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Ask HN: Why is the iOS UI difficult to maneuver?

13 points by wantlotsofcurry ↗ HN
I recently purchased an old iPhone 11 Pro Max to try out, after being an Android user the last 12yrs, last phone being the Oneplus 7. I knew there would be big differences and I tried to be as accepting as possible along the way.

It's been a few weeks now and I would really like to hear from current or former iPhone users on their thoughts about iOS's maneuverability.

My thoughts: The iOS UI thrives on having the user perform tedious steps to perform very simple actions [1], is difficult to use in one hand (I understand there are smaller models but I wanted a bigger battery, this should not excuse the lack of maneuverability), and THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL BACK BUTTON! When you need to go back, you have to figure out how the current app wants you to go backwards. Swipe from the left edge? anywhere on screen? or exit using the button at the top of the screen? It's a guessing game every time.

I really want to like this phone, the hardware is incredible and the software support for years is terrific. Could long time users please chime in on how they got used to it?

[1] Reaching to the top right corner to drag down the Control Panel. Having to press the 'Select' button in Photos instead of long pressing a photo. Having to tap a toggle icon exactly for it to change status.

30 comments

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yen223
"after being an Android user the last 12yrs"

This is probably the reason why. It's just a matter of familiarity.

JamoneK
This is exactly the reason why.
corytheboyd
"I've been playing guitar all my life, and just bought a piano to play for the first time. Absolute rubbish, who designed this shit!"
mackatap
Except phone ui is made to be intuitive, not really a fair comparison.
lozenge
It started that way, now it's designed to jam in all the functionality people expect. In the iPhone s case, with one button and no Force Touch.

Unless you want to stick to the old patterns of using one app at a time, there is nothing intuitive about it any more.

gjsman-1000
I’ve always wondered why Android is so hard to navigate. On the Samsung phones, there’s two app stores, two photos apps, two video apps, two security apps, two calculators, two email apps, and they all have different UI styles, how confusing.
easrng
That's a Samsung issue, not an Android issue. Samsung heavily customizes their phones to use an entirely different design language and they also preinstall apps you can't remove (Facebook) and mess with notification services for open source apps that don't use Firebase for push.
nulld3v
I don't remember it being this bad. At least the UI styles issue really isn't a big deal, Samsung's one UI style is essentially just the stock Android UI style, but with a couple colors changed and maybe some larger fonts. All the buttons and interactive elements are in the same place.

And about the duplicate apps, it depends. Sometimes it actually makes sense (e.g. the two email apps, you use Gmail for your Gmail accounts and the other email app for everything else). Sometimes it doesn't :/.

But either way, it's an issue that I can easily solve myself. I can just uninstall/disable whatever apps that I don't use. Or I can install an alternative launcher and hide the apps. Or I can simply ignore the extra apps and pretend they don't exist lol. It's a one-and-done fix.

I can't do the same with the UI though like what OP is talking about.

robswc
>THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL BACK BUTTON! When you need to go back, you have to figure out how the current app wants you to go backwards

I'm not mobile UI/UX guy but it seems like this is just bad app design, no?

I have a android tablet and I'm trying to think if I've ever actually used the back button. In theory, its a great thing to have since it's "universal" but don't most modern apps have better ways to get around?

I'm no apple fan, I've just had iPhone since launch and I never do more than text/email.

easrng
Think going back in a browser, going back to the list of contacts from a specific message thread in a messaging app, etc. Swiping from the left works in most apps, but not all of them. The back button works everywhere.
robswc
I suppose there is definitely a benefit to having a universal back button. I just can't say I've used it much, even on my samsung tablet.

There's always some sort of button to get "back" to where I was. Just tried on messenger, youtube and instagram. All the "back" buttons were in the top left. Guess I never really paid much attention to that.

lozenge
Half the apps on Android are more interested in keeping you in the app.

If I follow a link from Messages to a Twitter post and press Back, I end up on my Twitter feed, even if I never use it.

TikTok is most blatant, putting refresh on the back button, with two back presses actually quitting.

perryizgr8
Yeah iOS seems to be extremely poorly thought out. It's just that people are used to it so they can function with it. So many times the back text on the top left is un touchable too, and I give up after a few tries.

In general, the hardware is impressive, but software is quite mediocre on Apple products. I find myself wanting to run windows on my MacBook very frequently.

wantlotsofcurry
I think that might be the case. I might even get used to using iOS after a long time but I don't think that would equate to the UI being good or accessible.
sedivy94
Eh… was an android user for eight years and I found the UI/UX to be confounding. Too much variability from app to app. Constantly wrestling with my phone. The iOS design language seems more consistent and logical in my opinion and the transition was seamless. Although that design comes at the cost of an extra click here and there, stuffing a lot of functionality into share sheets (e.g. adding a photo to an album in Photos.app).
samcat116
90% of apps using UINavigationController or the SwiftUI equivalent will have the back button be a label with a left facing arrow in the top left. A swipe from the left will also trigger this action. Its never tripped me up.
wantlotsofcurry
But why is it always on the top left or right? Phones continue to get larger and since iOS doesn't have a universal back button, wouldn't it make sense it put navigation buttons on the bottom left and right?
samcat116
Valid point but I personally have no issue with the swipe gesture on my Max sized phone.
undefinedzero
No need when you can just use edge navigation. The button in the top left is just there for users not as handy with their devices.
pixelrevision
Swiping is I think how most people use nav on an iPhone at this point. The back button at the top did make a lot more sense on the original models where the screen was small enough that you could do everything with a single hand.
ulfw
it's not an Android phone. Please go back to Android if what you want is Android. I don't mean that in jest, but in all seriousness. You've gotten used to a certain way of doing things for over a decade, keep at it.

It makes no sense for you to change if you don't like the other way of doing things and it makes even less sense to discuss "why why why isn't the new system working like my old one".

RichEO
> THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL BACK BUTTON

Your desktop computer doesn’t have a universal back button either, despite having 100+ buttons. It’s not a mandatory UI element.

With that said, swiping from the left hand side of the screen will generally perform an analogous function in most well made iOS apps, and swiping up from the bottom of the screen will take the user to the Home Screen

Venkatesh10
There's an option in windows, just click wibdows+D or click on the bottom right corner.
dietsche
I made the switch a few months ago and feel your pain. For me editing is the most different. Realizing that I could press and hold the space bar was life changing. It works “almost” like android does… except you can also move the cursor up and down
lawgimenez
I switched from Android to iPhone around 5 years ago and the universal back button is the one thing I missed a lot but eventually found out that this wasn't a good design decision.
ransom1538
The back button reminds me of clearing cache. It is easy, but "when" is hard. With the back button, easy, but where!? [back to the app you opened? or back to the email that triggered it? or the notification that pop'ed up? or trigger the browser back?]
cuteboy19
Conversely gesture support on Android is forever broken. You should expect side edge swipes to work as the back button. But most apps have panels displayed using the same gesture.