I get it, its cool. And its likely the work of a very talented but overzealous design employee working a 100 hours a week trying to impress. But given the collective pain caused by the outstanding issues in the eco system, this pointless flair kinda stings. So let’s get started, time for some good old fashion Apple-bashing. Here are 5 outstanding design issues I think they should prioritise:
In this article, you'll learn:
#5: iOS wifi password obfuscation
First use case
You’re queuing at Starbucks and need the wifi. You ask for the password and its surreptitiously whispered in your ear. Unbeknownst to you, a person of ill repute has been refused the password for reasons unknown, and is peering over your shoulder attempting to purloin the secret characters… But not this time slick. The password is safely obscured and Starbucks’ wifi remains secure.
Second use case
You’re having dinner party. You and you’re wife have invited guests, however one of your wife’s friends is a member of the infamous hacking syndicate, Anonymous. Luckily the iOS password obfuscation thwarts any plans the would-be hacker has to infiltrate your local area network. Foiled again, Anonymous.
In reality
You’re in a cafe and need the wifi. A waitress gives you the password but it has some combination of upper and lower case letters and a word you’re not sure the spelling of. You enter it… 'cannot connect to network'. Hmm. did I type it wrong? Who knows. To make sure, you need to type the password into Notes, check it with the waitress and then copy-paste it into the password field.
There's a painfully simple solution to this—just add a ‘Show password’ toggle to the password field.
#4 Restarting iPhone
How many times do you turn off your phone? Think about it. What reasons do you have to turn your off your phone? Now ask yourself how many times you have to restart your phone? It’s probably not that often, but it’s probably more common than shutting it off. But why is there no restart option? Instead of clicking a single button, you have to :
- Press and hold either volume button and the side button until the power-off slider appears.
- Drag the slider, then wait 30 seconds for your device to turn off.
- To turn your device back on, press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo.
#3: Right-click to fix spelling
In macOS, selecting a misspelt word and right-clicking it brings up possible corrections at the top of the context menu. Choosing a word from this menu replaces the misspelt one. However, this feature only works in desktop apps when using a mouse. In web apps (where I input most copy these days) and using a MacBook trackpad with ctrl + click to access the menu, selecting a word won't replace the incorrect one; it simply closes the menu, leaving the red squiggly underline. This may seem minor, but it becomes quite frustrating when you're as bad a speller as I am.
#2: Stickies
The Stickies app was first introduced in 1994 as part of System 7.5, and it has seen little change since then. Despite its simplicity, Stickies offers a wide range of formatting options. You can edit the usual elements like typeface, size, and colour, but you can also adjust ligatures, kerning, and the baseline. This level of detail seems excessive for such a basic app, but it likely shares the standard editing suite found in text-based apps like TextEdit. In Stickies, you can even add drop shadows to text, double underlines, and change the underline colour.
However, there are two features that are strangely absent and I believe could revitalise Stickies. First, adding the ability to format lists would be a major improvement. Given that one of the main uses for Stickies is creating to-do lists, it's puzzling that users must resort to using hyphens for list formatting. The second enhancement that could boost adoption is iCloud syncing, allowing Stickies to be accessed on your phone. Nearly everything else in macOS syncs across all devices, so this addition would align Stickies with the rest of the ecosystem.
#1: This one is too easy
Magic Mouse 2, was released on October 13, 2015. An update on the previous model, it featured a built in battery with a convenient charging port underneath. This improvement meant that instead of replacing the battery when the mouse died, you could simply turn the mouse over and plug it in. Unfortunately, it wasn't clear to the design team that the mouse is not functional upside down. This is because the lasers that track its position must be connected with the surface and for the mouse operator to move the pointer and click the buttons you have to hold it the right way up.
Apple really hates cables. They know that if the lightning cable did come out the front, then nobody would unplug it. If this wasn't the case, why wouldn't they just design it properly in the first place? The alternative might be even worse.
In order for the mouse to look the way it does, sleek and minimal, then maybe there's no way to fit the cable in the front. It would ruin the profile. But this is blatantly form over function, especially because the ergonomics of the mouse are not good. The low profile doesn't support the natural arc of your hand forcing you to constantly keep your fingers slightly flexed.
Apple is nothing if not intentional in its design and this is classic arrogant Apple. For what ever reason, they want you to flip the mouse over to charge it. "But it only takes 10 minutes to charge" I hear you say. Sure. And the OS tells you when the battery is nearly dead so you can charge it overnight. But that doesn't change the fact that putting the charging port underneath is bad design. I don't use the Apple mouse because of the ergonomics. I use a Logitec and the charging port is on the front. Guess how many times I've left the cable in once its charged? Zero times. You just unplug the cable and put it away. A USB-C cable too.
