Being the most hyped up and exclusive technological giant, Apple caters to people who seek pizzazz and comfort in one place, and nothing highlights this better than their operating system, iOS. Like any other technological business, Apple updates the operating system to stay ahead of its rivals, and keep its user base happy. Yet, the beta version of the iOS 15 update has surely seemed to spread more discontent than happiness.
The Safari app (Apple’s signature browser) has undergone an extremely unorthodox (and possibly daring) change, in moving the search bar to the bottom of the screen. It’s a move so audacious no browsing platform has ever attempted it, not even Samsung which in its One UI update relegated all of the menu icons to the bottom of the screen. One might say that it was a well intentioned move, serving to be more conductive to using the application on a smartphone as the user’s fingers are predominantly situated at the bottom of the screen. Some argue that the other update, that auto-hides the address bar during scrolling might’ve handled the issue of convenience, ensuring maximum visibility of the screen at any given time.
Another update for Safari, can have no arguments about convenience or good intentions because there seems to be no silver lining to it, swiping to switch tabs. On its own it might seem like a good enough move but coupled with the existing feature of swiping to change apps, it’s become more of a gamble-cum-challenge to see if one can achieve one without unintentionally carrying out the other due to the fact that you have swipe at the exact same place to achieve both of those things. Some might say it’s quite ableist of Apple to bring about such a change which requires high precision, navigating through milli-metres of space, which might seem like an insurmountable challenge to people with motor disabilities.
As if un-conventionalism was the theme of the day, the refresh button has also been removed from the address bar and can now be accessed through the More (...) button or if you have all the time in the world then it can be carried out by swiping up to the top of the site and then swiping down the top.
Some (emphasis on some) plus sides to the new updates, is the addition of extensions, a feature you’ll be aware of if you’ve used Google Chrome or Opera for instance. Tab groups have been introduced that can sync between different iOS devices allowing a more efficient and convenient approach. Last but not least are the impeccable security measures that set Apple apart, and provide top of the line cyber security to its users.
At the end of the day these seem to be more of style driven changes rather than practicality and like always, user will accept these with a pinch of salt and get used to it but they’d be hoping that before the final update rolls out Apple tweaks the beta version and ensure that the pizzazz is not lost.
Read next: Apple says that it has fixed the Wi-Fi issue in the latest iOS update which could restrict the network connection from the device
The Safari app (Apple’s signature browser) has undergone an extremely unorthodox (and possibly daring) change, in moving the search bar to the bottom of the screen. It’s a move so audacious no browsing platform has ever attempted it, not even Samsung which in its One UI update relegated all of the menu icons to the bottom of the screen. One might say that it was a well intentioned move, serving to be more conductive to using the application on a smartphone as the user’s fingers are predominantly situated at the bottom of the screen. Some argue that the other update, that auto-hides the address bar during scrolling might’ve handled the issue of convenience, ensuring maximum visibility of the screen at any given time.
Another update for Safari, can have no arguments about convenience or good intentions because there seems to be no silver lining to it, swiping to switch tabs. On its own it might seem like a good enough move but coupled with the existing feature of swiping to change apps, it’s become more of a gamble-cum-challenge to see if one can achieve one without unintentionally carrying out the other due to the fact that you have swipe at the exact same place to achieve both of those things. Some might say it’s quite ableist of Apple to bring about such a change which requires high precision, navigating through milli-metres of space, which might seem like an insurmountable challenge to people with motor disabilities.
As if un-conventionalism was the theme of the day, the refresh button has also been removed from the address bar and can now be accessed through the More (...) button or if you have all the time in the world then it can be carried out by swiping up to the top of the site and then swiping down the top.
Some (emphasis on some) plus sides to the new updates, is the addition of extensions, a feature you’ll be aware of if you’ve used Google Chrome or Opera for instance. Tab groups have been introduced that can sync between different iOS devices allowing a more efficient and convenient approach. Last but not least are the impeccable security measures that set Apple apart, and provide top of the line cyber security to its users.
At the end of the day these seem to be more of style driven changes rather than practicality and like always, user will accept these with a pinch of salt and get used to it but they’d be hoping that before the final update rolls out Apple tweaks the beta version and ensure that the pizzazz is not lost.
Screenshot: Joris Witteman
Read next: Apple says that it has fixed the Wi-Fi issue in the latest iOS update which could restrict the network connection from the device
