iOS7: What People Really Think About iOS7

When Apple released it’s new operating system, iOS7, back in September, consumers and critics were divided in opinion. But now, we’ve spoken to real users of the software to tell us what they really make of it.

The life of a critic, particularly a technology writer, is an interesting one. The very fabric of technologies around us are ripped apart, critiqued and scrutinised on a level of which the average consumer hadn’t considered. Because of the way that some critique (methods of reviewing software can differ between journalists), real uses can get lost in the cracks. Reviewers can often forget that consumers and users of a product might be using an iPhone with iOS7 installed to play games on the bus to school or on the commute to work and are not necessarily looking for dedicated handheld gaming consoles and thus fail to review it as such. That’s why we’ve taken to the world of the Internet to ask real life users of iOS7 for their opinions, which you can find, along with commentary below. (All names have been reduced to initials for anonymity.)

Of the people we spoke to, the first, named ‘N’, had plenty of praise for Apple’s iOS, saying that he “loved iOS7 as a whole” making you wonder why critics were quick to tear Apple’s work down when clearly people are finding it to be a well made product overall. Going into detail, N cited issues as the fact that “[his] dynamic background messes up sometimes”, that there are “app failures” but mostly “the battery drains excessively”. While these are valid concerns to have in an operating system that some had spent hours downloading, with a fan of iOS7 says that it’s “great”, he also stated that they “need to fix the minor issues” but “like most first iOS updated they come with problem.” So clearly iOS7 is ambitious, if not without teething problems, but where have Apple gone as wrong as critics have suggested?

Another person we spoke to, named ‘J’, had plenty to say in terms of iOS7’s issues. Also pointing to iOS7 backgrounds, she mentioned that “you used to be able to scale it and now you can’t” signalling Apple’s unusual decision to remove a feature that was liked, rather than keeping it. In turn, J “didn’t like the format” of iTunes Radio and that when she used it, it “crashed”, so perhaps Apple are going to have to do more than include an app and are going to have to substantially improve it.

We also spoke to ‘L’, who was brief, but rated iOS7 an 8 out of 10 and said that it was “good”, when given several adjectives to choose from that included “excellent”. On the other hand, we spoke to ‘R’, who picked out what worked and what didn’t. R, like N, pointed to iOS7’s battery life issues, candidly saying that “the battery life sucks” due to some of the new features like the “gyroscopic background” and “the delete button when you’re in the phone app”. Another issue that R was unhappy with was that “[Apple] still haven’t fixed the iMessage bug where if you send a message and it doesn’t work it’ll say sending but the bar remains stuck near the end and you have to manually switch to SMS sometimes”. There were, however, some good points in what R had to say, with one incredibly handy use being the flashlight, which “stays on when your phone is locked” and that she hasn’t “seen any flashlight app do”.

In all, mixed opinions were given, but as a whole, most issues with iOS7 seem minor, and fixable, should Apple decide to address them.