Apple's Failed Promise for 60 fps on iOS
Radar: 28603120
(Compiled by Chris Pirillo / chris@pirillo.com / @ChrisPirillo)
Supportive Perspectives
Apple Lacks This Critical Role
Obvious Factory Install Frame Skips in iPhone 7 & 7 Plus 256GB
Obvious Differences Between iPhone 7 & 7 Plus 256GB
Obvious Beyond-Default Use Frame Skips in Both iPhone 7 & 7 Plus 256GB (iOS Issues)
Recent Tweets Indicative of Sloppy Design Execution Since iOS 7
For My Own Reference, Other Personally-Encountered iOS 10 Bugs (Design, UI, UX)
Bulk of Letter Sent to Both Phil Schiller & Craig Federighi [Separately, No Response]
Dear Mr. Federighi,
I had originally sent this message to Mr. Schiller last week, and followed up shortly thereafter to see if he had received it. Just in case, I'm sending virtually the same thing to you but from my me.com address.
I want to begin by saying that I respect what you've been able to do with your hardware, year after year. I appreciate your effort, your vision, and your abilities.
I don't expect a reply, but I believe what I have to report is worthy of your valuable attention. I will explain as clearly and concisely as I possibly can.
But, first, an anecdote.
On a lark, when I continued to notice a frame rate issue in Google Maps on iOS, I tweeted my frustration and a Google Maps engineer caught it. Turns out, Google was limiting the app to 15fps to save battery life and directly turning the experience sour. The next release saw that restriction removed and Google Maps on iOS has been close to 60fps ever since.
Mind you, I use Apple Maps first by choice. ;)
Today, I am imploring you to swiftly address core performance issues that have continued to slip past your radar since the reimagining of iOS (after iOS 6). Specifically, I am compelled to call your attention to the predictable or random "skippy" frame rate in routine system operation and default apps independent of third-party software.
Last year, I called to light the severe frame rate discrepancy of 3D touching an app icon on the iPhone 6s vs the iPhone 6s Plus. That was eventually addressed, largely because someone who follows me had contacted you (and you had passed them along to an engineer to fix that single issue).
iOS 10 seems to perform equally as well (or worse) on an iPhone 7 compared to an iPhone 6s. That's not the hallmark of the world's fastest smartphone. It is my hope that by emailing you about iOS frame rate issues, you will be able to help fix the long-standing system-wide problems.
Help. Please. Listen.
It's not just me.
This isn't really about UI or UX, per se - it's about falling short on your promise of 60fps on every device. Because, trust me, you have other design nightmares at play.
But, to stay on the topic of visually-smooth performance, a single hiccup / frame drop rips the user out of Apple's magic and reminds them that they are using a computer screen. They're just as nauseating as animations which spur on motion sickness.
iOS has been performing in an inexplicably jarring manner since iOS 7. Iterations don't seem to help much, major or minor. Frame drops are now par for the course - irritations that we once slammed Android for.
Let me put it to you this way: had the first iPhone operated like I've seen the iPhone 7 operate, I never would have been a perennial purchaser. I never would have considered iOS a possibility.
You're continuing to fail on a front that people in a position of power clearly don't see.
When I heard both you and Mr. Schiller interact with John Gruber at WWDC, I listened with great interest when you spoke of fixing software issues. But you never spoke about non-crashing issues that plague iOS.
Bug reports continue to be useless, either because frame drops are not considered bugs or are (oddly) low-priority problems. These maddening oversights will persist if we cannot find a better way to illustrate just how rampant the problem is - a situation which is already well past the point of excusability.
Without quality software, quality hardware is irrelevant.
You're not listening to your own employees. You're not using what they built for developers. Put the guys who recognize the problem in charge of fixing the problem once and for all (https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2016/219/ or https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2015/212/).
Physician, heal thyself. You need a Frame Rate Enforcer in the mix again.
Please?
That's the iOS experience so many of us miss.
Both transition animations and scrolling operations are constantly getting cut off at the knees.
(1) If you're pushing system animations / transitions / scrolling through the non-performance cores of the new A10 Fusion, you're oblivious to how this degrades experience across the board. I really can't wait to see if you might fix it with an update to iOS 10 because I have no idea if you even see it as a problem (which it is). This is the only explanation as to why the 6s / 6s Plus performs better with iOS 10 compared to the allegedly more powerful 7 / 7 Plus.
(2) If this is being done to save battery life, please give us the option to place a priority on performance like you have an option to "Reduce Motion" (which, by the way, mitigates only some of the issues surrounding transition animations - not scrolling hits). I would very gladly opt-in to losing an hour or two of battery life to have a better experience for those working hours - though I know not everybody would, which is why I would suggest a toggle if this is the case.
(3) This "frame rate drops & skips" issue is systemic. I believe that addressing the core issue could fix most issues atop that, leaving standouts (like scrolling the Messages list in iOS 10) to be separately addressed.
These animation / scrolling hits are still painfully evident in several common operations - and now are quite prevalent on both of the new iPhones. I took notes:
[Lists]
Seemingly, the higher-resolution devices (including the largest iPad Pro) suffer more from the "stutter" that seems to be escaping your attention.
This is based upon my own experience with the iPhone 7 & 7 Plus (coupled with the shared experiences of current iPhone 7 & 7 Plus owners - on top of outstanding issues with iOS 10 and previous releases on the 6s).
I have never asked to be a part of the official reviewer program (I would be overly critical with these issues that no other sanctioned reviewer has seen fit to surface - and I can't tell if the reviewers you've blessed are afraid of being kicked out of that program).
I am trying to help you because I need you to provide a product that is truly breathtaking - from hardware to software. I'm not asking for anything else.
I'm just a regular ol' user who sees frame rate problems more than most - who is growing weary of waiting patiently for this critical issue to be addressed.
I don't believe any of you can see what we see. Or, worse yet, you can see it and have decided that it's not a priority to provide an experience that iOS long-ago provided on lesser hardware. That, perhaps, is what frightens me more.
So, you may be the wrong person to talk to - but I'll keep trying to get to the right person because this needs to be addressed wholesale and not piecemeal.
I obviously know you're not in charge of everything, but it was recommended that I start with you and go from there. I'll assume this message has already been forwarded to someone more appropriate, and I do appreciate that.
Sincerely,
Chris Pirillo