Android full time since 2012.

Ever since playing around with a very old Mac many, many years ago, I was amazed by Apple's UI design. It just felt so refined, so understatedly classy, so much nicer than the technically beefier Wintel stuff. Year after year, Apple never failed to deliver on the UI front, even OS X 10.0 was surprisingly refined for a "revolution" product. Until June 10th, 2013.

I don't want to hear any rah-rah about modern/functional "flat" design. I still yet to hear any good arguments for it. I still don't understand how Helvetica Neue Light is a great choice as a system font. I still don't understand how 90s clipart is nicer than photorealistic icons. I still don't understand how a very badly implemented Web-style design defers to content. I still don't understand how these crazy neon colours are nice. I'm still not digging that yummy yellow on white.

Yes, flat UI design is a trend, but Windows Phone and Android have at least made an attempt to implement it well, and I never expected any remarkable UI work from Microsoft and Google. Apple has just ripped off UI assets from these systems, put that on top of the iOS' UI structure, slapped some cheesy FX on top of it and bounced some buzzwords about simplicity, clarity, no ornamentation, etc.

The exact same arguments have been used in defense of 60s-70s "functional" architecture. I don't want to fall prey to this nonsense. I don't want to overpay for hardware to get a UI that is a derivative of more bang-for-the-buck stuff. I don't want to convince myself that fast food UI design is modern and haute UI design is dated, "boxy", "clunky", "dark" and skeuomorphic.

I hate iOS 7.
Click to expand...
You haven't given it a fair unbiased chance, you don't even use it but you "hate" it.
 
deluxeshredder said:
My household still has iOS 6 on 3 out of 4 iOS devices.

I hate iOS 7's design just as much as I did last June, and it was enough for me to put Apple off my radar. Thankfully, I was on Android full time since 2012.

Ever since playing around with a very old Mac many, many years ago, I was amazed by Apple's UI design. It just felt so refined, so understatedly classy, so much nicer than the technically beefier Wintel stuff. Year after year, Apple never failed to deliver on the UI front, even OS X 10.0 was surprisingly refined for a "revolution" product. Until June 10th, 2013.

I don't want to hear any rah-rah about modern/functional "flat" design. I still yet to hear any good arguments for it. I still don't understand how Helvetica Neue Light is a great choice as a system font. I still don't understand how 90s clipart is nicer than photorealistic icons. I still don't understand how a very badly implemented Web-style design defers to content. I still don't understand how these crazy neon colours are nice. I'm still not digging that yummy yellow on white.

Yes, flat UI design is a trend, but Windows Phone and Android have at least made an attempt to implement it well, and I never expected any remarkable UI work from Microsoft and Google. Apple has just ripped off UI assets from these systems, put that on top of the iOS' UI structure, slapped some cheesy FX on top of it and bounced some buzzwords about simplicity, clarity, no ornamentation, etc.

The exact same arguments have been used in defense of 60s-70s "functional" architecture. I don't want to fall prey to this nonsense. I don't want to overpay for hardware to get a UI that is a derivative of more bang-for-the-buck stuff. I don't want to convince myself that fast food UI design is modern and haute UI design is dated, "boxy", "clunky", "dark" and skeuomorphic.

I hate iOS 7.
Click to expand...

Completely agree.

It's a tasteless pile of junk and it saddens me that people think it looks nice. I genuinely don't think Steve would have allowed this crap to see the light of day. Not a chance.
 
TheRainKing said:
Completely agree.

It's a tasteless pile of junk and it saddens me that people think it looks nice. I genuinely don't think Steve would have allowed this crap to see the light of day. Not a chance.
Click to expand...

Lots of lols in this post. If the majority of the people think it looks nicer, there's a general consensus that it's nicer. You don't have to agree with it, but it shouldn't sadden you.

And the "Steve Jobs wouldn't have allowed this" line is getting really tired.
 
dannyyankou said:
If the majority of the people think it looks nicer, there's a general consensus that it's nicer.
Click to expand...

This forum represents less than 1% of iOS users around the world so the results of this poll do not speak for the majority of iOS users. And lets not forget this is an Apple forum. It's full of Apple loyalists who will get behind anything Apple does because they want the company to be successful. I would love to see this type of poll done on a random forum not related to Apple. Something tells me the results will be quite different. In fact, of all the people I've spoken to in person about iOS 7, not one of them has liked it. Most are indifferent or they hate it.

You don't have to agree with it, but it shouldn't sadden you.
Click to expand...

I'm not losing any sleep over it, but I do think its sad when I see people lowering their standards.

And the "Steve Jobs wouldn't have allowed this" line is getting really tired.
Click to expand...

I'm not surprised that such a phrase is outlawed on this forum. It's easier to be ignorant and turn it into a meme than it is to actually discuss it.
 
Last edited:
deluxeshredder said:
My household still has iOS 6 on 3 out of 4 iOS devices.

I hate iOS 7's design just as much as I did last June, and it was enough for me to put Apple off my radar. Thankfully, I was on Android full time since 2012.

Ever since playing around with a very old Mac many, many years ago, I was amazed by Apple's UI design. It just felt so refined, so understatedly classy, so much nicer than the technically beefier Wintel stuff. Year after year, Apple never failed to deliver on the UI front, even OS X 10.0 was surprisingly refined for a "revolution" product. Until June 10th, 2013.

I don't want to hear any rah-rah about modern/functional "flat" design. I still yet to hear any good arguments for it. I still don't understand how Helvetica Neue Light is a great choice as a system font. I still don't understand how 90s clipart is nicer than photorealistic icons. I still don't understand how a very badly implemented Web-style design defers to content. I still don't understand how these crazy neon colours are nice. I'm still not digging that yummy yellow on white.

Yes, flat UI design is a trend, but Windows Phone and Android have at least made an attempt to implement it well, and I never expected any remarkable UI work from Microsoft and Google. Apple has just ripped off UI assets from these systems, put that on top of the iOS' UI structure, slapped some cheesy FX on top of it and bounced some buzzwords about simplicity, clarity, no ornamentation, etc.

The exact same arguments have been used in defense of 60s-70s "functional" architecture. I don't want to fall prey to this nonsense. I don't want to overpay for hardware to get a UI that is a derivative of more bang-for-the-buck stuff. I don't want to convince myself that fast food UI design is modern and haute UI design is dated, "boxy", "clunky", "dark" and skeuomorphic.

I hate iOS 7.
Click to expand...

From what you described, you don't hate iOS 7, you do not understand iOS 7. The whole point of iOS 7 is to get out of the way, whilst iOS 6 leaped off the screen with gradients, textures and gloss everywhere. IMO, Apple did iOS 7 design worse in some cases than Twitter or Instagram.

iOS 6 design was alright for the most part, got the job done and looked alright doing so. I can see why you may think you "hate" it but... it's really just the philosophy behind it that you don't agree with and that's not wrong at all...
 
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