Apple called iOS 10 the biggest release since the original iOS. While one could argue that the same merit belongs to iOS 7, the time when a certain Jony Ive took matters into his own hands, but there is nothing to dispute the fact that iOS 10 has brought with it the biggest behavioural change when interacting with iOS. We have all become quite accustomed to certain ways of interacting with our iPhone in the past, and generally, Apple has stayed very consistent, with those gestures or features. But with iOS 10, Apple wants you to learn a few new tricks. Here, we have handpicked five major behavioural changes that Apple wants you to adapt to on iOS 10.
Slide to Unlock is gone
The biggest behavioural change that Apple has introduced in iOS 10 is that the legendary, 'Slide to Unlock' is gone. Remember, even when the first iPhone came out, and we were probably only dreaming of things like fingerprint scanners on the phone, the real joy was that click chime like sound that the iPhone made when it was unlocked. The icons would come flying into the screen and it became an inspiration for several modern day lockscreens. However, with iOS 10, Apple has done away with the sliding bit, in order to accommodate widgets on the lockscreen. So, if you try to unlock the phone by sliding, you will be greeted by the widgets that you have considered using and not your usual lineup of apps on the springboard that you are so used to by now.
Launching the Camera from the Lockscreen
Ever since the iOS 5 came out, we are used to swiping up from the camera icon on the lockscreen to access the camera on iPhones. It was kind of a blind habit by now. After all, five years is a long time. With iOS 10, Apple wants you to swipe from right to left on the lockscreen to get to the camera. With two new swipe gestures introduced on iOS 10, there is an additional need, for you to actually press the home key if you want to use the Touch ID in order to unlock the phone. Previously, if your screen was on, just tapping the home button would do the job. With added requirement to press the button, we cannot even fathom the number of broken home buttons that would be reported.
Swipe to get to music controls on your Control Centre
Since its inception up to iOS 10, Control Centre was a one page layout where all your important controls lived. With iOS 10, Apple has decided to move the music player control away from the main Control Centre window to the next page, for which you need to swipe from the first page. While this results in more information and a bigger album art, aimed at user delight, eventually you feel worn out. Every time you want to switch the music, it is now a two step process than the convenient one step as it was. It is actually strange that features like AirPlay control, AirDrop Control and even Night Shift continue to live on the first page when they are not features that everybody would use when compared to controlling the music playback.
The iMessage App
We love iMessage as an app, it's fantastic. We use it all the time to send quick texts to our family and friends, especially from the convenience of our MacBook so that we do not have to lift the phone for every small and meaningless conversation. However, the new iMessage app is an absolute cluster. It tries to do so many things that you end up being confused. Apple has seemingly ditched its usual mantra that things just work to leaving you scratching your heads. Things are fine till you want to send a weird confetti rain to your friends or even add an effect or two like slam in order to make some impact. It is over and above these which are overkill. The whole drawing and sending your drawings or digital touches to the recipient are a right pain. Oh and they expire in 2 minutes too. It takes an age to figure out and then you are sitting and wondering other than a few teenagers, taking a break from their usual Snapchat sessions, who is going to even use these? You could probably say that Apple is trying to appeal to a younger and wider section of the audience, but it just does not feel an Apple product at all. There is just way too much to do.
Expanded view on Lockscreens is Limited
The second last behavioural change Apple wants you to make is called expanded view. This is a great addition, something you would welcome, in fact, we all want to see more information about the notification that has landed on the screen. On an iPhone with 3D Touch you will be able to Force Touch on the Notification to view the expanded view, with actionable buttons at the bottom. We have been all this while been used to just swiping notifications or even tapping them to go within the app. The whole 3D Touch bit still feels a little alien. Not just this, once you have the notification open in expanded view, you can only take an action which are listed below the view. You cannot even go inside the app from the expanded view, without dismissing the notification and then going in to the app all over again. On iPhones without the 3D Touch, you will have to swipe the notification and then click on the option to view the expanded view and then reply and take other actions.
The Legacy Support for 3D Touch
3D Touch has been a big deal for Apple. In fact, it was their USP with the iPhone 6s. Being a hardware driven feature a lot of legacy iPhones have not got the 3D Touch functionality. To overcome this, like a good honest brand, Apple has made a few features available on older iPhones. This is even more evident on iOS 10 where Apple wants users to make use of 3D Touch more. With the sale of the iPhone 6s/6s Plus, the devices with 3D Touch not been all that great, majority of users are on iPhones without a 3D Touch and therefore have already been educated about the work arounds. You would assume, if they stay with Apple and upgrade, it would be to an iPhone with 3D Touch given at max in two years time from now, both the iPhone 6 and the SE would have been phased out. These users would then be forced to abandon these workarounds, and learn again, how to use 3D Touch properly. Perhaps on this occasion, it would have been rather useful to have kept the 3D Touch features exclusive.
iOS 10, like any other major release will take time to grow on you. In fact, at times you will feel that the phone that you are using is a brand new device, and something you have never used before. iOS 10 is a steep and a long learning curve. It forces you to forget pretty much everything you knew about iOS so far and start all over again. Guess Apple intends you to stay a student and young forever, but for biologically old souls, this is not great news.
-by Arpit Verma, Manager, Digital Marketing, Pricebaba.com
