The look and feel of iOS has remained largely unchanged since Apple unveiled it in June 2007. Don't mess with a good thing? Well sure. But it's also led some to argue that the platform is growing stale, or that Apple isn't innovating as quickly as its competitors are. While that's not entirely true, it is growing increasingly clear that iOS is in need of a facelift.
The interface has become an easy point of attack for critics. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins claimed that the look and feel of Apple's mobile OS is outdated. "The rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don’t innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly," he argued. Chris Weber, executive vice president of Nokia's sales and marketing, claimed that iOS's focus on the app was "outdated." And it's not just the competition. Numerous forum threads debate the issue, as do articles arguing the OS is no longer ahead of its time and whether or not it looks passe.
The thing is, iOS has undeniably great, intuitive touch-based gestures and a straightforward layout. This bodes well for Apple with first-time smartphone buyers. But iOS is under assault from Android. Windows Phone's blocky, minimalist aesthetic feels modern and mature -- and is garnering solid critical reviews. And even BlackBerry's latest OS is turning heads.
Robert Scoble declared he joined the Android army. Longtime Apple enthusiast Andy Inhatko also made the switch. These are early adopter types, but it could spell a problem for Apple if this pattern trickles down further.
Apple needs to balance the easy usability of its mobile operating system with the desires of its vocal, dedicated power-users. The iOS interface isn't outdated, but it's not fresh, either. Apple has the ability to buff iOS up without compromising core user experience or sense of familiarity, and it's time it should. Based on a number of recent signs like executive management changes and job listings, it does seem that the beginnings of an iOS design overhaul are in the works. But it's going to be a tricky balance to pull off.
Look, It's Easy and Familiar
"Keeping interfaces simple and effective in a hallmark of good UI design," Gartner analyst Brian Blau told Wired. "It's that simplicity, combined with a deep developer and app ecosystem, that really has given iOS its power with users."
It's relatively easy for even the most stubborn Luddites to pick up an iOS device and begin using it. Even babies and house pets can use it. Remember this video of a child who thinks a magazine is a broken iPad? Our primate cousins have figured out how to use iOS devices to communicate with their human trainers.
And once you learn how to use one app, or one function, you essentially understand the entire interface.
"People are familiar with technology so the early and late majority [of adopters] do not need to be taught how to use it," Readdle marketing manager Denys Zhadanov said. "If Apple implemented something dramatically different in terms of UI and user experience, it would have to be very careful, because there are millions of people to re-educate."
Apple has done a stellar job of providing a touch-based OS interface that is easy for users to learn. It wouldn't make sense to completely retool that.
And It Has Robust Developer Tools and App Ecosystem
One of the biggest benefits of the current iOS platform, from a developer standpoint, is that no matter what type of app you’re creating, you can find a few hundred existing examples of what works. And that isn't always true on other platforms
For example, WNM Live CEO Brian Hamachek said when his company decided to create a Windows Phone app, there was "not much we could use as a basis for how it should be laid out, we had to come out with own path -- which can be a little risky." As for Android, Hamachek said it's "like the wild west" and that there really isn’t much of a standard user interface to go off of, which isn’t good for devs or users.
Apple's human interface guidelines make it easy create an app that looks and feels like an iOS app. If Apple changed the UI of iOS suddenly and significantly, it could throw the state of its app ecosystem in flux as developers struggle to revamp their apps and follow new guidelines.
But the Details Could Use Refreshing
One of the biggest knocks on Apple's interface in recent years has been that it's allowed too many skeuomorphic elements to creep in. We couldn't agree more. These may once have been useful, but mobile device users don't need to be hand-held through the experience like they did even five or ten years ago. A to-do list app, for example, doesn't need to be lined like a spiral-bound notebook, with paper pulp texture reminding you of the list's humble analog beginnings. It can use colors to prioritize and beautify your to-dos, and use swipes to cross items from the list instead of a checkmark box tap. Or at least that's how Clear re-imagined the to-do list for Apple's platform.
And design forward apps like Clear offer a great deal of insight as to what Apple might do. Historically, Apple has adopted UI cues from third party developers into its own OS. Things like Flipboard-style page flipping in iBooks and Maps; pull to refresh, pioneered by Tweetie's Loren Brichter; and multi-finger swipes for swapping between apps.
While something as dramatic as Clear would be a bit of a jarring adjustment to Apple's built-in apps, removing the kitschy analog details would not. It would freshen the OS without affecting its usability in the slightest.
Other subtle design tweaks we'd like to see: A preview of an app's contents in the app switcher (something jailbreak app Auxo provides) and, akin to Windows phone live tiles, app icons that display at least a minimal amount of useful information. The weather app could easily show it is cloudy and 58 rather than a constant 73 and sunny. The Notes app could show a miniature version of the note that is currently open inside.
And Could Also Be More Efficient
With Windows Phone 8's animated, adjustable live tile homescreen, and Android's myriad widgets and customizations, the static grid of icons on iOS looks positively quaint. (And boring, if that's what you've been using for half a decade.)
Android and Windows Phone, in some respects, make it easier to accomplish tasks quickly than iOS does. That starts with application launching. In iOS, to find an app, you either have to swipe to the left and start typing the name of an app, use Siri (which may or may not interpret you correctly), or flick through pages and pages of apps and folders on your homescreen. You can also flick through the app switcher after double tapping the home button. On Windows Phone 8, you can set up a homescreen with livetiles of various sizes for quick access, and have the option to peruse an alphabetical listing of your apps, which can be convenient. And on Android, you can customize app launching dozens of different ways.
And to complete the exact same task, it regularly takes 2-3 more taps to accomplish on iOS than other platforms. For instance, to check the weather, a widget on the Android homescreen shares the information one swipe away. On Windows Phone 8, it's a live tile on the homescreen. On iOS, it's an app, in a folder. The same is true for calendar information, or what your most recent email was.
On iOS, it just takes longer to get things done. That can and should be fixed.
iOS is and will remain an operating system for the masses, but it could certainly offer options for personalization to advanced users, ditch the kitsch, and make application launching and switching more streamlined. Such changes would keep the system simple and straightforward for mobile n00bs, while providing give longtime iOS device owners a fresh feel to their device.
