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Settings getting cluttered? Could use an overhaul.

Gemütlichkeit

Gemütlichkeit

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 17, 2010
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This might be a nit pick but I feel the settings menu for iOS 6 has just become to cluttered with menus and submenus that it can get confusing to know where a specific setting is.

Instead of introducing new feature after new feature, I feel they could overhaul the settings with a grid like layout similar to the home screen and new share menu. Focus on consolidating menus down to make more sense and rename confusing ones.

Just a thought as I was trying to dig around to find where I could turn off the on screen home button :eek:
 
Gemütlichkeit said:
This might be a nit pick but I feel the settings menu for iOS 6 has just become to cluttered with menus and submenus that it can get confusing to know where a specific setting is.

Instead of introducing new feature after new feature, I feel they could overhaul the settings with a grid like layout similar to the home screen and new share menu. Focus on consolidating menus down to make more sense and rename confusing ones.

Just a thought as I was trying to dig around to find where I could turn off the on screen home button :eek:
Click to expand...

I agree, even more annoying to me than the layout is that there are at least a handful of settings that can be accessed in multiple different places.
 
There should be basic function toggles on the search page, which is 4/5ths empty and a waste of space. The toggles could disappear in the rare event somebody actually uses the search function.
 
This is something Windows 8 does that is brilliant. Each apps settings are available with a swipe in from the right side of the screen. Aggregating them all in one monolithic app (and they aren't always even there!) is just ridiculous. If you want to experiment with changing settings on an app you have to leave the app, go to settings, find the apps settings, change the settings if they are there, leave settings, go back to the app you were on, make sure it did what you want, and if not, do it all over again.

So yes, this is one thing Windows 8 and Android do completely right.
 
The entire OS needs an overhaul; I expect Apple to touch on everything with iOS in iOS 7.
 
Settings is very cluttered and messy now days. It's getting harder and harder to find things. It needs to be reorganised. Probably should have a search function like System Preferences does on OS X.

Apple should also ban/deprecate the ability for apps to put their own settings page in the Settings menu. Almost no apps do anything useful with that - it's just silly clutter.
 
Agreed, I've had an iPhone (and an iPod Touch before it) for a few years so I know where just about everything is under Settings (after much time searching each section).

My girlfriend just got her first iPhone and has so much trouble finding certain things within Settings. Same with one of my good friends, just got his first iPhone and I have to keep helping both of them find the option they need under Settings.

It shouldn't be so difficult but it is..So many menus, sub-menus, and some preferences are under different sub-menus! It's just baffling..
 
It's a mess, and as others mentioned before it doesn't help that:

1. Stuff keep moving around from version to version.
2. Duplicate items.
3. App settings discrepancy. Are settings in the app, in Settings, or worse, both?
 
Agreed. There are too many settings grouped together that don't make a ton of sense. I've never agreed with "Mail, Contacts, and Calendars", especially when you go in to modify "check email" intervals and such.

And the Do Not Disturb function isn't exactly dummy proof. Not difficult, but it could be simpler.
 
apb89 said:
The entire OS needs an overhaul; I expect Apple to touch on everything with iOS in iOS 7.
Click to expand...

iOS really needs an overhaul. I expect Apple will continue refining it for a couple more releases and then really do something big.

On regards to the settings menu, I find it not intuitive at all. I also find that the notification menu is extremely annoying to navigate within.
 
I'm actually ok with it. Even if they don't change it in iOS 7, I'll still be happy.
 
Not sure if cluttered is the right word, but I find that it sometimes take a lot of clicks just to toggle a particular setting on/off. For example, if I have like 5 separate email accounts, and want to set push settings for them, I need to to manage each manually. I would like a single page with all the accounts listed, each with its own on/off push toggle.

Same thing with notifications. I wonder if it is possible to integrate certain services like email and imessage into the notifications bar? So like I see my friend messages me, I can just reply him directly from there?
 
I think an OS can only go so far with keeping some of the simplicity side of it intact so that people who are familiar with how the OS works don't get confused somewhat like what the earlier versions of Android were like (2.x.x).

Hopefully now that there is other people in charge of iOS, then they will look at how to improve it from top to bottom while still keeping it relatively resource friendly.
 
If they do give a complete interface overhaul, hopefully will give option to revert to the current style still.
 
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