iOS 11 Arrives Today … And it is a Mess

iOS 11 Arrives Today ... And it is a Mess

Starting today, hundreds of millions of iPhone users—and a not inconsiderable number of iPad users—will receive the free upgrade to iOS 11. Apple describes every release of iOS as a “major upgrade,” and I usually have a problem with that. With iOS 11, however, the description is apt. And … now I have a problem with that.

The problem is tied to an issue I’ve been anticipating for years: That if Apple were serious about the post-PC world, it would need to advance the iPad enough to take on Surface and other 2-in-1s. Over the past few iOS releases, and with two generations of iPad Pro devices, Apple has paid lip service to this future. But with iOS 11, finally, Apple has found its inner ambition.

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And it is a mess.

It’s a mess because there’s no such thing as iOS anymore. Instead, this system is being tailored to work differently on different devices. Yes, the basics are the same across all of Apple’s devices, of course: You still get the familiar “whack a mole” grid of icons and so on.

But iOS behaves differently–inconsistently—on different devices. It behaves differently on iPhone X, differently on early/less capable iPhones, differently on (non-Pro) iPad, and differently even on different versions of iPad Pro. Some of the differences are subtle. But then, that’s the stuff that really trips up average users, isn’t it?

All summer, I’ve struggled to adapt to iOS 11 on my 10.5-inch iPad Pro. I’ve struggled to use its complicated new multitasking and productivity features, its weird new dock, and its confusing and inconsistent ways to view multiple apps at once. Like much of what Apple does, this first release of a true post-PC interface is a work in progress, and I have no doubt that iOS 12—and probably iOS 13—will further refine things until it makes sense. But as of today, none of it makes sense.

Let’s look at a few examples.

On iPhone, the iOS 11 dock looks and works as it before: It can display four favorite apps of your choice. But on iPad and iPad Pro, the dock now appears to visually float onscreen. You can add many more favorite apps. And there is an area on the right called “suggested and recent apps” that is really just “recent apps.” You can turn that last bit off if you’d like.

Let’s say you’re looking at an app or game and you swipe up from the bottom of the screen. In previous releases of iOS, this gesture would display the Control Center, an interface to key system utilities like display brightness, Airplane Mode, screen rotation, and so on. Control Center was a multi-screen (for some reason) panel that took up the bottom half of the screen.

In iOS 11, what happens when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen while viewing an app varies by device.

With an iPhone X, you navigate to Home because that device lacks a physical home button.

With an iPhone 8 or older, you will see the new full-screen Control Center interface.

With an iPad or iPad Pro, you get the dock, which appears over the app. But if you swipe up again—and you have to do it just right—then you will see a new full-screen App Switcher interface that includes your running apps on the left and a tall and skinny version of the Control Center on the right; the tiles there are laid out differently than they are on an iPhone.

To get to the old App Switcher screen on iPhone 8 and older, you do what you did before: Double-tap the Home button. This interface is the same as it was pre-iOS 11, and it does not resemble the similar screen on an iPad or iPad Pro. How does an iPhone X user display such a screen without a Home button? I don’t know. (I could look it up, but seriously, who cares?)

Swiping up while viewing the Home screen is a bit less inconsistent: You get the new full-screen Control Center on iPhone and the new App Switcher screen with Control Center on iPad and iPad Pro.

But let’s move on to just the iPad Pro. As I noted, I’ve been struggling with this one. With iOS 11, the iPad Pro is overloaded with new gestures and functionality related to multitasking.

The previous two versions of iOS offered some basic multi-app features on iPad Pro: A Split View, similar to Windows 8’s Snap, in which two apps could be viewed side-by-side and a Slide Over view in which an app could be displayed in an iPhone-like panel over the side of a full-screen app.

Slide Over view

In iOS 11, both of these features have changed. But they work differently on different iPad Pros, and they work inconsistently with apps. I suspect that developers will need to explicitly tailor some apps to work properly and that part of the problem is this temporary incompatibility. But part of the problem is the complexity of this non-discoverable workflow. Which includes, by the way, some bizarre two-handed gestures for drag and dropping data between of apps. With iOS 11, Apple’s mobile platform is bursting at the seams, and maybe it’s time for us all to admit that traditional PC form factors make more sense for traditional productivity tasks.

A few details.

I mentioned that some of these features work differently between different iPad Pro versions and models. If you have the largest iPad Pro (12.9-inch, either generation), you can display two apps side-by-side. Those apps each look and work like traditional iPad apps. But if you have a smaller (9- or 10.5-inch) iPad Pro, you cannot do this. You can display one app in its normal iPad-like full-screen-style view (called Regular view) and one sort of like an iPhone app (called Compact view).

Split View: One Regular app, one Compact app

Or you can split the screen evenly and get two iPhone-like (Compact view) apps.

Split View: Two Regular apps

Worse, not all apps support Split View. But to see that, you need to understand how Split View works in iOS 11. And you have to really work at it. Here’s what you do.

First, open one of the apps you wish to use in Split View. (This is particularly necessary if the app is not already in your dock.) Then press Home. Then, open the second app. Then, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to display the dock. Then, select the icon for that first app and drag it over to the left or ride side of the screen.

Three different things could happen at this point:

The dragged app icon/overlay retains a square aspect ratio indicating that it is not compatible with Split View. On my dock, Kindle and Pocket are both not compatible.

The dragged app icon/overlay takes on a tall/thin aspect ratio, indicating that it will work in Slide Over mode. (Which, by the way, is no longer a panel; instead, the Slide Over app appears in a floating window.) If you drag it to the far edge of the screen (either side), a channel opens up, indicating that it is also compatible with Split View. You can let go of it there to enable this view.

The dragged app icon/overly takes on a rectangular aspect ratio (not as tall as the example above), indicating that it is not compatible with Slide Over mode or Split View. You can’t multitask with this app. Google Inbox does this, for example.

Insane, right? Or, as Macworld puts it in their own review, “a carefully thought out system.” (To be fair to Apple, one nicety of this multitasking gobblygook when it does work is that Split View apps stay together in the new App Switcher screen so you can select them as a set.)

But there’s more. In addition to using two apps in Split View, you can actually also add a Slide Over app to the mix and a picture-in-picture app. You can have four apps all on-screen at once! (Assuming you have an iPad Pro that is. A new iPad Pro: You can only have the two Split View apps on the 9-inch version or any other iPad.)

The two-handed gestures are breathtaking in their non-discoverability. You really need to read up on this stuff to understand how it works, and it’s the not the type of thing any casual user would ever know or remember. But if you don’t mind the work, iOS 11 on iPad and iPad Pro actually lets you drag data from one app to another using drag-and-drop.

And it is nuts. Here’s how it works.

I’ll use Safari in this example, and I will try to copy a web image and drag it over to a note-taking app. Like Apple Notes.

OK, here we go.

I open Safari and load up Thurrott.com. Then, I tap and hold on an image on the home page with one hand—you have to really hold and do this just right—and sort of pull it over. As I do, an overlay of that image appears under my finger. Hold it there, Paul. You got this.

Now, using my other hand (!), I swipe up from the bottom of the screen to display the dock. I have conveniently just run Notes (oops, forgot to mention that little bit of prep) so I select that app in the dock and it opens full-screen. That image overlay, under the finger of my first hand, is still there. So I can release it to drop it into the displayed note.

Yes. That is how Apple expects you to do this. You really need to be prepared, and really need to understand this system. Oh, and you can’t actually be holding the iPad. You only have two hands, after all.

It isn’t at all unclear to me why normal copy and paste wouldn’t be easier. (Well, for starters, it doesn’t work in this case: When I press and hold on that image and choose Copy, and then later use Paste in Notes, it pastes the URL to the article which the image links to.)

Put simply, adapting the touch-first iOS user interface to traditional multitasking and productivity tasks is a work in progress as I’ve noted. It is a mess, a glorious mess if you will. But a mess.

There are a few arguments to be made about how people just adapt to what they use. But that’s where iOS really lets down the typical user. Because it works differently across devices, users will face a learning curve every single time they acquire a new device or upgrade to iOS 11 on any device. That is, you don’t just learn iOS 11 once. You have to relearn it on each device to some degree. And then remember what the differences are when you move between them.

This will harm Apple’s best customers most. Because those who blindly update to every new Apple device, in turn, will run into strange differences every time they do so. Will this trend continue in future iOS releases? Get worse?

The thing I’m more concerned with, however, is whether there is a payoff here. For example, I recently spent a ton of time investigating whether Windows 10 S makes any sense at all. And when I discovered that it doesn’t, I reexamined Chrome OS for the upteenth time and discovered, somewhat to my dismay, that that OS actually makes tons of sense. And it does so in a traditional PC form factor, in this case a laptop, that is inexpensive, easy to use, and instantly productive.

But as noted, I’ve really struggled to make that work with iPad Pro and iOS 11. I’ve tried again and again to adapt the way I work so that this combination makes sense. And it simply does not. Not for me.

So I’m sure there are people out there who absolutely love the iPad Pro. People who will embrace iOS 11 and its crazy multitasking features. People who actually do get real work done every day on such a machine. But those people are few and far between: Apple’s iPad Pro and iOS 11 just do not provide an optimal environment for work. Not for most people.

For all this, iOS 11 still includes several new and improved features that will improve the experience across iPhone, iPad, and iPad Pro. So I’ll begin diving into those features this week, and highlight the parts of iOS 11 that aren’t bat-shit crazy.

 

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Conversation 66 comments

  • ruusterc

    19 September, 2017 - 9:15 am

    <p>ya I agree. Sadly this problem isnt exclusive to Apple. Android has this problem as well. Its not going away any time soon.</p>

    • Bart

      Premium Member
      19 September, 2017 - 9:30 am

      <blockquote><a href="#177637"><em>In reply to ruusterc:</em></a></blockquote><p>Agreed. Every Android phone manufacturer has its own shell etc, creating different learning curves. Not sure about tablets as I have never owned one. But imagine it is the same mess.</p><p>We have to give Microsoft credit for getting the UX right (-ish) with Windows 10 across many devices, from different OEM's no less</p>

  • JerryH

    Premium Member
    19 September, 2017 - 9:25 am

    <p>So in general I applaud the idea of an OS or application that adapts to the available screen space, processing power, etc. That early example you gave of the dock appearing different and having more "spaces" on a tablet makes sense – it is just adapting to a larger screen with more capability / space. But some of those other things – like the copy / paste – seem just nuts. It reminds me of the tablet focused Windows 8 days when everyone had the same thought you mention here: these gestures are just NOT discoverable in the least and you end up triggering them by accident when you don't want them and then have to figure out how to get back to what you did want. It sounds like Apple went overboard on these.</p>

  • Finley

    Premium Member
    19 September, 2017 - 9:33 am

    <p>If only someone would invent a pointing device that would allow for precise selection and manipulation of on screen content.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      19 September, 2017 - 9:43 am

      <blockquote><a href="#177643"><em>In reply to Finley:</em></a></blockquote><p>LOL yep</p>

    • Michael Rivers

      19 September, 2017 - 1:47 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#177643"><em>In reply to Finley:</em></a></blockquote><p>You said it. That is precisely the problem here. The solution is spelled M-O-U-S-E.</p>

      • Chris_Kez

        Premium Member
        19 September, 2017 - 2:48 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#177940"><em>In reply to Michael Rivers:</em></a></blockquote><p>The iPad approach is more Mickey Mouse.</p>

        • Finley

          Premium Member
          20 September, 2017 - 8:44 am

          <blockquote><a href="#177955"><em>In reply to Chris_Kez:</em></a></blockquote><p>:-)</p>

    • Skolvikings

      20 September, 2017 - 4:59 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#177643"><em>In reply to Finley:</em></a></blockquote><p>This would make too much sense. Whereas Microsoft and others have adapted mouse-first devices to work with touch, Apple would be taking a touch-first device and letting it work with a mouse/trackpad. People would probably love it and they're likely sell more iPads. Not sure what the hangup is. They could even sell an insanely overpriced Apple branded mouse just for the iPad Pro and make even more profit.</p>

      • Finley

        Premium Member
        24 September, 2017 - 6:34 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#178321"><em>In reply to Skolvikings:</em></a></blockquote><p>Don't need to make anything, just allow users to turn their iPhone into a touch pad. </p>

  • Michael Uhlman

    19 September, 2017 - 9:49 am

    <p>I agree there is some work that needs to be done, but let's be real here, you are being a bit dramatic in a lot of areas. </p><p><br></p><p>On the iPad, you don't have to swipe up twice, you swipe up and it brings up the dock, keep going and it brings up the multitasking/control center view. One fluid swipe gets you there. Also, you are allowed to use multiple fingers on the same hand to select things, I know it might seem crazy that people have more than one digit available but you can drag with one and select things with another. They demo multi handed gestures because its easier for people to grasp those concepts when showing it off vs trying to track multiple fingers on one hand doing different things. I have been using the beta for a couple of months now and 99% of the new drag/drop etc. features can be done one handed.</p><p><br></p><p>Multi app views also work the same the difference is the bigger your iPad screen gets the more of each app view it is able to show which to me is a much better solution than crippling the bigger iPad by showing less or cramming more on a smaller screen you can't read or interact well with. </p><p><br></p><p>I am definitely not trying to say there aren't things to complain about, but the fact that Apple is finally tailoring iOS to take advantage of each devices capabilities is a huge win. Previously the iPad was mostly a giant iPhone in terms of functionality that didn't really offer much in the way of additional functionality aside from screen space, that is now changing and it's a great thing.</p>

  • nbplopes

    19 September, 2017 - 9:53 am

    <p>"There are a few arguments to be made about how people just adapt to what they use. But that’s where iOS really lets down the typical user. Because it works differently across devices, users will face a learning curve every single time they acquire a new device or upgrade to iOS 11 on any device.&nbsp;"</p><p><br></p><p>Two/Three words:</p><p><br></p><p>"Responsive/Dynamic UI"</p><p><br></p><p>This seams to be an exercise of rhetoric against against this paradigm.</p><p><br></p><p>Let's dig deeper.</p><p><br></p><p>iOS 11 work mostly the same for iPhone 8 and bellow. That is users will not face much if any changes between them apart from the added capabilities of each device</p><p><br></p><p>iOS 11 on iPhone X works differently at certain places taking advantages of the added capabilities of the device (Apple should not have taken the finger print reader capability). Most people that will by this model already know that it will work differently and welcome the change and the learning. The home button is being decapitated start now meaning, future versions of any iPhone will most probably not have it. Probably iPads too.</p><p><br></p><p>iOS 11 on iPads all upgradable iPads will work the same with added capabilities.</p><p><br></p><p>iOS 11 on iPad Pro will have the features taking the most of its capabilities. Who ever payed more to get one of those will welcome the effort of Apple to take the most of such investment back to the user.</p><p><br></p><p>Mess? I don't see any mess.</p><p><br></p><p>For instance, using Inbox mobile is different from using Inbox web. This is a quite common, more realistic and more efficient way to deal with device capabilities. Would you call this a mess?</p><p><br></p><p>It blows my mind when you state that Windows 10 S does not work well yet Chromebooks do. I can see only one reason: One supports Chrome and the other does not. I've seen you and other several times complaining because of lack of support for Chrome, I appreciate that observation. But it goes haywire when such point of view eschews any other option, making it a synonym of productivity..</p><p><br></p><p>"And it does so in a traditional PC form factor, in this case a laptop, that is inexpensive, easy to use, and instantly productive." Both Windows 10 S and Chrome do. According to you one does not work well, the other does. So here is an example that behaving like a traditional PC form factor is not a recipe for productivity and or innovation.</p><p><br></p><p>A funny note:</p><p><br></p><p>Has you said, you would have a problem either way 🙂 Its almost all FUD write. What about embracing solutions as long as it works. This instead of finding excuses for it not to work as it is usual in the Windows camp!!!! Have you found any features that did not work as described?</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      19 September, 2017 - 11:46 am

      <blockquote><a href="#177660"><em>In reply to nbplopes:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yes and no. If you have an iPhone X and an iPad Pro, you have to learn two different ways of doing things and they way you learn on one device won't help you on the other.</p><p>You've learnt to drag-and-drop on the iPad Pro, you need to quickly drag and drop on the iPhone and et voilá nothing happens (well, you will probably drop your phone).</p><p>Likewise, you learn how to call up the App Switcher by wiping up from the bottom on your iPad Pro and on the iPhone it just calls up the control panel.</p><p>If you only have one Apple device, it might be a reasonable / good experience, if you are switching between different devices, I can see it getting frustrating.</p>

      • nbplopes

        19 September, 2017 - 2:51 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#177692"><em>In reply to wright_is:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Do people get frustrated when they switch from a Surface Pro to their iPhone and back because it works differently (actually totally different).</p><p><br></p><p>No.</p><p><br></p><p>The Windows Phone worked totally differently from Windows from a UI perspective, is that. why people stopped using it? Was it a mess because of it? </p><p><br></p><p>No</p><p><br></p><p>i remember Windows heads such as Paul saying that an iPad just a big IPhone as a joke. Now that is becoming different it's Mess?</p><p><br></p><p>Of course not.</p><p><br></p><p>People expect different things from different kinds of devices. People know that a Tablet is different from a Smartphone. The communality in iOS is there as well as the necessary differences.</p><p><br></p><p>It is part of the way people think. Different thinks working slightly differently if not totally different at all. Only abstractionists think otherwise.</p><p><br></p><p>As for getting rid of the Home Button. The iPhone X is probably the first device that does it. An Home Button on screen is still a home button, there is none on the iPhone X. Other makers will follow suit because it works quite will without. </p><p><br></p><p>As the iOS line up gets updated in the following years … all devices will be without a home button.</p><p><br></p><p>There is no mess here. It's meticulously planned. </p><p><br></p><p>Normal people understand this.</p>

        • skane2600

          19 September, 2017 - 3:50 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#177969"><em>In reply to nbplopes:</em></a></blockquote><p>Do people have the expectation that two devices running different operating systems or made by different companies work the same? Of course not.</p><p><br></p><p>Do people have the expectation that two devices running the same OS with the same version number by the same company work the same on different devices? For many people, I would expect the answer to be "yes".</p><p><br></p><p>As far as WP is concerned, Windows mobile isn't Windows.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

          • nbplopes

            19 September, 2017 - 4:54 pm

            <blockquote><a href="#177983"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>So it's more a question of expectation not complexity. It is easily solved as long as the thing does what it says in the tin and marketing very well in context. The later, if not, it's were are the real problems, the real messes.</p><p><br></p><p>its all about reason, not conceptualizations.</p>

            • skane2600

              19 September, 2017 - 10:34 pm

              <blockquote><a href="#178016"><em>In reply to nbplopes:</em></a></blockquote><p>Paul has essentially laid out the "context" for the various devices. Don't expect any marketing to explain the differences in behavior between devices. For those using multiple devices there is added complexity since they have to remember those differences.</p><p><br></p>

              • nbplopes

                20 September, 2017 - 3:51 pm

                <blockquote><a href="#178095"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>People Will not think in terms of differences but in terms of how to use the devices taking the most of them as usual.</p><p><br></p><p>People are far more adaptable than technical we thought in 2000’s decade. The example is how quickly adopted smartphones that worked in ways totally different than a PC.</p><p><br></p><p>A Mess would be a change with no regnizable advantage in context.</p><p><br></p><p>Too much drama for nothing.</p>

                • skane2600

                  22 September, 2017 - 12:30 am

                  <blockquote><a href="#178307"><em>In reply to nbplopes:</em></a></blockquote><p>There was no expectation that a smartphone would be like a PC. The lack of a mouse would immediately make that clear on inspection. It's when the functions and idioms are relatively close but not identical that the disharmony occurs. </p>

                • nbplopes

                  22 September, 2017 - 8:04 pm

                  <blockquote><a href="#180823"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I think we are going on a tangent here. You have to decide, as well as Paul, if you want to discuss that its a mess because the iOS for iPad Pro interaction language it slight different from the iPhone in general and the iPhone X its slightly different from the rest. Or the iPad Pro its a mess because it does not replace a laptop in general. Because those are different dicussions.</p><p> </p><p>I love abstractions as long as there are useful. </p><p><br></p><p>But going slightly on a tangent here, but also about abstractions, in this case Windows across all devices. In case you did not notice, Apple has iOS in Smartphones, Tablets and Entertainment Setopboxes. Meaning the same code base can be shared across all devices. Same Core etc. Similar tech to what MS made with Windows 10. Furthermore, no only that, the software/service layer provides unparalleled integration across all devices.</p><p><br></p><p>This is one of the things I like this company. They don't spend time doing tech marketing all year, every month of the year, every week about iOS Universal or whatever in the same line. They just do it. Its not what they focus on. They fully understand that its just the means to an end. They simply show it and … it works. People get so used to it, that they forget how hard it is to make that happen, taking it for granted. They talk twice in a year, and the rest its hard work to deliver, deliver, deliver, realized potential right from the start and let other pick up from that realization. keeping distractions to a minimal both to others and themselves. </p><p><br></p><p>On the other hand if we look at Windows, we see a lot of talk about potential, potential but than. Now its Windows on ARM, there is a demo, people talk it will be exactly the same as Windows on Intel. You see Paul speculating that some Surface on ARM will come, and eventually people will not need to decide ARM or Intel, they just pick up a PC so on and so forth. Unfortunately, most of this stuff don't come fruition because there is also something that … well does not really work that well once people actually het a change to play with it. This is what I think its the real Mess.</p><p><br></p><p>I know, I know MS Windows its more difficult because it needs to support Intel and lots standard components on multiple enclosures etc etc. But that does not really matter when you are talking high end. A high end PC, Smartphone or Tablet cost also a lot of money, close to Appe prices if not more, And at that level people should be offered a better feature set across all Windows devices along with integration facilities, say between Smartwatches, Smartphones, PCs and Consoles. Offered better tech … and they don't.</p><p><br></p><p>Anyway, I'm not a supporter of either, honest. But I was hurt more by going high end Windows than Apple. Anyway it pains me to see tech talked in a clubist way and this article surely looked like one more in that space.</p><p><br></p><p>PS: I think MS is doing a great job with Azure and should I say with XBOX since Phill pick it up. Windows … not so much.</p><p><br></p><p>Sorry for the tangent.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

    • skane2600

      19 September, 2017 - 12:04 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#177660"><em>In reply to nbplopes:</em></a></blockquote><p>As with all such schemes "Responsive/Dynamic UI" has mostly been a failure. </p>

  • lezmaka

    Premium Member
    19 September, 2017 - 11:06 am

    <p>You can't just drop on the Notes icon?</p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    19 September, 2017 - 11:12 am

    <p>This is only a problem if you are not using the latest and greatest devices from Apple. Shame on you for using old hardware.</p>

  • ben55124

    Premium Member
    19 September, 2017 - 11:58 am
  • skane2600

    19 September, 2017 - 12:03 pm

    <p>It sounds like Apple is channeling it's inner "One Windows" persona. </p>

    • potzy1

      19 September, 2017 - 7:19 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#177833"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>That's how I felt. Still think Windows 8 wasn't bad at all, I rather miss it</p>

      • skane2600

        19 September, 2017 - 10:31 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#178063"><em>In reply to potzy1:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm not really a Windows 8 fan since I'm strictly desktop/laptop, but I do think Win8 was better for tablets than Win10.</p>

  • puggsly

    19 September, 2017 - 12:21 pm

    <p>This is even poor for you! Ok so write up how to do what you did on the iPad on a windows computer.</p><p>Browse to thurrott.com and try to drag an image off the page to notepad…..oops!!!! IE will not allow you to drag! Ok, lets click on it….oops! Ok, lets right click…….wtf! Look at all these options but wait COPY is greyed out!!!! Maybe I can save target? </p><p><br></p><p>I could go on but the point is that new user interfaces are….NEW! And will take some time to get use to. Just because some applications don't support all features, the fact that Apple has created a small number of potential interface experiences that quickly convey what can/can't be done is fine! The fact that some more advanced multi-touch interface elements will not be known by users immediately is also fine. How many windows users know you can drag something to the start menu to try to launch that thing in a specific app?</p><p><br></p><p>We will know in a few months how well Apple did with it's new UI changes, and I'm betting it did better than you think.</p>

    • quikah

      19 September, 2017 - 1:31 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#177918"><em>In reply to puggsly:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Drag, copy, save, etc works fine for me in Edge. IE won't let me drag, but copy works fine. You cannot insert images into notepad since it doesn't support images, use wordpad.</p>

    • Spoonman

      20 September, 2017 - 5:38 am

      <blockquote><a href="#177918"><em>In reply to puggsly:</em></a><em> </em>Why would anyone still use Internet Explorer?</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • theshum

    19 September, 2017 - 1:01 pm

    <p>As per usual, you make some fair points, Paul. Having said that, I've been using the IO11 Beta on my iPad Pro 10.5, and I much prefer it over iOS 10. For a mature company, these are some solid software growing pains. But as was mentioned, it's not exclusive to Apple. If nothing else, I appreciate the competition and effort by Apple, Google (Android), and Microsoft for trying new ways to interact with devices and keep computing "fun" :)</p>

  • Simon Flynn

    19 September, 2017 - 3:22 pm

    <p>Is it just me or is this article no longer appearing on the home page?</p>

    • skane2600

      19 September, 2017 - 3:41 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#177980"><em>In reply to SimonF:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yes, you're correct. Not the first time an article has disappeared either.</p>

    • RobertJasiek

      19 September, 2017 - 6:33 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#177980"><em>In reply to SimonF:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yes, and this bug is related to a bug of wrong or missing listing of articles on the home page in Safari in portrait position on iPad Mini 4.</p>

  • Scsekaran

    19 September, 2017 - 4:38 pm

    <p>Windows 8/8.1 till has the best tablet user interface compared to any OS whether it is Windows 10, Android or iOS. Period.</p>

  • Simon Flynn

    19 September, 2017 - 5:49 pm

    <p>For me, I've been wanting this differentiation for ages. When iPads first came out it was more or less a stretched iPhone without anything great to take advantage of the bigger space. I'm delighted they are starting to make iOS for iPads with the actual device in mind instead of just upscaling the os. </p>

  • RobertJasiek

    19 September, 2017 - 6:39 pm

    <p>Files has been promised as file manager for all files on the device. Reality: it works for no app, no folder and no file but crashes. Never have I seen a less functional software anywhere.</p>

  • PincasX

    19 September, 2017 - 6:45 pm

    <p>I have an iPhone and an iPad Pro. iOS has issue that need to be addressed but these are not it. Heck, the copy and paste issue is straight up contrived. If you simply change the sequence of steps you can do it one handed. There have been differences in how iOS worked on an iPhone and iPad since the iPad was introduced. Further iOS has had differences between iPhone and iPhone Plus and the various iPad models. Those differences were largely because Apple is using the screen space afforded to offer the experience that makes the most sense. I think anyone that would find these truly confusing, as Paul claims to do, wouldn't ever get a smart phone or tablet because they would be crying in their closet clutching their rotary telephone. One can't help but get the impression that Paul really hasn't used iOS 11 if this is the best he can come up with to complain about. </p>

  • TimHanna

    Premium Member
    19 September, 2017 - 7:29 pm

    <p>The example is convoluted to me. If I put chrome on the left and notes on the right then drag the image from this article it floats under my finger while I drop it onto the notes app and the image is inserted. Seems very natural. Maybe I missed something in the steps.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • Timta

    20 September, 2017 - 12:31 am

    <p>Paul, does a common Man going to get a $1000 phone? Does a common Man going to buy a $700 iPad Pro? If not, these inconsistencies are irrelevant. A person with understanding and thrill to learn will surely try it once before complaining anything.</p>

  • Spoonman

    20 September, 2017 - 5:39 am

    <p>So basically the biggest issue here is that humans only have two hands. Is there an app for that?</p>

  • skramer49

    Premium Member
    20 September, 2017 - 9:08 am

    <p>Small quibble. Actually with two apps open in split view – Thurrott.com in Safari and Apple Notes – tapping and holding an image in Thurrott.com till it “moves” and then dragging and dropping it into a note in Notes does insert the copied image, not the URL, at least for me.</p>

  • Michael Miller

    20 September, 2017 - 10:48 am

    <p>This is interesting: Paul has some difficulty with multi-tasking on the Ipad Pro; but yet, he has admitted in the past that he doesn't use multi-tasking on Windows 10 (see "rethinking the IPAD Pro as a desktop replacement", posted July 9th). So, a bit confused there. Also, the root of maybe a lot of the problems Paul is having is simply a result of no mouse/trackpad support on IOS. Paul is a Desktop man; very little use for tablets and alike.</p>

    • Ugur

      20 September, 2017 - 9:36 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#178194"><em>In reply to Michael_Miller:</em></a><em> It's because both do it in bad way =)</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • xapache

    20 September, 2017 - 1:15 pm

    <p>What happened to using touch ID when purchasing apps in the store? Now it just asks for my password. Am I missing something?</p>

    • Skolvikings

      20 September, 2017 - 4:56 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#178262"><em>In reply to xapache:</em></a></blockquote><p>The new store is prompting me for Touch ID in iOS 11.</p>

      • xapache

        22 September, 2017 - 9:01 am

        <blockquote><a href="#178318"><em>In reply to Skolvikings:</em></a></blockquote><p>It suddenly did, I did nothing to make it start working. Odd, but it works now.</p>

  • VancouverNinja

    Premium Member
    20 September, 2017 - 9:07 pm

    <p>Does anyone else dislike the new bold phone keypad? And think that the Swipe up control panel has become a complete mess? It is almost like they are using elements from the Apple Watch; I do not believe Steve Jobs would have ever allowed the OS to evolve in this way. Really makes me miss using my Lumia 950XL just such a superior Mobile OS compared to Android and iOS.</p>

  • Ugur

    20 September, 2017 - 9:36 pm

    <p>I agree, Apple has not made this stuff properly discoverable, intuitive or even just particularly sense making.</p><p>And i totally don't get why. </p><p>I mean what makes me wonder is: On mac they have a dock where one can use it with one pointer (aka finger on iOS), i mean one can drag a file onto the dock to put it into the dock and from there drag it somewhere else.</p><p>or one can drag a file into an icon on the dock or desktop or anywhere and then the file gets opened in that app if compatible.</p><p>SO easy, and it works! =)</p><p>Why do they not allow one to do exactly that in iOS?</p><p>why can't i just drag an image from a web page or wherver into the dock and have it be there?</p><p>Or drag it onto an app icon on the dock to have it be put into that app, like in your notes example (beside there it requiring using two hands in crazy way) ?</p><p><br></p><p>Seriously Apple, wtf.</p>

  • mattbg

    Premium Member
    23 September, 2017 - 11:45 am

    <p>Agree with the comments on interaction inconsistency. My comments below are based on a comparison between iPod Touch 6G, iPhone 7, and iPad Air 2.</p><p><br></p><p>The app switching UI seems the most glaring difference as it now looks and work quite differently between iPod/iPhone and iPad.</p><p><br></p><p>Also, I like the new dual-function keys (letters+numbers) on the iPad on-screen keyboard. Being able to enter numbers without changing keysets was something I always wished was possible on the Surface (I stopped buying Surface after Surface 3 so apologies if they have since implemented this) and this new UI makes that very easy… but only on the iPad.</p><p><br></p><p>On the other hand, I can't see how either of the new UIs (app switching nor keyboard) would work on the smaller screens… so it seems like a choice to make the iPad UI make better use of the iPad's larger screen. The alternative would seem to be to limit the iPad to what the iPhone is capable of and I'm not sure I like that approach, either.</p>

  • Thisisausername

    23 September, 2017 - 11:29 pm

    <p>I know "Steve Jobs would never have allowed this" gets thrown around a lot, but seriously, Steve Jobs would never have allowed this. I agree about Chrome OS as well, for the stuff an iPad would do a touch screen Chromebook would do it all and far better. Windows is still the only OS that lets you truly do everything a computer can do, so between the two the world is pretty well covered without being in Apple's walled garden.</p>

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