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iOS 11 reviewed

arstechnica.com

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Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#81

Post by BinaryIdiot »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #61
masklinn wrote: post #4

> Practically speaking, do I need to be able to play phone games from 2009 on my 2017 iPhone? Not really. The problem is not that you can't play phone games from 2009 on your 2017 iPhone, tying 32b deprecation to a hardware revision would actually have been nice (regardless of the hardware still being able to run in 32b mode). But that's not what's happening, the problem is that you can't play phone games from 2009 o…

> the problem is that you can't play phone games from 2009 on your 2013~2016 iPhone Devil's advocate: you don't have to install iOS 11 on your four-year-old iPhone.

This, unfortunately, means no more security updates. So if someone finds a new exploit you are vulnerable. Plus the software update will keep nagging with its damn badge on the settings icon (that alone would drive me crazy enough to just do it).

Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#82

Post by jwr »

mashehu wrote: post #28
kawsper wrote: post #13

There is one thing I hope they that they fix in iOS, and that is to guide app-makers to understand bilingual users, I type a lot on both danish and english, and having to switch language in the keyboard for every conversation can get pretty tiresome. Luckily both iMessage and WhatsApp seems to support it now, so I hope they somehow can get other apps in on it. Telegram does not support this :/

Try 3rd-party keyboards like Swiftkey, where keyboard/autocorrect is bilingual, so no more switching needed (now I would only need a trilingual keyboard for my use case...).

This. Swiftkey solved this problem for me. The only remaining problem is that iOS is so annoyingly buggy wrt third-party keyboards.

Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#83

Post by grzm »

dan1234 wrote: post #64
mrblue182 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading that iOS 11 also come with MAC address randoming so that you can't be tracked by wifi.

Pretty sure MAC randomisation has been in since iOS8.

It looks that way:

> An information disclosure existed because a stable MAC address was being used to scan for WiFi networks. This issue was addressed by randomizing the MAC address for passive WiFi scans.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201395

Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#84

Post by diffset »

darthbanane wrote: post #8

Review is not thorough. One huge change in the control center is that the wifi “toggle” doesn’t toggle wifi off anymore (wait what?). It just disconnects from the current network and doesn’t reconnect for a minute or so. If you don’t want to be tracked by wifi APs it seems you have to force touch settings into wifi and disable the adapter from there. Huge step backwards IMHO.

The reason the WiFi and Bluetooth controls now work the way they do is to leave Apple's accessories (Watch, Pencil, etc.) connected and working while disconnecting you from other networks and devices.

Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#85

Post by amelius »

masklinn wrote: post #67
oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the problem is that you can't play phone games from 2009 on your 2013~2016 iPhone Devil's advocate: you don't have to install iOS 11 on your four-year-old iPhone.

> Devil's advocate: you don't have to install iOS 11 on your four-year-old iPhone. That is in fact my plan, but is nonetheless frustrating.

It only takes one "This app requires iOS11 to run" and there you go.

Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#86

Post by AceJohnny2 »

walterbell wrote: post #3

No VPN button in Control Center? Do Apple employees use public wi-fi?

> Do Apple employees use public wi-fi?

There are apps and security profiles for that. My company uses a VPN-on-demand, where the VPN is used only for select sites when on public networks.

Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#87

Post by _jal »

darthbanane wrote: post #8

Review is not thorough. One huge change in the control center is that the wifi “toggle” doesn’t toggle wifi off anymore (wait what?). It just disconnects from the current network and doesn’t reconnect for a minute or so. If you don’t want to be tracked by wifi APs it seems you have to force touch settings into wifi and disable the adapter from there. Huge step backwards IMHO.

Oh, that's really annoying. I turn wifi off when I leave home.

More and more things are pushing me to one of the fringe-phone platforms. Which is too bad - I otherwise really like the iPhone.

Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#88

Post by CJefferson »

ohfouroneone wrote: post #15
masklinn wrote: post #4

> Practically speaking, do I need to be able to play phone games from 2009 on my 2017 iPhone? Not really. The problem is not that you can't play phone games from 2009 on your 2017 iPhone, tying 32b deprecation to a hardware revision would actually have been nice (regardless of the hardware still being able to run in 32b mode). But that's not what's happening, the problem is that you can't play phone games from 2009 o…

It's not that games from 2009 don't run, only games that haven't been updated since 2009 don't run. All a developer needs to do is recompile and push an update.

I made a game in 2009, it was quite popular, got a bunch of positive reviews, I gave it away for free.

I had to keep giving Apple £100/year just to let people keep downloading the game for free. At some point I tried recompiling it for a newer iOS, and I get hundreds of message about depricated APIs that I had to change to get it accepted by Apple. Instead I let it drop.

I can't even put a copy online for people to download, the game is just dead and gone thanks to Apple. I can still run Windows games from 20 year ago and with DOSbox, DOS games from 30 years ago. My own iOS game on the other hand is dead, never to be revived.

Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#89

Post by 0x0 »

scarface74 wrote: post #35
masklinn wrote: post #4

> Practically speaking, do I need to be able to play phone games from 2009 on my 2017 iPhone? Not really. The problem is not that you can't play phone games from 2009 on your 2017 iPhone, tying 32b deprecation to a hardware revision would actually have been nice (regardless of the hardware still being able to run in 32b mode). But that's not what's happening, the problem is that you can't play phone games from 2009 o…

The problem is not that you can't play phone games from 2009 on your 2017 iPhone, tying 32b deprecation to a hardware revision would actually have been nice (regardless of the hardware still being able to run in 32b mode). The latest processor doesn't support 32 bit code. All 64 bit phones can support the latest OS. Why should Apple waste time, resources, and space on the device to support 32 bit code?

They could offer 32bit app support as an optional download, just like how 32bit Windows 10 still offers the 16bit NTVDM and MS-DOS support as an optional install on demand.

Really sucks to lose 32bit support for legacy apps that used to work, especially when it might be a companion app for hardware/equipment that cost much more than the iPhone X (like your car).

Re: iOS 11 reviewed

#90

Post by developer2 »

darthbanane wrote: post #22
Crontab wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. That's bad and a lot of people will expect the old functionality.

It feels like they’re trying to educate me as a user that switching wifi off to save battery is not super smart. It’s true, the difference is minuscule at best (20-30 minutes of battery life) but maybe I want to micromanage to get these 20 minutes. Or because I am concerned about privacy. My take is that if you want to “educate” users on how best to use a feature you must leave them the freedom to do it wrong (depend…

Turning off Wifi is not something anyone - whether average or intermediate user - should be needing to do on a frequent basis. Airplane mode already takes care of the primary use case, namely disabling all radios. Someone intending to disable Wifi "temporarily" and then forgetting to re-enable it may wind up paying hundreds of dollars for cellular data. That goes against the "it just works" mentality, which is "Wifi automatically wherever possible. ALWAYS. Cellular as last resort only."

Privacy is less of a concern on iOS; the MAC address is rotated frequently specifically to prevent passive tracking. The battery savings are going to be minimal; with Apple's history with these kinds of optimizations, you'd probably save as much battery by reducing screen brightness by only 5%.

tldr; There's no real reason outside of developer testing to ever disable Wifi. Users who care should not mind the extra tap. And frankly, most who are obsessively toggling their Wifi are probably not receiving the benefits they believe.

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