Every year, when Apple drops a new iOS, I can’t wait to get hold of the Beta version. This is sometimes to my own detriment, as a few times I’ve not owned an iPhone when the new software was announced.
And this year, it was no different. iOS 14 was announced, and as soon as it was available, iOS 14 Beta was on my iPhone 11. And within a week or so, iOS 13 was back on my iPhone.
Safe to say, it was a rocky road to start- but it wasn’t all Apple’s fault.
The reason for this quick jump back was due to my carrier; I had recently switched to Visible, of which I’d heard good things (and of which those “good things” appear to be few and very far between), and once I upgraded to iOS 14, I could no longer send SMS messages over 160 characters.
Correction: I could _send _those longer messages all day long. But if I typed just one character past 160, my recipient would not receive the text. It took several conversations that felt like every other message wasn’t getting responded to, and several long conversations with Visible support (read: a joke) to come to the conclusion that their network just didn’t play well with unreleased software.
So I downgraded my phone back to iOS 13. And when my month with Visible was over, I switched to Ryan Reynold’s carrier (Mint) and upgraded myself back to iOS 14. And now… finally… I can discuss it.
App Library, Home Screen, and the Lingering Dock
The very first thing I should say about iOS 14 is that I honestly have forgotten that I’ve upgraded at all. That’s not to say that iOS 14 is forgettable; on the contrary, the new App Library is a godsend, and the new Siri animation is much less intrusive. And while I love the ability to put widgets on my home screens, I much prefer to have nothing on my home screen at all (this may very well change once iOS 14 is official and more apps are supporting the new widget form factor).
What I mean to say is that I’ve quickly become so used to iOS 14 that I don’t even think about it anymore.
You may recall that several paragraphs ago I mentioned that sometimes didn’t have an iPhone when the new software was announced. One can, logically, assume that I instead had an Android device (except for that time when I tried to only use a dumb phone… or the good ol’ days when Windows Phones were still a thing). And while I always ended up returning to Apple (usually because of the camera), I always, always missed how Android laid out the home screen. I would miss the app drawer, and the ability to not have anything on the home screen (I hate clutter on my computer, and that translates to my phone as well).
#gadgets #apple #technology #iphone #ipad
