ios Did Apple pointlessly change the design of iOS with iOS 7?

[Elliot B.]

Some people feel Apple changed the design of iOS with iOS 7 for the sake of it.

How would you respond?

[Neu B]

Well, it was looking stale.

[Elliot B.]

  On 28/09/2013 at 16:34, Neu B said:

Well, it was looking stale.

I'm not sure most users cared, only those on tech blogs and forums.

[Neu B]

  On 28/09/2013 at 16:35, King Mustard said:

I'm not sure most users cared, only those on tech blogs and forums.

In my opinion, I believe a lot of people hate change.

[Elliot B.]

  On 28/09/2013 at 16:38, Neu B said:

In my opinion, I believe a lot of people hate change.

Exactly my point :) And many people feel that, design-wise, iOS 7 didn't offer a better experience. The older iOS design could have implemented Control Center etc.

[Ace]

After using iOS 7, iOS 6 does look very dated and definitely needed updating.

 

You always get people who hate change. Why should we care what they think?

[Hardcore Til I Die]

I love iOS 7 but find it annoying that they've removed some features. For example, when adding songs to a playlist you used to be able to select songs from other playlists. You can no longer do this. This means there's no easy to add just-purchased music.

 

Annoying. 

[Hum]

Sounds like Windows 8  :laugh: 

[DrCheese]

  On 28/09/2013 at 16:42, Ace said:

After using iOS 7, iOS 6 does look very dated and definitely needed updating.

 

You always get people who hate change. Why should we care what they think?

Pretty much. If I listened to the whiners at work who hate change we'd still be on NT4 with Office 1997.

[ILikeTobacco]

  On 28/09/2013 at 16:40, King Mustard said:

Exactly my point :) And many people feel that, design-wise, iOS 7 didn't offer a better experience. The older iOS design could have implemented Control Center etc.

Some changes where nice but just changing for the sake of changing is dumb IMO. Some good changes are things like having the contact info in a text message always there so you no longer have to scroll to the top to call the person. Giving the folders tabs was also a nice change since I had 3 folders with games and now I only have 1 folder. The overall change to the looks I could do without. Seems dated to me. Something I would expect to see back in 2000. Doesn't have any depth to it. Again, all personal opinions and preference.

[ILikeTobacco]

  On 28/09/2013 at 16:45, DrCheese said:

Pretty much. If I listened to the whiners at work who hate change we'd still be on NT4 with Office 1997.

No we wouldn't. There is a difference between changing for the sake of changing and changing to improve. There are changes in iOS7 that were added just for the sake of changing and that is dumb IMO.

[Hardcore Til I Die]

The iPad version needs to be optimised for the iPad interface. Only being able to see 9 apps per folder on that massive screen is daft. 

 

And control centre should not only be customisable, but should include more options on the iPad as there's more space. 

[Digit12345]

I've already had several family members ask me to downgrade their ipads. Also saw the mentions of discontent on a local news segment. The wildfire of word of mouth spreads quickly and I wouldn't quickly dismiss it simply as people hating change.

 

I was reminded of Windows 8 when I saw iOS 7. What a deja vu this is.

[neufuse Veteran]

what ever happened to the old days where we had "themes" where you could pick the UI you liked...... not here you HAVE to use this UI... now days a "theme" is two accent colors and some sounds and there you go....

[Denis W. Veteran]

  On 28/09/2013 at 16:42, Hardcore Til I Die said:

I love iOS 7 but find it annoying that they've removed some features. For example, when adding songs to a playlist you used to be able to select songs from other playlists. You can no longer do this. This means there's no easy to add just-purchased music.

Annoying.

Good catch. That is annoying but the only use I had for that was to duplicate an existing playlist but remove a few songs.

[Elliot B.]

  On 28/09/2013 at 16:47, ILikeTobacco said:

Some changes where nice but just changing for the sake of changing is dumb IMO. Some good changes are things like having the contact info in a text message always there so you no longer have to scroll to the top to call the person. Giving the folders tabs was also a nice change since I had 3 folders with games and now I only have 1 folder. The overall change to the looks I could do without. Seems dated to me. Something I would expect to see back in 2000. Doesn't have any depth to it. Again, all personal opinions and preference.

You're missing the point. Those new features they could have implemented with the iOS 1-6 visual style. It's the huge visual overhaul that I've had a lot of friends, family and co-workers annoyed about.

[DrCheese]

  On 28/09/2013 at 17:23, King Mustard said:

You're missing the point. Those new features they could have implemented with the iOS 1-6 visual style. It's the huge visual overhaul that I've had a lot of friends, family and co-workers annoyed about.

and they'll deal with it and get used to it. Give them a few weeks and they won't even care anymore

It's the same with every UI change ever. OMG new facebook suxxx OMG the ribbon suxxx OMG etc...

[Elliot B.]

  On 28/09/2013 at 17:57, DrCheese said:

and they'll deal with it and get used to it. Give them a few weeks and they won't even care anymore

It's the same with every UI change ever. OMG new facebook suxxx OMG the ribbon suxxx OMG etc...

I see your point to a certain extent, but Facebook has never had a complete design overhaul. They have altered the profile pages in order to add a timeline, but that was actually a feature. Whereas Apple have changed the ENTIRE design of iOS 7 - and many don't think it was worth it. The new iOS 7 features would have worked just fine with the old style.

[Arpit]

i think the theme would've been overhauled much sooner if forstall wasn't gunning for skeuromorphism all this time, conversely if he was still at the helm of apple then we wouldn't have had this design change even now.  i don't know the technicalities much but my understanding is that changing themes probably eats up resources that are otherwise free so the phone remains as 'optimized' as possible.

 

there are definitely some things that requires getting used to, such as having the outline of a button as opposed to just the word/phrase itself, and some buttons being small that my fingers accidentally hit the ones adjacent to it, but overall, i'm still pleased with it.

 

i like that now the focus is more on the content than the interface. it's like the phone knows when to 'get out of your way' so you can focus on what's there instead of creating a clutter.  could this have been accomplished with the old theme?  maybe...but it would've still looked staid and dated.

 

either way, the reviews have been far more favourable than unfavourable from what i've read so far.

[shockz]

I would hardly say it was a pointless change, aside from the numerous usability features added... control center, safari tweaks, better stock apps, sounds, game center, compass/leveler, maps UI, etc... it's just a refreshing change from the same old UI they've been using for 6 years now.... cleaner, more focused on content than fake aesthetics... leather stitching for example. I'm extremely happy with the new UI. Just like anything that's a major change, people hate it until they actually start using the thing and would hate going back. Wasn't there a study that took old facebook elements against the new ones and people had a fit when they tried to use the old UI? The same thing here, not to mention the majority of users have already updated.

[ILikeTobacco]

  On 28/09/2013 at 17:23, King Mustard said:

You're missing the point. Those new features they could have implemented with the iOS 1-6 visual style. It's the huge visual overhaul that I've had a lot of friends, family and co-workers annoyed about.

Sigh.. you are just here to start arguments clearly. Don't ask for opinions if your only here to put them down. I said some changes were good, others were bad, and other pointless. You didn't even say anything that relates to what I said and are arguing it anyway. Read next time before trying to argue something. Conversation done. And if you really want to argue me, go ahead and quote where I said that the new features couldn't have been added in the old iOS. You can't, because I didn't. You are making up arguments to argue against for what reason? Self validation? Argue in the mirror if that's all you are here for.

[Sandor]

No problem with design changing when it serves a purpose - either by being more intuitive or usable.

 

iOS7 has many inconsistencies (likely the many hands touching the pie syndrome) and appears to be faux-flat (only some elements are "flat") because that's trendy. The colour palette is pretty poor too. Way too bright and childish looking. Stuff like the parallax effects are pure gimmickry and completely pointless. Let's just say it's far from a design classic.

[Malisk]

  On 28/09/2013 at 16:35, King Mustard said:

I'm not sure most users cared, only those on tech blogs and forums.

I checked Twitter following the release, and lots of non-techies liked what they saw, especially women, it seemed.

[Shadrack]

The features in iOS 7 won me over and I like it a lot more than iOS 6.  Namely the new Safari, multitasking UI, and control center are all nice features that I use often.  Notifications is OK...the only thing I really like about the new notifications is checking when my alarm is set the next morning is slightly easier than opening the app.

 

The look and feel UI changes were all just change for change sake.  They could have added these features to the existing look and feel of iOS 6 but decided not to.  I'm indifferent about one look over the other.  Not sure how I feel about the new look.  Its not terrible, but it also isn't really improved much.  I can't say if things are any easier to read on the screen, navigate, or w/e. 

 

iOS, OS X and Apple TV all look very different from one another.  I think Apple needs to pick a direction and unify the look and feel of all their products.

 

I'm not sure if people outside of the techie crowd really care.  Apple can make money despite what a tech crowd think of them and I think mostly people like it or are indifferent.

[Brian Miller]

In many ways, the change ruined the UI in many ways to the user in order spite Scott Forstall.

The real question is, has the new UI brought any benefit to the user? - The simple answer is no, and even worse, the new UI has actually negatively benefited the user. Example, why remove iconography in the Notifications panel that described the weather? We as users should not spend additional time reading 2 lines of text to determiner the weather, we should see an icon (like before) plus a High and Low temperature number. Done! Keep is simple Apple, not spiteful.