Good summary but on this point, I have to believe the new update cadence is also a contributor to the quality problem in some cases. Hard to believe Apple would release an update to their largest OS which “effectively kills multitasking” without there being some extreme pressure to hurry up and fix bugs from previous releases this fall.
During WWDC I remember having two reactions:
Euphoria for all the newly announced features
Dread upon the realization that Apple might not be able to get it all done over the summer (dread because any slight Apple misstep makes following Apple news annoying with all the takedown pieces)
As things have played out this fall, I keep wondering if iOS has passed the “complexity tipping point.” That’s not an official term (at least I don’t think so) but doesn’t it seem like all platforms and OSes just eventually get too heavy? Is that inevitable?
Remember the first versions? We loved iOS because it was so polished, fast and stable even without lots of “must have” features (e.g. copy/paste). iOS now has to support more devices (i.e more drivers, accessories) and more features than ever before and it’s exponential with every passing year. Plus code common across iOS and iPadOS now needs to be written and tested twice. Technical debt is real and this year they also decided to add a TON of stuff.
What’s surprising is that “new Apple” just shipped stuff with bugs - probably because iPhone must ship in Sept. Old Apple usually held the feature until it was fully baked. I don’t love this, despite my impatience for the new shiny. Guess I’ve reached my tipping point where I value stability over feature set (but still can’t resist the upgrade badge).
I remember comforting myself when Apple didn’t add the iOS feature I desperately wanted for yet another year by telling myself that they had miraculously figured out the balance between feature set and stability whereas no previous (mainstream, consumer) OS developer had. It’s pretty clear that they went out of balance this fall. Question for me is not whether they choose to strive for reliability next (I’m sure they will), it is this: given the OS’s level of complexity now, is it technically possible to achieve a balance?
I don’t think so. My family, most of which use iPads and iPhones more casually are all very happy with iOS 13. Only 2 or 3 slightly more advanced users, all younger, in the bunch and they’re happy. They’re not quite power users but at least two of them are using iPads in college and happy with the device and OS. The remainder are much more casual. My 70 years+ parents and aunt and uncle… all of them using it and barely have a clue that anything changed at all.
I think Apple’s done an excellent job of bringing in new features and complexity without it being overwhelming to users that don’t need or want the advanced features. The students I mentioned above could tell you something about the new features though because they are more active users.
Regarding quality issues, I recently asked on our family group message how things were going for people since the upgrade. I specifically asked what problems they were having with bugs or new features. The answer was that all was well. Not one complaint. Of course this is just anecdotal evidence. But amongst a pool of 12+ people and a mix of 20+ devices (most have both an iPhone and iPad) there was not a single complaint.
I really do think that the focus on bugs is overblown in the nerd echo chamber. No doubt it’s been buggier than iOS 12 was but I think it’s generally been similar to most years.
Great (non-Apple) article from someone who has studied a lot of code who actually knows what he’s talking about instead of making up phrases like me
If you include codebases that I’ve robo-analyzed on top of client codebases, I’ve gathered detailed statistical info on more than 1,000 of them. I’ve then taken that data and run regression analysis on it, looking for correlations.
Do you know what correlates more than anything else with undesirable codebase properties? The size of the codebase.
New features mean more code which means more complexity to point that Dietrich considers code a “liability”:
Call me a pessimist, but I think the relationship between potential problems and lines of code is closer to combinatoric than linear.
Seven (?) releases in and it actually seems like I have more issues now. Could just be that I hadn’t discovered them yet. Glad to hear Apple’s making internal changes and am hopeful that means more focus on stability going forward.
Well, you can’t really break out the OS itself into microservices, but you can break features out of the main repo and isolate them into separate “codebases”. I’m doubtful of any automatic benefits, though.
Agreed. Similar to one of the other reliability threads where someone (you @Shruggie?) made the suggestion to break off the apps (mail, reminders, notes, cal, music, etc) from iOS.
Hi. I know this thread is a few months old, but I am wondering if you have seen any improvement? Im struggling with this issue lately switching between apps to find them reloading. 13.5. Just interested to know if its still wide spread or just me?
Yeah, thanks. I did a restart which has helped a bit. I also wonder if I am just asking too much of it. Its just the entry level ipad 6th Gen, so it might just be struggling with RAM or something. One day I hope to get a pro!
