back to article Does Apple's iOS 7 make you physically SICK? Try swallowing version 7.1

Apple has released its first major update for iOS 7 — version 7.1, natch — which brings "improvements and bug fixes" to iDevices, including better Touch ID fingerprint recognition, the option to further reduce the on-screen animations that sickened some users, and a boost to performance on the iPhone 4. Details of Apple's iOS …

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  1. This post has been deleted by its author

  2. Don Dumb
    Thumb Down

    Just want one fix

    It doesn't look as if they have fixed the app refresh problem - https://discussions.apple.com/message/23192445#23192445

    Unless the "improved performance on iPhone 4" helps to address it

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    > Siri also has added what Apple describes as "new, more natural sounding" voices, both male and female, in Mandarin Chinese, UK and Australian English, and Japanese.

    Confirms what I always suspected, American is not very "natural sounding".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      A friend from New Zealand used to describe the more extreme versions as sounding like "a buzz saw cutting through wet teak". Evocative, at least.

  4. Wensleydale Cheese
    Go

    "If you want security-upgrade details, you'll need to wait."

    You don't need to wait if you subscribe to Apple's Product Security mailing list.

    Details at lists.apple.com

    These notifications often arrive in my inbox before the App Store lists the update as being available (though an App Store Refresh - Command-R sometimes does the trick).

    1. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      Re: "If you want security-upgrade details, you'll need to wait."

      Undoubtedly, another batch of knock-off cables will stop working.

      Not funny Apple. I'll wait a few weeks and order more off ebay anyway. So stop being all Microsoft on us, okay?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "If you want security-upgrade details, you'll need to wait."

        'All Microsoft'? I dont recall a Windows update screwing up my USB cables.

        Sometimes an OS upgrade would break the software it was talking to, but the cable would still work for something else...

      2. Joe Gurman

        Re: "If you want security-upgrade details, you'll need to wait."

        *Cough* Apple started banning non-approved cables after people were seriously injured or had house fires thanks to dodgy charging cables. Are you saying that was a bad idea? Try Amazon Basics cables. They're Apple-approved, and cheaper than Apple's versions.

        As for the details, they're at: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6162 .

        1. ThomH

          Re: "If you want security-upgrade details, you'll need to wait."

          So we're accusing Apple of breaking third-party Lightning cables without any evidence that they have, comparing them to Microsoft despite that not really being something Microsoft would do, then recommending Amazon cables as still working even though we still have no evidence that others have stopped working or, therefore, that Amazon cables still do?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Better than Android then?

    Just asking...

    1. 45RPM Silver badge

      Re: Better than Android then?

      Different to Android. You pays your money and you makes your choice. Getting all partisan about it is just silly.

      1. JeffyPoooh
        Pint

        Re: Better than Android then?

        Buy your choice of phone and several tablets, a tablet or two of each ecosystem. Duh.

    2. heyrick Silver badge

      Re: Better than Android then?

      I have both. Android on the phones, iOS on the tablet. It is hard to make a direct comparison because a tablet's use is not going to be the same as a phone's use. However, with experience in both I would suggest that the above response "different" is the correct one. There are numerous things I like about iOS and numerous things that bug the hell out of me. It's the same for Android, only the things are different.

      One thing that is undeniably nice is the stream of updates. The Android system is badly messed up in this respect, which is why my current phone is running 2.3.7. If Sony have made a newer version available, Orange haven't bothered to pick up on it. So I'm stuck with an oldie. Sure, it is easier for Apple given it's their OS on their hardware, but this is an end-user comparison. My iPad Mini is up to date, my phone isn't.

      1. paleoflatus

        Re: Better than Android then?

        Yes, there's worth-while comfort and convenience in Apple's walled garden, although the slightly dated-looking little iPhones, the inflexibility and the lack of configurable keyboards with far better predictive text (like SwiftKey and Swype) are a cross to bear for some. I can type proper English e-mails faster on my phone with these than I can on the keyboard of my desktop machine!

        As for updates, my Nexus 5 phone regularly updates (now running Android 4.4.2) and updating apps is a breeze. My Android pad runs Cyanogenmod and I could update it to nightlies - if I ever got that keen. I don't think you should compare older Android devices with recent Apple ones, as both systems are changing rapidly.

        1. Randolf McKinley

          Re: Better than Android then?

          Yes, but only in one sense. Apple doesn't let the carrier screw with the OS - err, I mean "customise" it. And (OK, two senses) updates are not dependant on the carrier releasing a customised version for their phone.

          Personally I'm philosophically attracted to the Android ecosystem (and had one for a while) but I'm practically more attracted to the iOS walled garden. I got fed up with O2 being a version behind at least on my Galaxy compared with Samsung. Yes, I know I could have jailbroken it, but why should I need the hassle. I'm 53 you know ...

          1. Daz555

            Re: Better than Android then?

            Those who do not like carrier flavours added to their phones should buy from resellers rather than the carriers. Usually cheaper anyway in my experience.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Better than Android then?

          "I can type proper English e-mails faster on my phone with these than I can on the keyboard of my desktop machine!"

          Either you're a horrible typist or everything you type is so predictable that you might as well not bother. The world record for typing speed with Swype is 58 WPM. Anybody in technology should be able to type faster on a real keyboard without thinking twice.

          Really, this infatuation with Android keyboard customizability baffles me. First of all, why are you typing so much on your PHONE? What's so urgent that it can't wait until you get to a computer with a real keyboard? And second, I have yet to meet anybody who can type faster on their fancy custom Android keyboard than I can on my iPhone, and a fair number of people have tried...

          1. Shrimpling

            Re: Better than Android then?

            "I have yet to meet anybody who can type faster on their fancy custom Android keyboard than I can on my iPhone, and a fair number of people have tried"

            I have yet to see anybody who can type faster on any touch screen phone that I can on my old Sony Ericsson P1i's physical keyboard. Unfortunately the phone manufacturers don't make anything with a keyboard like that any more.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Better than Android then?

        If the old Android version bugs you (not surprising as Gingerbread is ancient), why not give cyanogenmod a try? I was reluctant to move away from the comfort of the stock network-provided ROM but my phone is well out of warranty and I had a feeling all the network/manufacturer/Google crapware wasn't helping performance or battery life. Installed 10.2 using the ridiculously easy installer and I'm loving it so far.

  6. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    CL Tools update as well

    Looks like some of the "goodness" requires an update of the toolchain. Version 5.1 of "Command Line Developer Tools" has also been released.

  7. karlh

    So now the keyboard can show bold letters when bold is switched on. How about lowercase letters when caps lock is off and uppercase letters when it's on?

    1. Mike Bell

      Dancing keyboard

      @karlh

      That would be very easy to do. But it would be a mistake, and Apple well know it. For many people, a (fairly) pointless and frequent keyboard layout change would be an irritating distraction. I believe people have tried it on jailbroken devices and rapidly come to the conclusion that it's not a great feature.

      I somehow seem to struggle by with my proper physical keyboard and its shift key.

      1. karlh

        Re: Dancing keyboard

        Not sure I would classify changing the key labels from 'a' to 'A' etc as a layout change.

        It's interesting that you compare a physical keyboard. It certainly does sound like a remnant of skeumorphic design.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Dancing keyboard

          "It's interesting that you compare a physical keyboard. It certainly does sound like a remnant of skeumorphic design."

          Hardly. Having the keyboard change around between upper and lower case is bad UI design for two reasons. First, it's needlessly distracting to have a bunch of stuff changing/flashing/blinking if it's not helping the user accomplish the task at hand. (And really, does the keyboard changing actually give you any sort of benefit? Are you really that unaware of whether the next letter you'll type will be in caps or not?) Second, psychologically speaking, it's more cognitive load to be visually familiar with the upper AND lower case keyboards. To be honest, that probably isn't a huge issue, but at the same time, why should it potentially be an issue at all?

          This is the sort of stuff you learn in the first few weeks of any UI design class. If Android's stock keyboard does change letters between upper/lower case then I find that startling and depressing. Google has a reputation for hiring people with top qualifications who should really know better.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Dancing keyboard

            "Having the keyboard change around between upper and lower case is bad UI design for two reasons ... This is the sort of stuff you learn in the first few weeks of any UI design class."

            Quick check of the on-screen keyboard in Windows 8, and the keys change from lower to upper case displayed, when you engage caps lock, or shift.

            Have you got a reference to any UI design class guidelines saying this is bad UI design?

            I've found some references saying it isn't. Interested to know where you're getting the idea it is, when so many on-screen keyboards work this way, and have done for as long as I can remember using this kind of thing.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Dancing keyboard

              "Have you got a reference to any UI design class guidelines saying this is bad UI design?"

              No, just the ones I mentioned. I'm afraid I took all my UI design classes long before the current generation of touchscreen soft keyboards so none of my textbooks would address this case specifically. But I don't see why general principles wouldn't apply. And I would suggest that "Windows 8 does it" is not necessarily the best justification for a UI design decision.

              1. heyrick Silver badge
                FAIL

                Re: Dancing keyboard

                "I'm afraid I took all my UI design classes long before the current generation of touchscreen soft keyboards so none of my textbooks would address this case specifically."

                I see. So you are taking a UI design principle that you know is outdated and are trying to apply it to a modern UI because it supports what may be the only on-screen keyboard UI element that behaves in this manner?

                Next you'll be telling me that underlining incorrectly spelled words is a known terrible UI decision (...because somebody will have to come along later with an eraser and rub out all the underlines).

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Dancing keyboard

        Meego has it. It is only useful when typing passwords

      3. no-one in particular

        Re: Dancing keyboard

        The keyboard on my Palm Pilot switches case and has done for many years - not once have I ever considered it anything other than useful. It certainly has never been irritating or even pointless.

    2. heyrick Silver badge

      Sensible keyboard

      You might call it a dancing keyboard. I call it a logical keyboard. Android has no trouble in reflecting the state of Caps in the keys themselves. I find it rather disconcerting that the iOS keyboard just stays stuck looking the same.

      If this might come as a shock to some, why not - gasp - make it a configurable option?

      1. Mike Bell

        Re: Sensible keyboard

        Sorry, we'll have to disagree on that. Android's forever-switching keyboard is a gimmick. I think I prefer animated GIFs on websites to that.

        Apple don't generally add configuration options of any kind unless there's a very good reason to do so.

        If you are disconcerted by not having your beloved 'sensible' keyboard, you'll probably fall over dizzy if you use a regular physical keyboard like I'm typing on now.

        1. Dave 126 Silver badge

          Re: Sensible keyboard

          > I find it rather disconcerting that the iOS keyboard just stays stuck looking the same.

          The letters on my laptop's keyboard are in caps all the time.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Sensible keyboard

          This is a good reason, it's called choice.

          I thought the whole point of this amazing, touch screen, non-skeuomorphic age, is that is isn't limited to the physical object in either form or function.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    10,000 unread messages?

    "10,000 unread messages on their iPhone or iPad, the bug is not to be charged to iOS"

    This suggests a dead fanboi.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 10,000 unread messages?

      Nah. I know plenty of people who subscribe to various email lists for work where emails are sent out by automated processes several times per day. They can check these emails (or usually just read the subjects) to see that everything is going okay, but more commonly don't, and let the emails pile up. Do that for a few months or years and you can very easily have tens of thousands of unread emails.

      Just because the Mail app says you have 10k unread emails doesn't mean it has downloaded them all to the device. Local storage is not necessarily being wasted.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 10,000 unread messages?

        Yes, that's me, I have 43,000 'unread' mails. I look upon it as useful traffic dilution for GCHQ/NSA/JTRIG and hope they enjoy reading them perhaps before I do!

        1. veti Silver badge
          Joke

          Re: 10,000 unread messages?

          But what if one of them is a crisis that really needs your attention? How is GCHQ supposed to alert you to it, if you're not checking your messages?

  9. djstardust

    The reason for this is that there is no way to delete all your emails en masse which in this day and age is ridiculous.

    I'm also surprised it fixes an iOS crashing bug .... I've not had Android crash on me for god knows how long now, at least Galaxy S1 days!

    1. heyrick Silver badge

      "The reason for this is that there is no way to delete all your emails en masse which in this day and age is ridiculous."

      It would be nice if there was an obvious way to archive (onto a PC) all of your sent mail and delete it from the iPad. Is this hiding somewhere in iTunes?

      As to the message selection, it seems strange that "Mark all" doesn't have a "Select all" option...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "It would be nice if there was an obvious way to archive (onto a PC) all of your sent mail and delete it from the iPad. Is this hiding somewhere in iTunes?"

        Don't know what email service you're using, but if you send an email via GMail then it gets saved ("archived") in your Sent folder. By default iOS only keeps the most recent 50 (?) emails in any given folder so there's absolutely no need to delete anything.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Mail services...

          Y! Mail and iCloud do this too.

        2. heyrick Silver badge

          Not quite right...

          "By default iOS only keeps the most recent 50 (?) emails in any given folder so there's absolutely no need to delete anything."

          Personal, private, POP3 mailbox. Sent folder held on iPad.

          Currently 0 unread messages.

          Open private mail, "Sent" folder. Tap "Edit", then "Mark all", then "Mark as unread".

          152 unread messages.

          You were saying?

    2. sabroni Silver badge

      re: I've not had Android crash on me for god knows how long now

      My Android phone just rebooted itself in the middle of a tune on the way to work this morning.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple writes crap software, we know that's true.

    - Jacob Appelbaum

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Context, AC, context. Appelbaum was talking about an NSA tool for compromising iPhones, and his suspicions that Apple were aiding them.

      Not even Blackphone are claiming their offering is NSA proof.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Another triumph of designers vs. common sense

    Great to see a bunch of common sense, "I told you so" fixes in 7.1.

    As somebody who has been involved in the design and development of several projects, I can say with confidence how this one went.

    Designers: hey, let's make all the backgrounds painfully white with SUPER thin fonts!

    Developers and everybody else: that's stupid

    Designers: no, it'll be great, trust us, everybody will get used to it and like it

    Management: do whatever the designers say, they have a vision

    Developers: fine, but we'll just have to change it back in 6 months

    (6 months later)

    Developers: okay, everybody hated it and we changed it all back, thanks for wasting our time, and plus, we told you so

    Designers and management: well, it's kind of your fault for doing it wrong in the first place, right?

    Aaaaaaand repeat...

    1. Andrew Moore

      Re: Another triumph of designers vs. common sense

      More like:

      Developers: See, we told you that we'd have to change it back in 6 months.

      Designers and management: We don't remember you telling us that.

      1. veti Silver badge
        Pirate

        Re: Another triumph of designers vs. common sense

        Well, that would be your own fault for not sorting out the email in which you told them that, and clicking "reply all" to send the followup.

        Oh, you didn't tell them by email? Honestly, there's no helping some people.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Another triumph of designers vs. common sense

          "Well, that would be your own fault for not sorting out the email in which you told them that, and clicking "reply all" to send the followup."

          Yup, if there's one thing managers love, it's being reminded that they're wrong by their underlings, especially when "reply all" is used... where do you work?

      2. Craig Foster

        Re: Another triumph of designers vs. common sense

        Maybe they had 10,000 unread emails, and only use iPads?

  12. Confuciousmobil

    Not for Jailbreakers

    I thought I'd just say the obvious, don't upgrade if you want to jailbreak.

  13. MagicBoy

    Yay, by iPhone 4 now runs at a proper speed. :D

    1. Nick Ryan Silver badge

      Finally, now that is a big improvement and hopefully something will carry through to the older iPads as well.

      While a lot of people praise Apple for updating their own OS on their own Devices much faster than the often no-updates from of a Carrier updating their ghastly hacks on top of a Device Manufacturer's hacks on top of a common OS provided by another party... they do have a habit of stitching up the older devices. In marketing terms, it's the user's fault for not upgrading of course, and is therefore a prompt (stick) to upgrade for the new features in a new device (carrot).

  14. Chairo
    Happy

    @Nick Ryan - "they do have a habit of stitching up the older devices"

    It became a little bit less nasty, lately. They used to stop supporting older devices pretty fast until now, but a few days ago I was very surprised to see an update for Skype in the App Store, when I opened it with my old 3G model, running IOS4. I thought I try out what happens and it actually offered me the last available version for my flavour of IOS for installation. Quite a big surprise! I checked out some other apps that are now "unavailable for your version of IOS", and unfortunately there was no change. I suppose it is up to the developer to support this feature.

    Still - better than the outright ignorance of older devices they showed before.

    1. Nick Ryan Silver badge

      Re: @Nick Ryan - "they do have a habit of stitching up the older devices"

      @ Chairo - I was more thinking about the OS itself rather than the applications themselves. But it is down to the app developers as to what they support.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: @Nick Ryan - "they do have a habit of stitching up the older devices"

      "I suppose it is up to the developer to support this feature."

      About halfway through last year Apple started allowing people to download older versions of apps if they were using older versions of iOS. This works by default. Developers can prevent it from happening, which they would want to do if the older versions of their apps are e.g. no longer compatible with their servers. But I agree that it is nice that Apple allows this now.

  15. SonderTwyful

    Date-castrophe

    There is only one of the recent iOS changes that makes me physically ill ... and that's the *%^$* spinning wheel for dates and times in the Calendar app! I don't want to play Wheel of Fortune when trying to set the date and times and I do not appreciate that a simple flick of the finger can screw up several minutes worth of settings. Arrrrrgggghhhhh! If you can't dump the stoooopid wheel, at least make it a different color from the rest of the settings. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to scroll down to set the alarms, etc., only to realize that I just screwed up the time setting (again and again). And, no, I don't have sausage fingers.

    In fact, I think Apple should dump the entire Calendar app and start fresh. And, if they can't do that, please go back to the "old" Calendar ... the one before they f*(ked up the buttons and icons.

    And, one last rant ... may I please be allowed to change the "default" alert time? Sorry, but the default of 9AM just doesn't work for me!

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Date-castrophe

      I'm with you there, SonderTwyful.

      I've had Samsung feature phones and Sony Android phones that think that spinning wheels are a suitable form of date/time input.

      Why?! To remind that I'm setting an alarm and not using the calculator?

  16. gryphon

    10,000 Unread Messages

    Hmm, I wonder how it will cope witth the >100,000 that one of our users refuses to do anything with. And that is just in the inbox. :-(

    1. Philippe

      Re: 10,000 Unread Messages

      ever heard of accidental crash which deletes everything?

      I strongly recommend it for this type of users.

  17. NutsAboutApples

    Battery performance

    The big question for me is: have they fixed the major battery performance and charging issues they introduced in 7.0.3? Only see a mention of iPhone 4 performance, but this is a problem for iPhone 5, iPad 2, 3 and 4 as well (from own experience)

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Doesn't fix inheritence

    This update won’t fix the issue of inheriting iGadgets (is it patent Fanboi company?) from their own relatives or parents if they passed away though!

    1. Snapper
      Unhappy

      Re: Doesn't fix inheritence

      Yunno, I smell a shaved rat with that story. The family has said there is nothing on the iPad that they want and that 'Apple have not allowed them to use it'.

      Beats me why they don't simply do what anybody selling an iPad does and just wipe the bugger!

      But it wouldn't be an anti-Apple story then, would it?

      1. PC1512

        Re: Doesn't fix inheritence

        Nope - if they could wipe it (which I don't think they can if they can't get into it) that wouldn't actually help anyway, since when they tried to activate it again Apple's servers would recognise the device ID and insist on the mother's username and password anyway. That's the extra security that apple put in with IOS 7 designed to really clamp down on theft - and in fairness it's a good feature as long as you don't unwillingly end up on the wrong side of it, as this family have.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Battery drain since 7.0.6

    Interesting that they did not fix the battery drain issue introduced in 7.0.6.

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/25132522?ac_cid=op123456#25132522

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Battery drain since 7.0.6

      Well, they've done SOMETHING to improve it. Last night I left the house at 7 PM with my phone charged to 100%. I used it occasionally all night and this morning and now it's ~11 AM and it's still showing 98%. (?!) Before the update I would have expected it to be around 80% or possibly less. So I wasn't having the horrible problems some people were seeing but they did improve it.

  20. Twm Davies

    List view in calendar

    I'm so glad they reinstated that in ios7.1. The calendar app was almost completely unusable without it.

  21. I sound like Peter Griffin!!
    Happy

    Well..

    I for one welcome iOS 7.1 - it has definitely done something to enhance the general feel of the OS when navigating and working with apps. It feels faster. I'm yet to figure out at what expense though - will keep an eye on battery life.

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