I received a notice, yesterday afternoon, that my Apple Developer account was renewed for another year. To be honest, I had forgotten I even had it. I signed up at my last job as we ramped up efforts to hire a Mac developer as I wanted to learn more about the platform myself. While I could probably fight for a refund, it was my mistake and, who knows, maybe I’ll still try to learn something about developing for Apple.
One of the benefits it comes with is preview access to Apple’s operating systems so I decided to take advantage of that for a change. I installed iOS, iPadOS, MacOS and WatchOS on my various devices. I feel like we’re close enough to launch now that it’s worth seeing what all the fuss is about. Here’s my experience so far.
Liquid Glass
The big “update” this year is more of a regression what feels like iOS from 10 years ago. It’s fine, I’ll get used to it but I was one of the few people who liked the flat design when it was first introduced as I hate “busy” designs and… boy are these operating systems busy.
They’re not ugly but the weird texture added to every box and widget is just kinda ugly. On top of that I feel like the overlay menus are going to be an accessibility nightmare for a lot of folks as they’re not as easy to read.
Again, I’ll get used to it but I’m not excited about it like I was when they switched to the flat design they’re leaving behind.
Beyond the weird business of the design I admit I like a lot of the rounding of other elements. Input boxes, overlays and even the windows themselves are more rounded than they were before and I think that’s a nice improvement.
New apps and features
Other than the main design, there are a few things I really appreciate.
First is the Journal app on Mac and iPad. I had avoided it on iPhone as that isn’t where I would typically write such a thing. Now that it’s available on the devices where I can use it I think I’ll definitely use it.
There are a few other new features I’ll use across the ecosystem. First is the password history. We switched to Apple from 1Password last year for a few reasons but the lack of history did get me in trouble a few times. Having that present will come in very handy.
Also, the clipboard history on MacOS and proper windowing on iPad will be great for me. The former even eliminates my use for Maccy on Mac as the clipboard history in Spotlight will be plenty.
I also like having a proper Phone app on Mac and iPad. I never, ever use FaceTime, but I use the Phone app daily. This won’t really change much in my workflow but I do think it’s a solid “nice to have” for me.
Finally, a benefit I’m already finding useful on Mac is the ability to natively hide apps from putting their icons on the Menu Bar as well as its new ability to really customize the Control Center. I’ve used third-party apps for years to hide all the junk apps insist on leaving in the Menu Bar and Mac’s Control Center was, at best, a novelty until now. Within minutes of upgrading last night I had already worked both into my workflow.
One major con
I did find one con so major that it will probably get me to finally switch away from Safari, the Compact Tab Bar.
For some inexplicable reason they added the Compact Tab Bar to iOS where it almost useless, requiring even more taps to get to my tabs. I have already disabled it.
What is even weirder, though, is that they removed it from both iPad and Mac. I found it so good there that it really was what had kept me on Safari for the last few years. Without it Safari is just as ugly and wastes just as much space as every other browser so I might as well move on.
Another year, Another OS
In the end nothing Apple did this year is groundbreaking and there are definitely more annoyances in this year’s updates (at least for me) than I’ve seen in years but… that’s pretty much par for the course these days.
I would say that maybe next year I’ll look harder at moving back to Pixel but… I doubt it. For now this is still what is the least annoying to me and my family has no intention to switch so I’m sure we’ll be with Apple for a while.
But I guess that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Apple is just like every other tech company where they don’t have to care what I or anyone else would like because, frankly, we’re stuck and they’re too big to care. At least this year’s Apple updates didn’t feel like they just replaced every interface with AI.