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Why is Apple reluctant to allow customisation of the homescreen?

M

Meus Me

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 21, 2010
38
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Considering the massive UI overhaul brought about in iOS7, Apple really should be at the stage where they allow users to customise their home screens.

It seems like they've gone out of their way to avoid that step whilst giving users some strains of customisation e.g. widgets in the notification centre. It seems to be a philosophy there at Cupertino but not one that makes much sense.

What do you think?
 
They're completely right to not allow that type of customization. The iPhone is all about simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. Widgets would be an eyesore to iOS and would take away from the simplicity. For instance everyone who's used an iPhone knows how to use an iPhone across all models. They're consistent. You take a Galaxy S6 just for example and a Droid Turbo to the average consumer and the UI and things are a little different. Apple is all about consistency, reliablility, and most of all simplicity. Also an over abundance of widgets might affect system performance.
 
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Crazy enough, when I was on Android, I always thought why can't we have widgets in our notification pull down, it makes more sense because it's easier to access.

They look nice, I think they don't do it because just about everyone has their apps on their home screen and there's like no room to make stuff like that work without making us rethink how we use our device. I am so focused about getting to an app when I unlock my screen, that I don't really look that much at the home screen.
 
placidity44 said:
They're completely right to not allow that type of customization. The iPhone is all about simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. Widgets would be an eyesore to iOS and would take away from the simplicity. For instance everyone who's used an iPhone knows how to use an iPhone across all models. They're consistent. You take a Galaxy S6 just for example and a Droid Turbo to the average consumer and the UI and things are a little different. Apple is all about consistency, reliablility, and most of all simplicity. Also an over abundance of widgets might affect system performance.
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Bad comparison. Skinned UI's and crapware by manufacturers and US carriers is not how you would compare against an iPhone.

If you take a Nexus device or a Moto X or a Google Edition phone, they all run pure Android. If you know how to use Android, they are all pretty much identical. BUT, they all allow you to customize as you see fit. If you don't want to customize your set up, you don't have to and your homescreen will look just like all the other stock Homescreens. Consistent. Reliable. And simple. It is all about choice. With Android you get that. With Apple, you don't. Know what I mean, comrade?
 
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Lloydbm41 said:
Bad comparison. Skinned UI's and crapware by manufacturers and US carriers is not how you would compare against an iPhone.

If you take a Nexus device or a Moto X or a Google Edition phone, they all run pure Android. If you know how to use Android, they are all pretty much identical. BUT, they all allow you to customize as you see fit. If you don't want to customize your set up, you don't have to and your homescreen will look just like all the other stock Homescreens. Consistent. Reliable. And simple. It is all about choice. With Android you get that. With Apple, you don't. Know what I mean, comrade?
Click to expand...

I don't know what you mean, comrade. Skinned UIs and crapware is the reality we live in. It doesn't work by pulling up "but but Nexus". Next thing you're gonna say that Android users have hundreds of phones to pick from, while ignoring that you just said "there are only a handful of Android phones without garbage UI". So where is my choice really?
 
Fzang said:
I don't know what you mean, comrade. Skinned UIs and crapware is the reality we live in. It doesn't work by pulling up "but but Nexus". Next thing you're gonna say that Android users have hundreds of phones to pick from, while ignoring that you just said "there are only a handful of Android phones without garbage UI". So where is my choice really?
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You say only a handful of android phones without garbage UI but are they garbage? There is a lot of UI interfaces out there that are really nice to use.

The hole idea of widgets is so that you don't have to open an app to see the most important information that you need. I really like my iPhone 6 but I couldn't have it if it was going to be my only phone because of it's too restrictive. The iPhone does what it does great but android either just does it or does it better, most of the time.
 
Surely the widgets on a home screen would mean that it would poll data and info even when simply on the home screen whereas in iOS it's in the NC and only refreshes it's data when you pull that down meaning all the while your navigating through your app drawer the widgets are in a suspended kind of state. Much better for battery life and certainly clean and tidy!
 
jr866gooner said:
Surely the widgets on a home screen would mean that it would poll data and info even when simply on the home screen whereas in iOS it's in the NC and only refreshes it's data when you pull that down meaning all the while your navigating through your app drawer the widgets are in a suspended kind of state. Much better for battery life and certainly clean and tidy!
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I never found any difference in battery by having widgets on the screen. Also having widgets doesn't make your screen cluttered if done right.
 

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They should at least allow changing of their horrid icons. Android has a much nicer color scheme, with consistent "material design" icons.

Ive has no idea what software design is. Who knows, maybe Apple will open up a theme store. Keep the grid layout, no widgets on homescreen, but let me have any icons I want.
 
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They could at least allow live icons (like windows phone). This would maintain the simplicity/easy of use/consistency that folks here crave yet allow for status information to be displayed on the home screen. It would be nice for 3rd party calendars to show the current date at least!
 
Meus Me said:
Considering the massive UI overhaul brought about in iOS7, Apple really should be at the stage where they allow users to customise their home screens.

It seems like they've gone out of their way to avoid that step whilst giving users some strains of customisation e.g. widgets in the notification centre. It seems to be a philosophy there at Cupertino but not one that makes much sense.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I see it as a matter of principle.

It's like asking why Apple included only 1 USB-C port in their Macbook. They could probably have done so, but to them, the Macbook was their idea of an iPad with a keyboard. The iPad has only 1 port, and Apple probably has this utopian vision of people interacting with the Macbook using all manner of wireless solutions.

Same here. Apple probably expects users to spend most of their time in apps, rather than staring at their home screen. As such, anything which might detract from this intent, like widgets or panoramic wallpapers, will likely never make it pass development.

So Apple likely could, but they just as likely won't, out of the principle of it.
 
AustinIllini said:
I think it's a combination of things, not the least of which is power management and battery life.

It's a difference of philosophy across products.
Click to expand...

Completely agree with this. I consider myself a power user but when i'm home I use my computer 99 percent of the time which accomplishes the tasks I need it to. I care just as much about design and aesthetics as I do function which is why i've never fully embraced Android even though they've improved leaps and bounds. Apple just has a sixth sense about design and UI and I feel that their philosophy is right for me. We can argue all day about Android and iOS and not end up anywhere in the discussion. Android is great for some people, and iPhones are great for some people. I don't care in the slightest what other people buy it would take a lot for me to part with my 6+. I personally don't like Android's UI as much as the iPhones, and I think skinned UI's are crapware in itself. I'd rather have the slightest inconvenience of opening an app and the seamless simple interface than widgets which drive me nuts! I completely understand the merits of widgets I just don't personally embrace them. I have no trouble recommending Android based phones to people who I feel it would fit them better. I'd never mislead someone who values customization or prefers that platform. I will always recommend people the device I think will fit them better. Five years ago I loved customizing pc's with watercooling loops, getting the latest components, tweaking linux distros, all that jazz. Now I just want my technology to be beautiful, functional, and work work work without any effort on my part. I love competition and I love seeing Android improve day by day. Competition is great for us consumers and it makes all companies work that much harder. I don't want to see any one company sitting pretty and innovation stalling.
 
Why do I have to focus on making my screen "look right". Why can't I focus on being able to have the information I actually want to be able to pull up?

Will22's home screen looks great. When you have the device in your hands it all looks better BTW.

AustinIllini said:
I think it's a combination of things, not the least of which is power management and battery life.

It's a difference of philosophy across products.
Click to expand...

Totally agree, which is why I didn't bring up the lag and other problems I had when using widgets on my Android phone. It's not the only thing in the picture.
 
Skika said:
I dont know whats going on here but it looks absolutely horrible.
Click to expand...

There is probably a reason for that and for you then the iPhone is best because it is so simple. To me the iPhone is boring and all it is is an app drawer. I like to be able to glance at my screen and see what I want to see without having to open an app. This is what I also like Windows Phone so much.
 
Will22 said:
There is probably a reason for that and for you then the iPhone is best because it is so simple. To me the iPhone is boring and all it is is an app drawer. I like to be able to glance at my screen and see what I want to see without having to open an app. This is what I also like Windows Phone so much.
Click to expand...

That's the today view in swiping down. All the information you want at a glance. I agree it is boring in the aspect you mentioned. But that's what makes it classic.
 
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von franklin said:
consistency, reliablility, and most of all simplicity.
Click to expand...

I wish the apple developers actually adhered to these principles. A prime example is the photos app - the edit button is sometimes on the top right, at other times it's on the bottom left (when you open photos from the camera). Same goes with the Done button, sometimes in the top right but when you're editing the photo its in the bottom right. And why do photos display with a white background then switch to a dark background when you tap on it?
 
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