iOS 11 'Is Still Just Buggy as Hell' (gizmodo.com)

It is becoming increasingly apparent that iOS 11, the current generation of Apple's mobile operating system, is riddled with more issues than any previous iOS version in the recent years. Two months ago, in a review, titled, "iOS 11 Sucks", a reporter at the publication wrote: I'm using iOS 11 right now, and it makes me want to stab my eyes with a steel wire brush until I get face jam. Gizmodo today reviews iOS 11 after living with the current software version for two months: It's been two full months since Apple released iOS 11 to millions and millions of devices worldwide, and the software is still just buggy as hell. Some of the glitches are ugly or just unexpected from a company that has built a reputation for flawless software. Shame on me for always expecting perfection from an imperfect company, I guess. But there are some really bad bugs, so bad that I can't use the most basic features on my phone. They popped up, when I upgraded on release day. They're still around after two months and multiple updates to iOS. Shame on Apple for ignoring this shit. Now, let me show you my bugs. The worst one also happens to be one I encounter most frequently. Sometimes, when I get a text, I'll go to reply in the Messages app but won't be able to see the latest message because the keyboard is covering it up. I also can't scroll up to see it, because the thread is anchored to the bottom of the page. The wackiest thing is that sometimes I get the little reply box, and sometimes I don't. The only way I'm able to text like normal is to tap the back arrow to take me to all my messages and then go back into the message through the front door. [...] Other native iOS 11 apps have bugs, too. Until a recent update, my iPhone screen would become unresponsive which is a problem because touching the screen is almost the only way to use the device.

Comments

An OS is not a throwaway phone app!

[ErichTheRed]

I know all the cool kids are doing Agile and sprinting away, and I think that's fine for development. But one of the things I really don't think is doing companies any favors is the super-fast iterations of operating systems. I'm a Windows guy and we see this with Windows 10 a lot...features just feel unfinished even when they're part of an official release. On the Windows Server side of the house, the pace is a little slower and it shows...server operating systems need to be more stable and not have surprising feature changes.

I'm an old fuddy duddy, but I think that core things like operating systems should have a slightly slower pace of development that allows for more testing and more careful planning. I see this in iOS 11 too...I just upgraded and was very surprised how many of the built-in apps have serious design flaws and appear to have been changed just because. (The Podcast app is unusable while driving anymore because you can't have it automatically play through a list of podcasts, as an example.)

Going super-fast and doing the DevOps thing is fine, but honestly a lot of this thinking came out of startups, where the product was an app whose only client is a smartphone, and whose only customer is a consumer who is getting a free service. Failures of this can be tolerated if you can quickly patch up the back end...but an OS deployed on a machine is a different story.

Re:An OS is not a throwaway phone app!

[king neckbeard]

I don't think it's the short release cycle that is the problem (it works well for the Linux kernel), so much as it is that cycle in a commercial, proprietary environment. The latter puts a focus on getting out a certain amount of new and shiny, which can result in lower quality releases.

Re:An OS is not a throwaway phone app!

[nine-times]

The latter puts a focus on getting out a certain amount of new and shiny, which can result in lower quality releases.

Well I think this ties into another relevant criticism: There's no reason that an OS needs a lot of these "features".

Is the OS stable? Is the filesystem good? Does the UI allow you to open applications? Yes? Ok, cool, then you're done. Pretty much everything else should be done on the application level, not by the OS.

I know that sounds like crazy talk, but I just don't think things like web browsers, Dropbox competitors, Music stores, and AI assistants needs to be integrated into the OS. Tying these items to OS upgrades means that they have to push out a whole new OS upgrade when they want to release features. Kernel-level changes shouldn't get scheduled based on when they want to release new ad-blocking in the browser.

Article is trash

[zifn4b]

This article (more like a blog post) sounds like a teenager ranting in the most irrational way not providing coherent evidence for their claims many of which are ambiguous. Any review that uses terminology like "sucks" or "monkey armpits" and juxtaposes Samsung vs. Apple without any real comparison of the two products sounds like an article that isn't interested in providing useful information to consumers. They either 1) want to just rant and listen to themselves talk or 2) want to get ad revenue from sensationalism or both.

Why does this trash keep getting posted to slashdot?

Re:Article is trash

[DNS-and-BIND]

It's written by someone who used to write for Gawker and Gizmodo. Yeah, that explains a lot. Hate dripping with condescension is their stock in trade.

Re:CEO Responses

[dbialac]

It's a shame that Steve didn't seek treatment for his cancer from actual doctors right away. The type of pancreatic cancer he had has a nearly 100% survival rate. Basically, you die if you do what Steve did. Now we're stuck with ugly icons, no headphone jacks and displays that look like something somebody posted on There I Fixed It.

Re:There was a solution to this many years ago

[Train0987]

I would gladly carry an extra 1/4" thick phone if someone would bring back the slideout keyboard style.

That's an Apple user alright

[TimothyHollins]

It's been two full months since Apple released iOS 11 to millions and millions of devices worldwide, and the software is still just buggy as hell. Some of the glitches are ugly or just unexpected from a company that has built a reputation for flawless software. Shame on me for always expecting perfection from an imperfect company, I guess.

This perfectly defines an Apple user. You get rawdogged all the way to the bank, and you blame yourself for getting boned! If this was Windows, you'd be blaming Microsoft, if this was Unix, you'd be blaming open source, if this was the Republicans, you'd be blaming the Democrats (and vice versa), but when it comes to Apple, it's not their fault the software is buggy, it's yours for expecting Apple to deliver on their promises.

Re:It's you

[hcs_$reboot]

No it's Apple. That's Apple trend since a couple years ago. Little by little the iPhone is becoming a Potemkin village. Nice outside, questionable inside. No more attention to detail, obvious bugs that should be found and fixed easily, rough design ; either the CEO makes bad choices, or he is unable to manage his staff.

Huh?

[Corporate T00l]

I've just spent the last 5 days coordinating a trade show, messaging like mad across iMessage, Hangouts, and e-mail, both from inside the apps and from the home screen. The problems described simply do not occur on my phone. I'm not sure why, but maybe the situation is just not as bad as this reviewer describes and the problem does not afflict every phone equally.

Re:Bullshit

[BronsCon]

The "bugs" are almost all sufficiently minor to not bother people without OCD issues.

From a brand that used to pride itself on impeccable visual design, that's actually quite sad. From Microsoft, or even most Android manufacturers, it wouldn't be such a big deal, because that level of visual perfection was never their thing and they never attracted those OCD users in the first place like Apple did.

Apple spent years cultivating the following of these people, now they're seeing what happens when you trigger them.