iOS 7 Tidbits: iMessage Timestamps, App Switching, Spotlight Search, and More

[JLL]

Folder management is harder when you have too many in a folder now. I wish you can tag your apps. Maybe iOS 8.

----------



Me too. And my iPhone got really hot so I turned off updates and a few other things and now it is back to normal.

It was probably getting hot since a lot of apps were getting updated.

----------

It's nice to know what new features there are in apps.

And it's a nice way for devs to communicate with their users.

This is another anti-dev move by Apple, which is the norm I guess.

You can still see all the info. Updated apps are still listed under Updates, and you can see when they were updated.

How about checking it out before complaining?

 

[parish]

If Apple can implement the automatic night time mode based on ambient lighting and local time for Maps...

Why can't it allow this for everything else? Who really wants to stare into a bright white screen at night?

What are our eyes going to be like after 40 years of this...

I think Apple will have updated iOS before that happens. In fact, in 40 years, they might go back to the iOS 6 look if retro is in fashion

 

[Bevz]

Give it a chance..... I did not like it first either but after just one day I got used to it. Now a few month later I could never go back to the old UI.

Yeah I agree, I probably couldn't go back to the old one either. After a while a lot of the stuff I didn't like at first started to feel logical. However I'm still not sure about the white... Even after a few months it still feels like too much white in some built in apps. I was hoping during the beta they would have toned it down a little. They made lots of subtle changes to the folder colouring deriving from background colours which really helped them, I wish they had done something similar with the in app stuff... The logical thing (I thought) was to extend the idea of colour being keyed from your home screen backdrop and use it to subtly shade the white in the apps down a bit. At least it would allow users to effectively change the colour scheme themselves. Perhaps in an update but knowing apple unless millions complain I wouldn't hold your breath! Maybe in iOS8.

 

[zen]

Argh. The delay in the screen fading up from lock when you press the home button is driving me crazy. In iOS 6 you hit home, the screen comes on instantly, you swipe to unlock.

Now you hit home, wait for the screen to fade up, then swipe.

OK, it's only a second or two, but when you're in a hurry it's a pain. I hope Apple adds an option to disable all these animations (fade-up from lock, application and folder zooming) in the next update.

 

[teme]

I think the music app is most disappointing, and that's the app I use most. There's just too much scrolling now, I have a large music library and each artist takes much more space than before in the 'artist' list, so there's more scrolling than before. When I tap some artist to see the albums, I have to scroll through all the old albums and tracks if I want to listen the latest album. The old list view surely was much easier and faster to use, because at least 10 albums fitted to the screen at same time, now I only see the first album and its tracks and I have to scroll scroll scroll!!!

I wouldn't mind this kind of design in a desktop app, but in mobile app it just takes too much time and attention to search something.

 

[H.Finch]

*Not sure if it was mentioned... but newsstand can finally be put in a folder, for those that don't use it this is awesome...

Anyone know a guesture to go from 'in a folder' to the homescreen? I don't like to use my home buttons this much...I hear too much talk about them breaking...

 

[parish]

Thanks! That looks much better. Pity I can't change it on the app.

Is anyone having trouble accessing spotlight search? I try swiping down and all i get is the notification screen.

Or does it have to be enabled?

Yeah, that confused me for a while You swipe down but don't start at the top of the screen or you'll get Notifications. Put your finger somewhere just above centre and swipe down - HTH

 

[hanpa]

Have Apple updated their own user interface guidelines to recommend unreadable or barely readable text?

The icons and text at the bottom of the App Store app is barely readable, would they approve an app looking in that way?

I wonder how many users there are that will use the General/Accessibility settings to get basic readability. I guess I'm a disabled person now after upgrading to iOS7.

Bold Text and Increase Contrast settings helps a lot, also Larger Type.
No improvement in the App Store app though.

 

[parish]

Few things I've found do far...

Cover Flow has gone in the Music app. Landscape now shows album art tiled (swipe to see more)

2G connections are now displayed as 'GPRS' in the top bar rather than a circle.

In Calendar you tap Search (magnifying glass icon) to get List view (not very obvious that one)

 

[andy9l]

Updated my iPad 2 last night. Not a fan

Dat iPhone hardware though. Fantastic looking device.

 

[Cruddley]

I have an iPhone 4.

Things I like:

Fresh, fast interface.
Smaller fonts to use.
Better controls for music.
MUCH better controls for lock screen.
I can hide Newsstand!
More than 12 icons in a folder!
Automatic download updates for apps.
Great battery life.

Things I don't like:

Icons are too large and bulky.
The thin font is a bit 'cheap' looking.

Working nicely on my ip4 too. Don't know about battery life yet, but I remain doubtful that it would improve on ios7, particularly since you appear to be using the auto download update feature. All in all, nice to give a fresh look to a 3yo phone.

 

[chazbcn]

Loving it so far. I was a little skeptical by looking at beta versions videos and screenshots, but it's totally different on the actual phone. Very clean and simple, I like it overall.
I like the new key pad design for the unlock pass code, much bigger and comfortable to type faster.
Animations are beautiful and there are many details and useful little thing here and there. It's all about the details, as usual in Apple's style
Has anyone experiencing faster battery draining so far?

 

[thasan]

First experience with iOS 7.0 on my 4S has been so so at best..

• It drains battery really fast
• It lags like hell. Coming from iOS 6.1.3 I it was buttery smooth.
• I can't use Panorama mode on the Camera. Everytime I scroll to Panorama the camera quits. Bummer
• It's different. Quite a lot apps had been designed with skeumorphism in mind. Gradient texture and all that. Now the OS itself is flat and minimalistic, it feels left out.
• Colors .. Lotsa colors and not in a good way. Too toyish for my taste.

More reports to come. But overall I'm not too happy.

Restart, disable the background refresh. My 4s was running hot in the first hour. Now everything is fine. Battery seems slightly better (not entirely sure).
It lags only in rare situations. Like brining spotlight or sometimes, keyboards up. Other than that, it's fast as ios6 in my 4s.
Pan works for me without problem, although cam app is a little slower than it used to be.
I like the colors. But yes, many won't like it.
The online thing I don't like is zooming in or out thingy. Too much animation for nothing.

 

[juanmanas]

"Block this caller".

Yes! At last! My favourite feature in '7'!

Mine too. I love the way is done. Not just to silence the call, but to divert it straight away.

----------

First experience with iOS 7.0 on my 4S has been so so at best..

• It drains battery really fast
• It lags like hell. Coming from iOS 6.1.3 I it was buttery smooth.
• I can't use Panorama mode on the Camera. Everytime I scroll to Panorama the camera quits. Bummer
• It's different. Quite a lot apps had been designed with skeumorphism in mind. Gradient texture and all that. Now the OS itself is flat and minimalistic, it feels left out.
• Colors .. Lotsa colors and not in a good way. Too toyish for my taste.

More reports to come. But overall I'm not too happy.

Not sure what the problem is. I have an iphone 4s and I don't have any of the problems you mention.

----------

I think the music app is most disappointing, and that's the app I use most. There's just too much scrolling now, I have a large music library and each artist takes much more space than before in the 'artist' list, so there's more scrolling than before. When I tap some artist to see the albums, I have to scroll through all the old albums and tracks if I want to listen the latest album. The old list view surely was much easier and faster to use, because at least 10 albums fitted to the screen at same time, now I only see the first album and its tracks and I have to scroll scroll scroll!!!

I wouldn't mind this kind of design in a desktop app, but in mobile app it just takes too much time and attention to search something.

Ask Siri to play the song you want...

 

[dougal55]

I can only take so much zooming in and out with the folder icons.. its driving me nutty

Any idea how to turn that off?

Simply put I appreciate the idea of endless items inside folders but I loved the old way of doing it by splitting open the background (that was cool and not jarring). And the contrast of the old icons vs. folder background of the old iOS was WAY better. I'm just not getting the point of this UI, seems chaotic.

For example why am I zooming into the folder, then only to have a very large centered header, a square holding only 9 icons in the middle, and then another very large footer with no icons, not even the Dock showing? Don't get it.. seems like they should fill the space with as many folder items as possible.

Sometimes it is too small for anyone (like me) to read what they have in the folders from the home screen (plus I cant tell what I have in folders on iOS6 from just looking at the icons inside them) so the zoom thing is very helpful. And also those with impaired vision can actually see the icons better this way too. Cant see the point of it going back to the old ways of iOS6 of opening the folders...

Give it time, mate, give it time and soon you may love it or hate it... only time will tell...

I seem to like it a lot but like a lot of people, it takes a bit of getting used to with so many changes on iOS7... maybe it looks chaotic to some people (for example, the grey background area of folders looks wrong to me, it should be a better colour than that, like black or something) but not so chaotic to me so the point is that it will be updated again and again to give a more polished look of iOS7.....then the complaints will be less...

For now, I like what I see in iOS7 but give me a day or two before I can give the final verdict

 

[Tysknaden]

Batman's OS

"(...)Control Center: The new Control Center can be accessed by swiping upwards from the bottom of the screen. It includes quick access buttons for AirPlane, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Orientation Lock(...)"

Airplane? The one outside Gotham Airport?

 

[groovyf]

I don't mind the fact I have to upgrade, but not working with Macs is a bit of a bummer. It's still useful, but pushing videos or photos directly onto my mac would have been great.

Maybe that functionality will appear in Mavericks?

 

[badlandz]

OS7 on iPhone 4

I see now... I bit for the iPhone 3 to iPhone 3S upgrade. And then I bit for the iPhone 3S to iPhone 4 upgrade. But I've never been unhappy with my iPhone 4, even when Siri came out. I stuck by it.

But now, with OS7, my very functional and useful iPhone 4 is now pretty, but dog slow, and I can't even roll back to OS6. So even if the hardware was good, did all it could, was still working, they have OS7 to render the older working hardware so painful to use they want to force and upgrade to a new phone.

Nice move Apple, very Microsoft. Don't do a smaller, tighter, faster working OS, do a bigger more bloated one that forces people to upgrade hardware. Jobs wouldn't have done this (IMHO) because older users lose respect for the great old hardware, the Apple edge that makes it worth paying a premium for it the first time...

K, my rant done... It's inherent bias is obvious... flame away..

 

[groovyf]

I think the music app is most disappointing, and that's the app I use most. There's just too much scrolling now, I have a large music library and each artist takes much more space than before in the 'artist' list, so there's more scrolling than before. When I tap some artist to see the albums, I have to scroll through all the old albums and tracks if I want to listen the latest album. The old list view surely was much easier and faster to use, because at least 10 albums fitted to the screen at same time, now I only see the first album and its tracks and I have to scroll scroll scroll!!!

I wouldn't mind this kind of design in a desktop app, but in mobile app it just takes too much time and attention to search something.

^^ This. I went hunting in the Settings for something that would alter this new view, but sadly nothing there. A real ball-ache when you have 20+ albums from one artist!

 

[anomie]

lots of cool features in iOS7. Wish all these things were available with the old school "look" though..

I miss the times when Apple users where open to new stuff.
Now all I read is " I want the old style back", "too much white", blahblahblah.

 

[Diatribe]

Really nice update, many nifty features but I am really surprised at how much the folder animation irritates me. I cannot put my finger on it why exactly that is but even after a day of using it it, it still bugs me.

Hope I'll get used to it.

 

[Stella]

iOS is a very nice update - its what was required.

I'm really liking Safari - search in the URL input - as per OSX Safari - and the automatic full screen browsing.

I look at iOS6 and think its rather 'old'.

 

[Diatribe]

iOS is a very nice update - its what was required.

I'm really liking Safari - search in the URL input - as per OSX Safari - and the automatic full screen browsing.

I look at iOS6 and think its rather 'old'.

Safari is nice, the only thing I don't like is that when you want to scroll to the top of a page, now you have to click the top twice as it pulls up the url input first, that's a small step back.

 

[cutebook7658]

"Give me some fries with that order." Get used to hearing that. You obviously don't have a snowflake's chance in h*ll of entering into mobile OS development.

Some of you people need to get over yourselves.
Someone expresses their opinion that they don't like it for specific reasons and you guys jump all over them.
Who cares if they find it hard to read, that's their opinion.
You can make the argument that computers and technology are going backwards. We (used) to have these great OS where users could customize as much as possible. If someone wanted a bigger font or a different font, or a different them, or whatever - it was possible, it gave people the choice.
Choice is going down the drain and it's a shame.
Sure you may like iOS now and be cheering Apple, but just wait until they force something on you that doesn't sit well with you and let's see how you like it then. We'll remember to come back and give you a similar treatment when you come to share your opinion.
Gives users the choice, and learn to respect people's opinions. If your eyes are good and you can use iOS7 just fine - then great. Count your blessings because no one escapes from aging so your time will come.

 

[smoking monkey]

Maybe that functionality will appear in Mavericks?

Yeah, you'd imagine that at some point down the iOS road that this functionally (idevice to mac airdrop) will become a reality!