The difference between LAG & STUTTER and why it matters!

[februarian]

Throwing the ball out of the park, first of all, the Oxford English Dictionary states,

LAG as falling behind in movement, progress or development.

So people use this term when they find an action/task is performing slower time than what is ideally expected.

Some examples of lag:

1. When opening apps on a 6 Plus, a short perceptible delay is seen which is absent on 6S Plus.

2. Clicking the home button twice on 6 Plus with iOS 9.0 produced a VERY perceptible delay absent on the newest iterations such as 9.2 betas.

The word STUTTER has only recently come into use in describing software.

A web definition states-

"to speak in such a way that the rhythm is interrupted by repetitions, blocks or spasms, or prolongations of sounds"

So in terms of software, its clearly used to describe animation behaviour (the way a software "speaks").

A stutter occurs when frames per second drops below the ideal mark of 60fps. They are more noticeable when it goes below 30fps.

Now coming to the WHY IT MATTERS part,

Drop in frame rates causes ugly & unwanted breaks in your workflow that hamper usability & productivity by taking away the focus.

For some people it's actually a pretty big deal. And therefore it's paramount that the frame rate issues be fixed.

Some examples of stutter:

1. Scroll on the list of cities on the weather app, first do a light scroll then a fast one, you would find a general lack of smoothness that's very unpleasant.

2. On the Air 2, with an opened page in safari, tap on the address bar, notice the animation where the URL goes into selected mode. There is very obvious frame drop, jaggedness in the animation.

To summarize, lag is something where your action/task is delayed whereas stutter refers to the animation and it's lack of smoothness.

Forum members are encouraged to give their own examples & explainations on this very prominent but largely ignored issue of stutter.
Please file all your reports with Apple on bugreport.apple.com.

 

[thed0g]

Google also made the phrase "janky" popular, when they were battling it with Project Butter introduced with Jelly Bean. So "stuttering" and "jankyness" can be used for describing a non 60 fps performance.

 

[Yun0]

really.? we all should know where this thread is probably going..

 

[b0fh666]

you learn something every day, indeed!

 

[sanke1]

Thank god for this thread. It does get confusing when people describe stutter as lag and vice versa. So it becomes difficult to know what is what.

I had given the same explanation few days back.

But in short, both are bad and both must be treated with priority.

Twisted logic: If Apple truly fixes stutter and lag problems in next iOS update, will the traffic to Macrumors reduce quite a bit? I think now as with next major version, both would be back with vengence!

 

[Radon87000]

Ya.People keep getting confused between the two.Now that I think about it iPhone 6 and Air 2 has stutter primarily.Not lag

 

[oldmacs]

When you bring down safari search in iOS 9, would that be considered both stutter and lag at the same time? I mean for all my devices, not only does it lag (e.g. it delays) but the animation is also jerky.

 

[februarian]

When you bring down safari search in iOS 9, would that be considered both stutter and lag at the same time? I mean for all my devices, not only does it lag (e.g. it delays) but the animation is also jerky.

It would, yes. What devices do you own?

 

[februarian]

Thank god for this thread. It does get confusing when people describe stutter as lag and vice versa. So it becomes difficult to know what is what.

I had given the same explanation few days back.

But in short, both are bad and both must be treated with priority.

Twisted logic: If Apple truly fixes stutter and lag problems in next iOS update, will the traffic to Macrumors reduce quite a bit? I think now as with next major version, both would be back with vengence!

I agree that both need to be treated with priority, it's just that while Apple seems quite able to fix lag issues, it's the stutter issues that they seem really clueless about.

 

[oldmacs]

It would, yes. What devices do you own?

iPad Mini 2, iPad 2 and iPhone 5. Observed the same thing on iPad Airs, iPhone 5S's etc.

All my iOS 9 devices exhibit lag in terms of, you tap an app icon, then it goes black and there is lag before the app starts opening. A the beginning it was every app all the time, especially annoying on the Mini 2, but its gradually gotten better, but it still occurs to an extent.

My iPad 2 stutters a lot, though in different ways to iOS 8. The iPad Mini 2 also has a lot of stutter - worse than iOS 8. The iPhone 5 has some stutter, but less than the other two.

 

[I7guy]

Now i know for sure my devices; 5s, 6, 6s and iPad 2 are lag and stutter free.

 

[stooovie]

Three year old iPhone 5 is paradoxically the smoothest device right now. Also note that on bigger screen sizes the stuttering is more visible - jumps in animation are just physically larger.

 

[The Doctor11]

It's sad these definitions aren't common sense.

 

[Radon87000]

Now i know for sure my devices; 5s, 6, 6s and iPad 2 are lag and stutter free.

Thats impossible

 

[Act3]

A good example of lag is how ios 9 lags behind compared to ios 8 when looking up contacts when writing a new message. it is noticeable if you compare devices running next to each other. Initiate a new message and type the letter of the person you want to write a message to. In iOS 9 there is a delay before the field populates with names. In iOS 8 , that field populates almost instantly.

Happens with air 2 and iphone 6

 

[I7guy]

Thats impossible

Of course it is.

 

[I7guy]

A good example of lag is how ios 9 lags behind compared to ios 8 when looking up contacts when writing a new message. it is noticeable if you compare devices running next to each other. Initiate a new message and type the letter of the person you want to write a message to. In iOS 9 there is a delay before the field populates with names. In iOS 8 , that field populates almost instantly.

Happens with air 2 and iphone 6

Instant on my 6s.

 

[Act3]

Instant on my 6s.

Instant is relative from person to person. I can tell you it is not instant to me on my devices running 9 or above when compared to devices running 8.4.1 and below.

 

[Radon87000]

Of course it is.

I must admit its a good one where you claim the iPad 2 is lag free.I cant even take something like that seriously

 

[I7guy]

Instant is relative from person to person. I can tell you it is not instant to me on my devices running 9 or above when compared to devices running 8.4.1 and below.

That's like saying speeding is relative from one person to another; which I agree as are most things in life. Compared to my GTR my turbo mustang is slow; which is in effect exactly what your are saying.

 

[I7guy]

I must admit its a good one where you claim the iPad 2 is lag free.I cant even take something like that seriously

I think that ship has sailed on this entire topic a while back.

 

[Act3]

That's like saying speeding is relative from one person to another; which I agree as are most things in life. Compared to my GTR my turbo mustang is slow; which is in effect exactly what your are saying.

Lousy analogy. We are talking about lag compared to iOS 8 and iOS 9 on same device class , not processor speeds. Do you even read the posts before instantly saying you have no lag or stutter?

Maybe go make a "smooth as butter" thread and hang out there and brag how buttery smooth it is. You say the ship has sailed on this topic yet you just cannot resist coming in here.

 

[I7guy]

Lousy analogy. We are talking about lag compared to iOS 8 and iOS 9 on same device class , not processor speeds. Do you even read the posts before instantly saying you have no lag or stutter?

Maybe go make a "smooth as butter" thread and hang out there and brag how buttery smooth it is. You say the ship has sailed on this topic yet you just cannot resist coming in here.

Sorry bud, it's my experience, I wouldn't create a "smooth as butter" thread any more than a "the difference between lag and stutter thread". You keep posting the same thing post after post, and yes the ship has sailed and round and round we go.

 

[estabya]

Does anyone really think that having the same argument over and over and OVER AND OVER AND OVER again on this forum is doing any good?

So you see some lag or stutter. And someone else doesn't. That's the way it is. Get over it and move on. Christ. If it's that big of a deal then buy a different phone. Don't act like you're doing some sort of good by being a trolling keyboard warrior on macrumors. You know, because I'm sure Apple software engineers spend a lot of time here looking for tips on how to improve their OS.

It's getting old.

 

[Act3]

simple. Don't read it then and it won't affect your feelings. It's not like your finger is being forced to click the mouse or tap a link for this thread. It's title is revealing what it is about.