iOS 13 and 13.1
For the first time since I started reviewing Apple’s annual iOS updates, it feels like the company is now keenly aware that a new iOS version has to cover an array of themes that can’t be pushed back for scheduling reasons.
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As a result, there’s something for everyone in iOS 13 and all the recurring themes of Tim Cook’s Apple are touched upon this time around.
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From this standpoint, there are two sides to iOS 13: on one hand, an underlying tide that raises all platforms, featuring a distillation of themes Apple comes back to on an annual basis; on the other, a fork in the road, opening a new path for the iPad’s next decade.
Apple hasn’t tempered expectations for iOS 13 this year, so users might be expecting a big leap forward. iOS 13 does bring a new look to the software that runs on iPhones, overhauls a few oft-criticized first-party applications, and puts additional emphasis on user privacy. Most of all, it adds new, powerful interactions for power users—some of which we thought we’d never see in Apple’s mobile software.
iOS 13 is successful at most of what it sets out to do, even though it leaves some things that users have wanted to see overhauled—like the home screen—relatively untouched.
Apple (Hacker News, video):
Part of the magic of iPad is that almost anything can be done with Multi-Touch using simple, intuitive gestures. And now iPadOS makes it easier and faster to select and edit text using just your fingers.
Copy, paste, undo, and more with simple new gestures.
Something atypical for Apple is iOS 13’s notably buggy rollout.
13.0 is really buggy — I’ve been using it on my iPhone 11 review units.
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Best theory I’ve seen so far as to why Apple is going ahead with a wide 13.0 release instead of just waiting until next week for 13.1 — Apple Watch Series 5 requires iOS 13 on the iPhone it’s paired with. So people getting new watches tomorrow need to update their iPhone to iOS 13 tomorrow. This raises the question of why Apple didn’t delay the release of the Series 5 watches until iOS 13.1 was out.
iOS 13.1, the next (and presumably more stable) version of the software will ship September 24, not September 30 as previously expected & reported.
Software quality is not important enough to delay the release of the iPhone.
It’s not the way we may want it to be — and not the way THEY probably want it to be — but that’s the way it is.
Buck:
I wish they would uncouple iOS releases from iPhone releases - at least occasionally - so we could have a longer cycle of focusing on fixing existing issues. Each new release just starts over a new round of “never really fixed” problems.
See also: Steve Troughton-Smith.
Well that was special: my SE with fresh install of iOS 13 just drained its battery from 100% to 20% in about 8 minutes, so 10% per minute. Impressive!
You could basically watch the percent indicator go down.
Wow! Apple’s Reminders app was always pretty useless. In [iOS 13], it is actively hostile, “upgrading” the calendars, and thus deleting them from every other app.
Although the lion’s share of attention has been showered on the aforementioned features, not nearly enough coverage has been given to the rest of iOS 13 — and that’s a shame, because this release is among the most exciting in terms of new functionality and satisfying in terms of improving existing functionality.
So to mark last week’s release of iOS 13, we’re taking a look at some obscure (largely undocumented) APIs that you can now use in your apps.
Personal automations let you do things like start playing a particular playlist whenever you open a certain app, dim the screen brightness when Low Power Mode turns on, or turn off your cellular data connection when you connect to your home Wi-Fi network.
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iOS 13.1’s new audio sharing feature lets two pairs of AirPods listen to audio from a single device. (This feature also works with Beats earbuds and headphones powered by Apple’s W1 or H1 chip.) The “broadcast” device needs to be relatively recent, like an iPhone 8 or later. While one iOS 13.1 device is playing audio, place another iOS 13.1 device paired with a second set of AirPods or the like nearby to see an option to share audio.
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Even after the release of iOS 13.1, some promised iOS 13 features are still missing and continue to be promised for later this year, perhaps in iOS 13.2 or later.
Guess what, the navigation bar / search controller bug introduced in the iOS 13.1 betas has not been fixed in 13.1 GM!
I’m waiting for at last another release.
Xcode 11 GM2 broke localization of static take view cells in storyboards. 😞 (FB7302304)
Anybody know when this is traditionally going to be fixed? Also when do we get iOS 13.1 Simulators? Anybody ever test this?
How fucked up must be the schedule, that something like this goes in the release. Release that is already delayed.
Previously:
- Apple’s Fall Release Schedule
- iCloud Drive Features Removed/Postponed
- iOS 13.1 Developer Beta 1 Is Already Out
- More Undiscoverable Gestures
Update (2019-09-26): Daniel Terhorst-North:
Ok now I’m cross. #iOS13 update has broken all kinds of things on my iPhone XS. The worst, the absolute worst, is it has removed all my contacts’ numbers and placed a note in each contact saying:
none = [the deleted number]
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Update: and also copied some phone numbers to other contacts, so now the phone can’t tell who is calling. You couldn’t make these bugs up @Apple !!
PSA: If you lost stuff in your iCloud Drive during the Catalina / iOS 13 betas, get yourself over to http://icloud.com/settings, and use the “Restore Files” link (under Advanced) to get your stuff back. I was ~10 days away from losing almost 800 files, myself!
6 Comments RSS · Twitter
So far I'm liking almost all of the improvements to iOS 13 and I haven't seen many bugs. Just two so far: Safari seems to give the error, something like "A problem occurred with this webpage so it was reloaded" a lot more often than usual. I almost never see it but since iOS 13 it's happened like 5 times. The other error is that search and navigation seems to be broken/buggy in Overcast.
One thing I have noticed is the modal dialog “Turn off Airplane Mode or use Wifi to access data” seems to pop up a lot more than before. Used to be only Spotify did it, but now Mail and Safari do too. It’s so annoying and pointless — of course I know I’m not online, a 5 year old can figure that out.
[…] really good. I haven’t tried it yet, because it requires iOS 13, and I plan to stay away from that for a while longer. Weather Line 1 was one of my favorite iOS […]
Since the initial IOS 13 upgrade, I find that after editing a photo or video, it takes at least a minute or two to complete. Very slow... I also find that the Google home page takes a longer time to load than I have ever seen on all my rears using IPHONE’s...
Some people can't help themselves in installing the latest upgrades for devices. I guess they think they are missing out if they don't install it pronto. I've endured too much upgrade remorse in the past to ever go that route again. Give a new OS release at least a few updates before even considering. Find people you trust to be the beta testers and when they deem the release stable. No matter if its Android, IOS, Windows,Linux, iPad OS, Mac OS, even a simple OS like Chrome OS can have initial release bugs.
@JohnIL:
Some people can't help themselves in installing the latest upgrades for devices. I guess they think they are missing out if they don't install it pronto.
I don't think we should be to hard on people. I'd say most are probably feel resistance to change rather than fear of missing out. But the current mantra for staying safe is "always keep your system up to date”. That advice is always given whenever you hear och read something about security. On top of that Apple is pushing for updates quite aggressively (I'm still on High Sierra and I have had to lookup ways to stop Apple from constantly nagging me to upgrade).
I mean, if Apples says I should update, then surely it means the software is stable and ready to use, and will make my system better, not worse, right?
These days I'd say it's a power user move to not update, because we know by experience and reading about all the issues that the best way is to wait it out.
