[Updated October 27 to add a comment on the volume control.]
We are an Apple shop. We work hard to keep our software up to date. It pains me to have to write this, but the iOS 13.1.3 update has caused us a lot of grief over the last few weeks. I updated my iPhone 6s a few weeks ago. My lovely wife updated her iPad Pro (original model) over the weekend. We are not happy. I have turned off automatic updates on my iPad and will keep it on iOS 12.4.1 until I’m satisfied that Apple has fixed these problems.
These issues may be confined to older models. One correspondent reports numerous issues on her iPhone 7. But another says there have been no issues on his XS Max.
The most concerning flaws are functionality. But there have been changes in the user interface that are, at best, annoying. I’ll deal with functionality first, then discuss the UI issues.
iPad Virtual Keyboard
This morning my wife tried to reply to an email. After some editing to preserve confidentiality, here’s what the screens looked like (portrait and landscape). I advised her that this was probably a ploy by Apple to sell more Bluetooth keyboards.
Notice how the virtual keyboard makes it nearly impossible to actually compose a reply. As far as I know this problem is unique to the iPad Pro (original version).
Intermittent Failures of Sharing Features
There have been significant changes to the sharing user interface. While some of these changes are enhancements, others are a pain. The pain would be considerably lower if these new features worked consistently.
The new interface looks like this:
There are lots of nifty new options including a “recently used” bar at the top of the dialog box. (When I’m writing I use Airdrop a lot to copy images from my mobile devices to my Macbook.) When this works it is terrific. Sadly it doesn’t always work.
One function I use a lot is copying a link then e-mailing the document after pasting in the link. Sadly about half the time when I click the Mail icon I see this:
Tapping in the “To:” space does nothing. No cursor, no keyboard, no nothing. The only field that works is also the least useful: “Subject:”.
Airdrop performs similarly:
UI Annoyances
My main gripe is the “new and improved” audio volume indicator. Rather than describing the issue, I’ve put together a short video that illustrates the problem.
A friend made this point in a Tweet:
“Agree on quality issues. I think the volume thing is to allow you to adjust volume when watching a video without covering it up for a few seconds.”
Conclusion
We’re not giving up on Apple quite yet. But our confidence has been shaken a bit. Come on, Apple, get it together and fix these problems.
