1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,380 Just a few days into my iOS challenge I started to look a little differently at the Apple users in my life 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:12,840 They describe Apple products with marketing slogans like it just works as though they actually believe them 3 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:17,100 And it made me wonder does Apple have one version of their products for the true believers? 4 00:00:17,100 --> 00:00:24,080 And then a different one for the scrubs like me because my time with the iPhone 16 plus has been absolutely riddled with 5 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:33,960 unintuitive design choices Unnecessarily limited functionality and some of the weirdest bugs that I've encountered on a supposedly finished product in years 6 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:44,640 but Mama Sebastian didn't raise no quitters So I've stuck it out for more than the month that I promised and I've compiled a lot of thoughts both from myself and 7 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:50,360 From helpful members of our community who see the world through more pink lady lenses 8 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:57,640 And some of their points were extremely valid turns out I really was just holding it wrong and over time 9 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,160 There's a lot about iOS that I've learned to love even on my own 10 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:09,400 But there's also a lot that well to say how I really feel I'd probably have to use language that might not sit well with my sponsor 11 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,640 Let's kick this off with some positive vibes. I am a big fan of the app library 12 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:20,040 I know it isn't new but as someone who hasn't daily driven an iOS device in a while 13 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:27,240 It's new to me and any effort to organize the pure chaos that most of us carry around in our pockets is much appreciated 14 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,240 Like finally the ability to put your icons anywhere you want 15 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:37,720 I also appreciate the intuitive and slick way that iOS handles switching between picture-in-picture and background media playback 16 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:42,600 I mean, how cool is this as for my other primary use of my phone? 17 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,800 You know phone calls that got a big improvement, too 18 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:50,720 I get so many different kinds of calls these days phone teams 19 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:57,280 What's up, whatever and iOS streamlines this experience by unifying the interface between all these different apps 20 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:01,760 Which is especially nice when I'm in the car it even consolidates my call logs 21 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,280 So I don't have to remember who prefers what when I mash a contact to call them back 22 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:14,720 Multi-widget stacks are super cool I don't actually know if they're new or not, but I don't really care quick access and high information density 23 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:18,960 Always get a thumbs up from me and I use them all the time to quickly check the weather 24 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,720 Quickly check my calendar now. I've heard that these are a thing on newer Samsung devices as well 25 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:29,880 But look this video is not a comprehensive comparison matrix of every software feature that's ever existed 26 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:36,400 It's my thoughts on coming back to iOS after an extended absence and some of those changes really are refreshing 27 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:41,040 Screenshot management has leveled up in a big way and is full of nice to have 28 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:46,520 It's like I love the ability to quickly delete rather than archive my screenshot after I've shared it with someone and 29 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:51,200 I love the little pop-up in the dynamic island to help manage my AirPods 30 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:56,440 If they're paired to my laptop already and I'm sitting working, but an incoming phone call comes in 31 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,680 It'll be like hey want me to grab those and I'm like yeah 32 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:06,320 Thanks Actually any sort of interaction between the iPhone and other Apple devices is pretty great 33 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:12,040 Like my Apple watch unlocking without needing to mash in the pin if I have my phone unlocked nearby 34 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:18,320 So efficient speaking of efficiency I probably plugged this thing into my nightstand to charge maybe 35 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:24,840 Four or five times over the entire month plus that I was using it which probably sounds bonkers 36 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:31,280 But what I found was that just plugging in during my daily commute plus the occasional longer trip was enough to keep me going 37 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:36,920 For literally a week at a time unless I was binging a show all day or something 38 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:44,800 iOS then noticed this and piped up with a suggestion that I switched to 80% maximum charging in order to prolong the life of my battery 39 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:51,440 That is the kind of proactive user handholding that I can really get behind and the same goes for how aggressive 40 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:56,600 iOS gets about prompting the user to mute or block app notifications and tracking 41 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:02,240 To be clear androids tools for managing these things are pretty good to actually very granular 42 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:10,120 But what Android doesn't do is get all up in your grill about them like iOS does which results in an experience where if you get a 43 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:16,760 Notification on your iPhone you can be pretty darn sure that it's something you wanted to see or you can easily get rid of it 44 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,360 Now pretty much everything so far has been mostly to do with the software 45 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:25,960 But I've got to say I kind of like the hardware to the screen on the iPhone 16 family is 46 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:30,840 Incredible with outstanding brightness for watching videos outside not to mention 47 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:38,640 They're super dim mode that supposedly gets all the way down to one knit and makes nighttime reading way more comfortable for me 48 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:43,640 Oh, here's a fun one. You know how phones are supposed to be, you know phones 49 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:50,160 I'm getting way better call and data reception near my house and not just against my ancient note 9 50 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:56,280 But even against my wife's galaxy s23 ultra so I can finally close my garage door from the driveway 51 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:01,720 All right, you guys think that's enough positivity to appease the Apple stands if not 52 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,000 I could probably keep going for an entire videos worth, but 53 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:10,360 Unfortunately, I could probably go multiple videos about the things that I didn't love so much 54 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:16,940 So we should probably address at least some of them. Let's start with how slow the device feels which okay 55 00:05:16,940 --> 00:05:23,140 No, wait, hold on step away from the comment section. I recognize this is absolutely not a slow device 56 00:05:23,540 --> 00:05:29,740 But that makes it all the more frustrating when it feels like Apple's interface decisions are holding me back 57 00:05:30,260 --> 00:05:35,420 Like the animations. They're beautiful. I love the way the home screen icons come 58 00:05:35,860 --> 00:05:39,420 Flying in the first time that it loads after you set up a new iPhone 59 00:05:39,900 --> 00:05:44,900 But I don't need to see it Every time I unlock my phone guys 60 00:05:44,900 --> 00:05:49,980 I've got urgent Facebook marketplace doom-scrolling to do and yes before you ask 61 00:05:49,980 --> 00:05:56,460 I did turn on reduce motion and I even tried prefer crossfade another gorgeous animation by the way 62 00:05:56,460 --> 00:06:02,180 But none of that had the desired effect of getting the fluff out of my way so I can just use my phone 63 00:06:02,180 --> 00:06:07,180 I'm just picking what I get to look at while I wait for the UI to catch up with me while we're at it 64 00:06:07,180 --> 00:06:13,020 By the way, why is this setting and so many other useful ones hidden away in accessibility options? 65 00:06:13,020 --> 00:06:19,540 I can't change that unnecessary slowdowns are going to bother me like this thing that Apple does where it animates all 66 00:06:19,580 --> 00:06:24,500 The steps to get to a setting that I have searched for or clicked a shortcut to 67 00:06:24,860 --> 00:06:29,620 The rationale that I've heard for this behavior is that it's trying to teach me where I should have gone 68 00:06:29,780 --> 00:06:34,380 But I got there with a shortcut. Is that not an okay way to do it? 69 00:06:34,460 --> 00:06:40,220 Who cares if I know all the breadcrumbs? Adding insult to injury depending on how I try to go back 70 00:06:40,220 --> 00:06:45,060 I get to click through all of those screens that it zipped through on the way back to the thing 71 00:06:45,060 --> 00:06:49,220 I actually cared about which brings me to a pretty big subject 72 00:06:49,740 --> 00:06:54,580 Going back on iOS is objectively bad and 73 00:06:54,700 --> 00:07:00,740 Okay, alright, something can't be objectively bad But what it can be is objectively inconsistent 74 00:07:01,380 --> 00:07:06,900 Which from a user interface and user experience standpoint is well objectively bad 75 00:07:06,900 --> 00:07:12,900 I can't believe that Apple still hasn't mandated an official Apple way to go back 76 00:07:13,260 --> 00:07:16,540 They seem to be big fans of the swipe in from the left 77 00:07:16,740 --> 00:07:22,380 But they only use it just enough to trick you into thinking that it should work all the time and then BAM 78 00:07:22,500 --> 00:07:26,420 An app hits you with clicking on the top left like my old iPhone 4 or 79 00:07:26,740 --> 00:07:32,980 Canceling in the top right like this and even the occasional swipe in another direction now app makers 80 00:07:33,660 --> 00:07:39,340 Absolutely share some of the blame for this but guys we are 17 years into this experiment 81 00:07:39,340 --> 00:07:42,860 So I think it might be time for Apple to just take the darn reins or 82 00:07:43,660 --> 00:07:49,300 Maybe in other cases loosen them overall. I found carplay to be pretty okay 83 00:07:49,860 --> 00:07:52,980 My car doesn't have a physical button for previous track 84 00:07:52,980 --> 00:07:57,340 So if I wanted to have media controls and my map on screen at the same time 85 00:07:57,340 --> 00:08:00,420 I had to use split screen which I don't prefer I like a nice big map 86 00:08:00,420 --> 00:08:09,660 But that's probably more of a me problem And you can't blame the handset makers for all the dumb things that the car manufacturers are gonna do so let's not worry about that 87 00:08:09,820 --> 00:08:15,540 Let's worry about the buggy-ness that I experienced every once in a while the volume would crank itself 88 00:08:15,780 --> 00:08:19,900 And I ran into this issue twice. It's probably worth noting 89 00:08:19,900 --> 00:08:24,420 I saw this with some random Bluetooth earbuds too though, so maybe it's not carplay related 90 00:08:24,940 --> 00:08:28,100 Actually now that I think about it, there were more problems with audio 91 00:08:29,100 --> 00:08:32,860 Notification volume would occasionally go super loud. There's all the cabling 92 00:08:33,820 --> 00:08:36,380 which is apparently an iOS 18 bug and 93 00:08:36,980 --> 00:08:42,860 Compared to Android Adjusting the volume level of anything you aren't actively using is super non-obvious 94 00:08:43,380 --> 00:08:51,380 Like Andy, how do I change the volume of my like system tap sounds when I'm listening to media for example? 95 00:08:52,700 --> 00:08:54,700 Nobody like how do I change the volume of that? 96 00:08:56,620 --> 00:09:02,500 If you've never touched Android, this is gonna blow your freaking mind no matter what I'm doing if I touch the volume button 97 00:09:02,500 --> 00:09:10,660 I can adjust my ringtone my notifications my media and my system sounds the fact that that doesn't exist 98 00:09:11,020 --> 00:09:14,340 iOS users should be riding in the streets 99 00:09:14,340 --> 00:09:21,580 I know this next one is gonna get lost in translation as Android and iPhone users are coming from completely different experiences here 100 00:09:21,580 --> 00:09:31,260 But oh my goodness the iPhone keyboard is missing so many things that I completely take for granted as basic functions of an Android keyboard 101 00:09:31,580 --> 00:09:37,980 For example while the iOS keyboard does let you hold down a key in order to modify your letters with whatever 102 00:09:38,340 --> 00:09:42,420 Diacritical mark you need or even sneak in the occasional thorn yog or asset 103 00:09:42,980 --> 00:09:49,300 Android lets you use the same technique to access numbers and common punctuation from the first layer of the keyboard 104 00:09:49,380 --> 00:09:54,900 You can even dial in the delay so that you barely have to slow down to insert one of those secondary characters 105 00:09:54,900 --> 00:10:01,460 And this is an absolute godsend for those of us who write our texts like our AP English 12 teacher might grade us on them 106 00:10:01,700 --> 00:10:06,220 Now I tried switching over to my usual alt keyboard Swift key on iOS 107 00:10:06,380 --> 00:10:10,940 But somehow all these years later it is still trash on the iPhone 108 00:10:11,340 --> 00:10:18,580 Core features are missing like the aforementioned long-press tuning and even the ability to resize the keyboard and in general it just 109 00:10:18,820 --> 00:10:24,780 Beals off with worse predictions and a more tedious process for going back and making corrections 110 00:10:25,020 --> 00:10:29,700 Like maybe I want to type rhis it auto corrects to this 111 00:10:29,700 --> 00:10:37,100 I go back want no, no, I meant rhis and I should be able to fix the accidental auto correct and my capitalization at the same 112 00:10:37,100 --> 00:10:40,700 Time on the iPhone Not so much 113 00:10:40,700 --> 00:10:48,380 Now if I had to guess I'd say that this limitation probably comes down to Apple giving keyboard apps far less access to user inputs 114 00:10:48,380 --> 00:10:52,660 Which is probably a good thing, but it makes for an overall 115 00:10:53,220 --> 00:10:56,100 significantly worse typing experience on my keyboard of choice 116 00:10:56,460 --> 00:11:00,440 Which also just would occasionally disappear leaving me with the default 117 00:11:01,140 --> 00:11:08,060 Weird now one thing that's better about iOS is the super responsive long-press keyboard shortcut to reposition the cursor 118 00:11:08,060 --> 00:11:12,580 I like it, but I also don't struggle with fine motor control 119 00:11:12,580 --> 00:11:17,180 And it's usually faster for me to just tap the point in the middle of a word anyway, so 120 00:11:18,220 --> 00:11:25,420 Not being able to do that on the iPhone Actually kind of drove me crazy now. I've got a lot more things to get through so let's rapid-fire a few 121 00:11:25,780 --> 00:11:31,900 I can't get to the home screen without physically swiping the screen after authenticating and then it's animation time again 122 00:11:31,900 --> 00:11:36,660 Just got him on my way and let me use my phone. I can't change the size of the app grid 123 00:11:36,660 --> 00:11:41,260 I'm stuck at four wide on the normal iPhone 16. That would be fine 124 00:11:41,380 --> 00:11:46,660 But if you're giving me all these extra pixels on the plus I'd really like to use them 125 00:11:46,660 --> 00:11:52,120 It's like they intend for their larger devices to just be for the elderly or people who have trouble with the smaller screens 126 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,240 And here's a weird one. I ran into this problem while rearranging apps 127 00:11:56,240 --> 00:12:01,880 I think maybe the ones I place manually might behave differently than the ones that are automatically placed 128 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,080 Sometimes it just gets confused. I don't know in fairness 129 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:11,680 Apple's new to this whole putting things where you want them thing and here's a funny one when I was migrating in the first place 130 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:17,560 Apple's move to iOS app failed twice before actually working and 131 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:22,520 Even then it basically just copied SMS photos and WhatsApp 132 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:28,920 I had to manually sign into everything including my Google account, which left me wondering what exactly was the point of this 133 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:34,000 I'm not sure, but I'd like to talk about that Google account for a minute in the past 134 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:39,880 iOS had an account section in the settings app where you could centrally manage and sync your different accounts for email calendar 135 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:46,400 Contacts all that kind of stuff That seems to be gone now, but I work for a G-suite organization 136 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,880 So I'm gonna need my Google calendar to tell me what it is that I'm doing today 137 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,000 This is where past experience with iOS got in my way 138 00:12:54,360 --> 00:13:00,680 The account setting was gone and I couldn't find an obvious way to add an account in the calendar app 139 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:06,920 So I started looking for workarounds and ultimately discovered that if you open the iOS mail app 140 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:10,240 It immediately prompts you to add a Google mail account 141 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:14,640 Which will also sync my Google calendar in the native calendar app now 142 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:20,800 I ended up getting attacked pretty hard for calling this out on the land show, but I'm holding firm that this is a prime example of 143 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:31,480 spectacularly unintuitive design The justification I was given for this is that app settings including accounts should be managed from within the settings app and 144 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,760 the apps menu and then the individual app and that is Apple's 145 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:42,680 Aspiration, but as we've seen with back functionality Apple's aspirations don't always match reality 146 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:47,320 So let's play a quick game called find the account management menu 147 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,560 in the app Yeah, this one's in the app 148 00:13:51,560 --> 00:14:00,400 Another one that's in the app They're pretty much all within the apps themselves and while the first-party mail app 149 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:06,720 Does have account management buried four layers deep within the menu the Apple preferred way for some reason 150 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:13,920 It still prompts you to sign in that first time you open it meaning that if you're trying to sign into an account from within an app 151 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,960 That is a perfectly reasonable expectation 152 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:24,880 Even if you had no prior experience with other platforms the good news for Apple though is that the solution to this is simple when I click 153 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:30,200 calendars add calendar add calendar and then I have this account thing here 154 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:36,600 That should just be a drop-down that should prompt me to add another account instead of it just doing nothing 155 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:40,720 You're welcome now to be clear. This isn't a deal breaker by any means 156 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:45,960 It just means the next time that an Apple fan tells me it's just so gosh darn intuitive 157 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:50,140 I don't know if I'm gonna be able to help it. I might actually laugh in their face 158 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:53,240 Maybe a little doom-scrolling will calm me down and oh boy 159 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,280 If you want the long version of this rant you can check out the WAN Show from a couple of weeks ago 160 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:03,520 But the TLDR is when I flick my finger in my newsfeed or on reddit 161 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:09,840 I expect the screen to move at the same speed that my finger moved and then decelerate from there 162 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,520 I do not expect it to move at whatever 163 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:17,320 relaxed chill pace that some Apple focus group has determined is the most 164 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:21,480 Aesthetically pleasing in order to hide their 60 Hertz refresh rate 165 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:27,680 Another thing I touched on during that WAN Show segment is buttons particularly this new camera button here 166 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:33,960 Out of the box. I kept accidentally hitting it only to have a user point out to me that I could configure it to require a double-click 167 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:38,760 Huh, well, that's super cool. I thought I wonder what other apps I could make it look no 168 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:47,800 camera and camera adjacent only Speaking of the camera boy was that ever an upgrade though as someone coming from a six-year-old device 169 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,720 I don't know what to say other than I should hope so and 170 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,240 Besides my main focus isn't on the particular iPhone 171 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:58,040 But rather my overall experience with iOS 18 an experience 172 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:02,860 I could probably go on for hours about but Tim Apple a more relevant meme than ever these days 173 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:08,200 Doesn't have hours to watch this video. So how about I boil it down to just one thing that I need fixed? 174 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:14,120 Let's talk about rotation locks most iPhone users I run into don't even realize this 175 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:20,600 But for a good ten years now, you've been able to lock an iPad in landscape orientation 176 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:28,780 But not an iPhone now we use iPhones as our teleprompters here at Linus Media Group and because we can't lock them in 177 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:35,020 Landscape mode we have to train all of our camera operators in a maneuver that we call the dip to reorient the screen 178 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:39,120 It's something we do so often that we don't even really think about it anymore. So 179 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:47,520 Why bring it up? Because when I was going through the list of apps in my account since the migration wizard didn't actually copy my apps over like 180 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:53,480 It said it would and I had to do so manually. I came across jetpack joyride and I was like, oh my goodness 181 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:58,880 I haven't played that since the last time I daily died iOS. It's been years and I immediately fired it up 182 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:06,360 I played it for a second Then I put my phone down to make a note about something and when I picked it back up the game was upside down 183 00:17:06,360 --> 00:17:11,840 I showed this on the WAN Show as well. I gave it the old wiggle. I tried to reorient it 184 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:19,200 But no it would only work in one of the two possible landscape orientations. What the heck Apple? 185 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:25,880 these kinds of Arbitrary distinctions like which way is the approved landscape orientation? 186 00:17:26,360 --> 00:17:32,400 Assuming I'm allowed to be in landscape at all do nothing for your user. They do nothing for your profits 187 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,560 So why? To be clear 188 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:40,560 iOS has come a long way over the last few years and it can do so much more than it used to do 189 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:48,520 Find my is a godsend Spotlight still rules air drop is legitimately super cool as long as everyone around me has an iPhone 190 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:55,960 But Apple still has some work to do to be willing to accept that after the iPhone leaves the factory 191 00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:02,240 It's my iPhone and if I want to hold it like this instead of like this or I want to use it as a teleprompter 192 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:06,240 That's my business if I want to move the dynamic island to the other side 193 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:14,440 That should be my decision too and until Apple's willing to truly embrace that rather than begrudgingly give us little breadcrumbs 194 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:16,960 I just don't think this is for me 195 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:23,640 Which doesn't mean that it's bad if you love your iPhone and it works for you. You are not wrong 196 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:31,800 Just don't get upset if you run around declaring that your preferred ecosystem is the best and not everyone agrees with you 197 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:35,920 Especially if you've never spent significant time on the other side of the divide 198 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:41,800 Maybe we need some kind of cultural exchange program, you know like six months of seeing how the other half lives 199 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:46,600 That could be a really interesting experiment now if you'll excuse me. I need to go hide from some fanboys 200 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:51,160 Oh, but not before I tell you about our sponsor for some more raw initial thoughts 201 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:56,240 Why don't you check out the WAN segment from a few weeks ago? Hope you guys enjoyed this video. Make sure you subscribe. See you later