[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ti0KdXrgSE]
A user experience expert has put together a video showing that the longer animations introduced in iOS 7 and continued in iOS 8 have a small usability cost: user input is ignored while the animation is running, making the user interface seem slower. The video compares it to iOS 3 running on the original iPhone.
While William Van Hecke believed that the issue was that animations used to be interruptible, this isn’t actually the case except for Springboard. In other cases, iOS has always ignored input until animations are complete, it’s just that they used to be shorter. If you’re fast with your fingers, there will now be times when you’re trying to do something while the animation is still doing its thing.
The new spring-based animations also make it less clear when the animation has ended, so the device seems unresponsive to input, but in reality it’s that the animation hasn’t quite finished.
Do you see this as an issue in real-life use? Let us know in the comments.
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Yes, yes yes. This is a pain in the A.
Especially when cycling through open apps, the sideways animation seems to last for several seconds while I eagerly await reponse from the UI.
It’s important to remember that iOS 9 will be a cleaning up of old code, à la Snow Leopard. This will likely result in a smaller memory and storage footprint and snappier operation.
That’s good to hear. thanks, mpias
And likely better battery life
I’ve heard that same thing from people OUTSIDE Apple for going on three years. Still hasn’t happened, problems have gotten worse. Maybe stop saying it, and instead start actually demanding it from Apple.
For the record, Apple has made no such announcement, officially or unofficially.
It is annoying—they have designed it to reject input until the animation has completely stopped. There is a way around it though:
In the multitasking screen, if you scroll your finger along the bottom (where the app icons are), instead of along the middle where the screenshot previews are, your scrolling speed is faster, and you can tap on an app thumbnail (or app icon) and it will accept your input without the animations needing to be finished. You can even tap into an app while everything is still moving. It’s much faster.
In the grand scheme of things.. does it really matter??
When your pissed about something and you want to rant by text or social media, yeah It does matter.
You ever tried unlocking your phone while pissed off and try to text the person your pissed at?? Yeah try that then tell me how mad you really are after trying to text and your phone can’t keep up with you.
So Apple is giving you time to cool down before you make something while pissed that you will regret later
haha joking
Yes and here’s why: people are increasingly turning to their iPhone as their primary daily computing device and, in that use-case, they are seeing these swipe-delay “pregnant-pauses” many (perhaps 100s) of times per day. Over time that creates a strong UX impression of “slowness” into sharp focus for the user. In addition to the poor UX perception it creates, when a _REAL_ halt or freeze app event occurs in a developer bug, it can happen so near-in-time to the iOS swipe-delay that any average user user will put the cause of issue at the feet of iOS. If Apple can address this without destabilizing some other feature that “depends” on the swipe-delay, they SHOULD and likely will in iOS9.
Reblogged this on ibrahima657.
never noticed. dont care.
I have noticed this in the past, particularly when trying to pull down spotlight after unlocking, but it’s not enough of an issue for me to really care.
one of the many reasons to jailbreak
heh… came here to say this — I only use less than a half-dozen tweaks, but I’d be really frustrated without the ones that speed up the UI / animations. imo one of the top reasons for jailbreaking!
YES, this was the first thing that annoyed the crap out of me when iOS 7 first came out.
There was another major issue with iOS 7 (that still exists to this day) which may have the similar cause. Namely, whenever someone calls me and I swipe to answer, I have to wait a second or so before I can actually talk. This was a huge issue for me when iOS 7 came out. I kept answering the phone, saying ”Hello!”, but the other person didn’t hear me. So there was always some confusion over why I answered the phone and didn’t say anything. I guess up until the iOS 7 you could speak sooner (fraction of a second after you had swiped to answer). But not with iOS 7 or iOS 8. It seems either that the microphone is turned on with a sizable delay or it’s the same issue with animations. Very annoying!! Fix it, Apple. Steve would be very disappointed over these stupid issues.
I agree with you
When I slide I have to wait for like2-3 seconds before the button turns red and I can talk I thought it is bahar of noise cancellation activated but I disabled it and still I have issues
Steve would be disappointed
They need to fix ui lags
I don’t have to worry about this (still on iOS 6!) but I have watched my whole family experience this lag when answering their phones. “Hello” always gets cut off and always causes issues. No one ever gets used to it.
What puzzles me the most is that Apple hasn’t figured this out themselves. It’s like they don’t actually use the devices they produce. I wrote a long and detailed review of around 7-10 major issues I had with the iOS 7 on THE SECOND DAY after I installed it. And Apple guys had been testing and using it for months and months. I can’t figure this out. Was Steve Jobs really the only one in that company who noticed these things? Are the rest of them really morons? I don’t mean to attack them or anything (they are still the best out there), but c’mon… what is this €%#£. :)
I must be blind because I don’t see what others are seeing and animations don’t bother me or feel slow.
It’s more preference then a problem.
By nature some people are more responsive then others, you just might be slower then others, not to be rude but that’s just a rule of nature
Not a problem for me. iPhone 6 user.
It’s horrible. This was why I was willing to pay twice as much for a phone. I really don’t care about the processor power or anything like this as long as every switch and slider moves as fast as a real mechanical switch would and it should do it every time the same way.
‘Did you see… wait wait lemme do it again DID YOU … wait I can get it to not respond to me just don’t blink ok? DID YOU SEE THAT!!!! It’s so not responsive NOW!!!’
Exactly! This guys has too much time and a lot to complain about.
This is silly, I don’t think most people are trying to speed change through screens. Very nit picky.
Are you kidding me? This is basically what all tech reviewers do with Android phones all the time…try to speed as fast as possible through the screens to catch some “lag”, and then say “AHA!! See? Android still lags!!!”
I think a lot of times people confuse “lag” with “stutter”. I’ve had several Android phones and I never really complained about actual lag (things do need time to load), but rather with dropping frame rates in animations which I call “stutter”. But there is huge lag in say a Galaxy S5, where it takes literally twice as long for an app or screen to load than an HTC One or iPhone 6. So lag and stutter vary.
I mean real people in every day use are not trying to speed through their phones to catch lag. I have never had a problem or annoyance.
never noticed it, just use the “reduce motion” option from accessibility
Doesn’t solve the problem, worse, since iOS8 the app opening and closing “fade” animation is even slower than the standard “zoom” animation. Never use this feature if you want the device to be fast.
I’m not suggesting 9to5mac should be an Apple shill, but more and more it seems to try to make issues out of non issues. So many little things they push and push and create negative stories out of nothing. Yes, being up issues and complaints. But please weigh the ferocity and frequency. Like BendGate. I saw 9to5 pushing it harder than anywhere else I visit on the web. 9to5 really started to jump on the “question the ability of Tim” bandwagon on 2010/11. I get casual observers of Apple didn’t realize the history and relationships he had at Apple, but this site have him no longer of a leash than mainstream media.
I seriously question the intent of the managerial staff of 9to5 the last 4 years.
Rereading my comment…it’s a poorly edited rant and off topic. I apologize to the community. My sentiment still stands and another day in, another thread, I will make a better framed argument.
+1
-1
Yes. I have an iPhone 5 and whenever I restart my iPhone. I must wait for the phone to turn on and then wait a few before it will accept my input. I try to swipe when the screen first turns on, but it doesn’t accept my input. So my iPhone takes about a minute to restart and an additional eight seconds or so to start working again.
The more resources that are available, the sloppier or more elaborate programmers get. The iPhone 1 came with 8 GB storage, a 412 MHz single core processor, 128 MB RAM and a 320×480 display. The programmers couldn’t afford to add any more than just the basics to get things to work. Now there’s far more of everything so programmers can be more creative. They COULD just stick to the basics but why bother when the extra flourish just adds a fraction of a second?
Realize that the Macs (or Windows machines) of today could perform a great deal of their functions just using a text based screen (anyone remember the Apple II’s MouseText?) and dropping into a graphics screen only when needed.
Personally I’m not too worried about this.
Iphone 6 – I’ve noticed this, slightly annoying, and considering these small moments of waiting add up over time, that could be a lot of time wasted. Not a deal breaker, but definitely something to tighten up. Looking forward to the performance enhancement of future ios iterations.
Due to Apple’s supply-chain launch bog-down during iPhone6 launch, I got to “enjoy” iOS8 on my iPhone 5 for weeks and I noticed these pauses there and on my wife’s iPhone 5s. With my 6+ the pauses were lessened greatly, but not eliminated. So while CPU power helps, there is an extra burden of code imposed in the animations for the swipe-delay. It’s unimportant, in the grand scheme of things, unless you care about UX and the potential perception issues (especially if you combine the swipe-delay with the occasional, but inevitable, app crash or bug).
Why is this news now? I’ve been talking about this since the first iOS 7 beta.
It was especially noticeable then because of how damn casual the animations were. It was like they were taking a leisurely stroll through the park. They ignored the fact that the user of a mobile phone might actually be in a rush to do something.
It’s funny how the internet works. Everyone was so focused on blasting skuomorphism all they could think of was the iOS 7’s redesign.
I guess only UX people notice this stuff? Or maybe it’s not that normal people don’t notice something and get frustrated, they just don’t know how to identify the cause of it. So instead they do something stupid like switch the animations off because their friends said, “it makes the phone faster” when really it doesn’t. It’s the same amount of animation, same lack of responsiveness, but because you see things a little sooner you think it’s faster.
I’m kinda glad the public trend is “iOS needs fixing.” It needed fixing from the day iOS 7 came out. But at least everyone is noticing it now. Yay, another item on the list iOS 9…
Me too….me too.
+1 I think the user trend didn’t vocally gripe about iOS7 issues due to the focus on the design changes, which did make iOS feel more “lightweight” and therefore “better” in most average users’ estimation. Only the UX people were decrying the _behavior_ of various UI elements, which couldn’t rise above the media coverage din of “Jony Ive’s OS redesign” that they were focused on. I love the look, hate the animation pregnant-pauses that iOS6 and earlier didn’t have (for the most part).
Yea… I’m just venting my frustration. I’m actually glad Van Hecke got fireballed and all this got a bit more attention. I guess the lesson is we have to keep trying until our voices are heard. Good to know I wasn’t the only one on a soapbox shouting.
Yes, definitely! I´m still asking myself Should I really reinstall iOS 6? For me as a power user it was at first a dead end…
that same feeling is when I’m using Yosemite … then again Mavericks.
Drink some green tea.
Apple should simply clean up the software (Mac OS X has also a lot of bugs and annoying things too BTW) and bring it up to the quality of their hardware.
Stop adding features, and streamline it, reduce footprint, reduce battery consumption, increase efficiency, even on older hardware.
I buy and bought Apple because I don’t want a Windows Machine that gets slower to each update of the OS. Apple used to deliver new versions of OS X that would run the same or faster on the same hardware. And ever require less memeory. Is that still the case?
I have my doubts unfortunately. It is time to deliver quality, performance, not features. It is time for some overdue spring cleaning.
The one that bothers me the most is how after you’ve left the screen untouched for however long it takes to go to sleep, once the screen starts fading out, you can’t do a damn thing with it and you have to wait, hit Home, slide-to-unlock/Touch ID, wait for THAT animation to complete, and THEN you can continue whatever you’d been doing (such as reading.)
Take those google apps off your phone and it will work ;)
Is this due to the animations or just loading time of apps? Meaning, the apps have gotten so much larger and more complex, storage so much larger (so much more to read through upon IO), that maybe while the animation is happening, the app is still actually loading up in the background and until it’s ready, you see the animation and image of the app. I say this because I often catch apps animation appear and once the app is responsive, it actually updates and looks different than what the animation showed. What we are seeing, I suspect, is the saved screenshot while the app is loading or “waking up” from it’s saved state. So again, I’m asking is this really a lack of responsiveness due to animations, or just loading lag covered up with an animation rather than just having a blank screen or the previous screen frozen for a moment??
The reason I ask, and why the difference matters is because if the lag was due to animation, then that could be fixed (just reduce or remove the animation). If it’s due to loading, then that’s another story entirely and the animation is a welcomed distraction.
Actually the very first thing I did after iOS 8 update was that I turned on “Reduce Motion” in General/Accessibility setting. The fading-in/fading-out animation effects disappeared together with the HomeScreen parallax effect and I have a feeling that the overall reaction times are slightly faster after that. From my personal point of view the default setting – Parallax Effect+Animations for opening and closing Apps – is not what average user really appreciate. The speed of UI/GUI is absolutely essential and every default setting should subserve it.
Feeling faster matters but I believe The crossfade is happening with the same animation curve and timing. You are just able to process the new screen’s content faster since you see it earlier. I actually found it more annoying since it would look finished but still not respond.
On top of that I appreciate what Apple was trying to do with the new transitions. They help give a sense of place. Help you understand where you came from and where you are going just a little better. So if it weren’t for people getting motion sick Apple would certainly not have that other option.
You are right in that the speed of ui is essential but the real fix was to reduce animation times, adjust the easing curve, and to prioritize user interactions. All of which have gotten a bit better. I’m sure new devices run smoother than my 4s and I’m mostly satisfied outside of the few times I’m truly in a rush.
If you didn’t use iOS 6 and transition to iOS 7, you probably don’t know any better. But I noticed it immediately upon iOS 7 beta 1, and it has not improved one bit since then.
Really hoping iOS 9 focuses on some of these kinds of improvements.
Wha? It’s definitely improved. Substantially improved really but not as good as it could be. I can tell when someone is running ios 7 just by them pressing the home button. I have a 4s so maybe the improvements are more noticeable on the older hardware?
What I absolutely hate about iOS8 is that it broke many of the things that worked great in iOS 7.1, which fixed things that were wrong in 7.0. For example, you could interact with the apps in the app switcher while it was still animating. Can’t do that right now.
It’s as if they started working on iOS8 based on 7.0, ignoring some of the 7.1 improvements to the solidity of the OS.
To some people; yeah it doesn’t look that big of a deal there but when compared with iOS 6 (which is the same) iOS 7 and 8 devices (even the 5S and 6) are slower than the iPhone 5 in most cases and it definitely matters. Hopefully iOS 9, the apparently huge stability and performance update, will fix all of this.
The iPhone 5 on iOS 6 that is.*
I’m one of those ‘fast responder’ types. I find the slow pace of the animations extremely annoying. When I tap one thing I anticipate the next tap but can’t do it until Precious finishes animating some stupid thing. Switching between apps and navigating the home screen are as annoying as F sometimes.
What it feels like now is…wait for it…early Android builds. There. I said it. That felt good to get off my chest.
Absolutely. Responsiveness and performance are key to a pleasant user interface experience. “Snappiness” is vital. Microseconds wasted are perceptible to the average user. We should not have to sacrifice or make excuses for usability or some delay / lag in animation completion simply for the OS to be able to accept user input.
Such a First World Problem! How much time do we lose waiting? I had not even realized that before this video.
I stopped to love my iPhone(s) since iOS 7. Incredibly hideous.
The first thing I do with a jailbreak on ios 7 and 8 is cut the animations down to about 20% of their original speed. It makes the phone seem so much faster. I have no idea why Apple made the animations so painfully slow. I really hate how slow they are. Using stock Ios is frustrating after using the fast animations.
What’s your wall paper?!
I think the thing to look for is how the watch handles things like this. It will be one of many factors that determine its success.
I can only hope that resources have been so focused on perfecting the watch interaction that the phone has taken the back burner. Once the watch is out I hope to see things level out.
its just a phone. lots of other options out there if this is really an issue, IMO
Yep. Clearly this is only an occasionaly prblem, even for him. And if someone is at the point where they can’t even wait a few miliseconds for our phones to respond, they CLEARLY are having problems with delayed gratification. Slow down, a few miliseconds is not the end of the world! (Unless you race professionally, then yes miliseconds might be the end of your world)
Yes, its incredibly annoying! Makes the iPhone 6 feel slower than a Nexus 5.
I see where some people are coming from when they say they don’t notice it so it isn’t an issue. But the bigger picture here is that its just sloppy design. Does it make a difference in the grand scheme of things, probably not. But for a company that built its foundation striving towards perfection it’s disappointing.
I realize that the newest OS’s are doing far more than iOS3. It is however somewhat of a usability issue for myself. We have far more powerful hardware than the iOS3 days. Maybe it’s time to implement some sort of interruptibility during animations.