Apple made a huge mistake when it launched iOS 7: it failed to improve its UI. I don't know if it was a matter of the best and most capable designers leaving the company or bad decisions by the managers, but the truth is that iOS 7 was never a good UI for iPhones, especially the biggest ones. There are many things that are missing that are obvious, such as being able to organize the icons on your Home screen as you wish like you can do in Android, and I suspect that many of the things that are excellently solved in Android's Material Design, at Apple can't because of patents. I think it all boils down to patents because I don't believe that a company like Apple has such a poorly designed operating system.
It's SO nice hearing that I'm not the only one who thought this - it was actually around this release that I just gave up on iPhones and moved to Android phones. The amount of fiddling/setup/googling I've had to do since has been dramatically less.
I've sold my iPhone 5 and bought Pixel phone with Android KitKat back then and it was the best decision I've ever made. Now I'm considering to go back to Apple just because the privacy level.
There are many things that are missing that are obvious, such as being able to organize the icons on your Home screen as you wish like you can do in Android,
This is bad on a mobile operating system. I had the displeasure of trying a device running Android's default UIs a few weeks ago: it felt like a Fisher-Price toy. Apple's model of organization is better in every way.
Constraints make things easier sometimes, and it isn't a bad thing.
A lot of times, it's easier to write something like a narrative when you're working within certain rules. Or to design a powerpoint when you're given a corporate style guide.
Starting from scratch is difficult because it doesn't give any ideas to bounce off of. And with something like a smartphone - which users need constantly, but never seem to have the time to configure - any half-hearted configuration by the average user is going to benefit dramatically by having basic rules in place.
For power users - like all of us on Hacker News - sometimes the blank-slate approach is preferable, but there's nothing wrong for liking Apple because of the lack of choice.
That's a false premise. Sorry, but the rest of the world don't have problems with that, we don't even know if that is a problem. For me, that option is really important because I can organize the icons in the order and in the spatial order I want. Same for my elderly mother, I leave her a few icons in the middle of the screen. Easiest way to organize icons on the screen instead to top bottom groups, icons.
This was absolutely my experience. Say about the looks of iOS 4-5-6 what you want, but gosh, was it easier to use. It used to be so intuitive, and very little of that is left.
Not sure why you are talking about iOS7 since it was released 7 years.
But anyway the reason Apple doesn't allow for customisation of the home screen is because it adds complexity. And given they are trying to sell to people who are computer and technology illiterate you don't want complexity.
I feel ios7 had lasting negative impact not just on ios, but also general usability on the web. Even Apple back peddled on some of its design decision in subsequent updates.
iOS has gotten already too complex that I don't think avoiding complexity is a strong enough reason for not offering home screen customization.
Compare iOS 7 to iOS 13 and despite the time that separates them, are still very similar, but compare iOS 13 to iOS 6 and the difference is night and day. iOS 7 is still pertinent to bring up when talking about iOS software usability because they changed so much in one version; much of the changes in iOS 7 set the direction for future iOS versions, and for better or worse, those iOS versions have inherited iOS 7's design language.
I always wonder what iOS 13 would look like if they didn't dump iOS 6's design so thoroughly.
Many of the problems started there: the departure of Forstall, Steve Jobs getting so sick and dying, departure of many important roles at Apple and moving Ive to the head of design in the digital part, in my opinion brang the company to a disadvantadged position. In opposite, Google moved quickly and cleanest with Material Design taking Android phones to a new level Apple couldn't reach. Nowadays iPhones are the minority in every market.
