From a lifetime android user ios didn’t have that feature? What the hell, or would you just install a third party maps app to have it.
I’ve always used google maps on my iPhone and it has offline maps. I use it pretty regularly on trips to be damn sure I can get where I’m going regardless of cell signal.
I never used Apple Maps because it was HORRIBLE when it first came out. I used it a few times more recently and it’s actually pretty decent. With offline maps I might give it another real try.
I find that Apple Maps gives very solid arrival estimates. When I used Google Maps it always seemed to over or undershoot the length of time it would take me to get where I was going in the moment. I also find that Apple’s voice guidance seems to be better and clearer about what it wants you to do. I switched over to it exclusively about two years ago.
Offline maps are a little above a “nice to have” feature for me. However, I think it makes it worth giving it another solid try for a few weeks. I’ll check it out as soon as iOS 17 hits.
Apple maps will actually suggest storing offline maps if an area you’ll be going through is known to have bad cell service. Not sure how they’re determining where there’s bad service.
https://9to5mac.com/2023/08/24/ios-17-apple-maps-offline-maps-route-download/
Probably from carrier coverage maps
That or tracking anonymous data from people’s phones. Hopefully if that’s it they go based on if the maps actually load instead of just bars because there’s plenty of places with good signal but unusable data due to congestion.
Yep I’m Apple Maps for navigating but google maps for reviews on places. Apple Maps still uses freaking yelp. It’s ridiculous.
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Yea that would have been a dealbreaker for me. I’ve used offline maps while traveling fairly often. That’s one of the main advantages of GPS, not needing to send any signals to determine your position. The device calculates it locally based the timing of info that arrives from GPS satellites
iOS has always been this platform that has all of these crazy advanced features and hardware but just completely fumbles the basics.
The tech industry as a whole seems to have this ridiculous idea that everyone has a perfect internet connection everywhere they go so it’s totally cool to have all this software that’s entirely dependent on an internet connection and fails to function entirely when that connection is lost.
Damn, reminds me of when they announced copy and paste was coming to their phones as if it was some incredible breakthrough, and yet everyone else had it on their phones for a long time already.
Now they’re adding basic map features from a decade ago and have the gaul to suggest to their customers that it’s new and innovative?
I wonder what other old, basic phone features Apple customers just don’t have. I feel sorry for them, people playing that much for a premium device deserve better.
suggest to their customers that it’s new and innovative
I’m a big Apple critic too but to be fair that message reads pretty neutral. Where do you see the claim it’s new and innovative?
I suppose the fact that they feel the need to announce it rather than to just do it.
Anyway this is fairly standard operations for Apple. They did the same when they added widgets to iOS. Gee wow, guys thanks for adding a feature that has been in Android for about 20 years.
I mean their events are literally held to give news about updates. Revolutionary or not.
Why would they not mention stuff people could make use of, just because it’s not some amazing new things.
Events are rather decent to be honest, no that I look at them. But people do, so it’s very easy to get an overview over upcoming features.
If their events are held to give us news and updates why didn’t they tell us that the new AirPods pro2 have a new chip for extremely low latency use with their VR headset?
Because it’s not to give us news and updates, it’s to sell you on the latest flashy slab.
I mean it’s obviously not news, news. It’s marketing. Most people just don’t care about latency on a product, especially when it’s for use with another - not even released product. What do you expect?
How do you know it has that chip?
It was reported on by a tech YouTuber. It allows 360 degree low latency audio for VR
And presumably Apple told them. They aren’t going to list everything in an hour and a half keynote.
Their software feature announcements are done at their developer conference. Many times they are telling people who make apple software about features. Apple developers don’t care they Android had something first. They develop for Apple and need to know what Apple products do.
Honestly, if they didn’t announce it, would their users even realise it was added? As much as I dislike Apple, I feel like announcing the feature makes sense.
You mean back in ios3 in 2009? I wonder what phones you think everyone else had back then.
They still don’t have touchscreen support for MacOS. Windows added. Multi-touch sorry in the early 00’s. It’s absolute insanity
Once again, I’m still trying to figure out how apple users can defend this. Yes, Google maps had this feature, but everytime I talk to apple users I’m always told they got their phone because “it just works!”. But then I learn that features I consider basic at best are completely missing. If my iphone should “just work” I expect the features I want to exist without another app installation. Things on iphone only seem to work if you don’t know anything better.
The ability to put home screen icons where I want them.
A back gesture that works everywhere, and doesn’t require me to hunt and peck because the app developer has invented some random unique gesture ‘because’.
Stupid thing is both of these could be added in a minor software update, but I’ve been holding by breath for a decade now…
As I have to use both platforms for development those are the things that I notice most.
A back gesture that works everywhere, and doesn’t require me to hunt and peck because the app developer has invented some random unique gesture ‘because’.
People keep saying this and yet this has literally never happened to me in 5 years of using iOS. Maybe don’t use apps developed by people that don’t know what they’re doing? Developers can disable the back button on android too if they hate their users.
They can’t… in android the OS defines the navigation. Back works everywhere. You can do wierd stuff to make back do silly things and go to the wrong screen, but that takes a bit of effort.
In iOS, so far I’ve seen… swipe left, swipe right, swipe from the bottom, click ‘back on a button on the left’, tap on the screen to bring up a button then click that…
Some actions are impossible… you click on a link in mail to see for example a tracking number… for me a daily occurrence. There is no back gesture available, you have to go back to the home screen and restart the mail app, which is utterly stupid especially when you have to do it multiple times.
On android it’s simple. Want to go back? Wiggle your right thumb. Done.
The OS should define navigation. Always.
I don’t know if I understand you correctly, but it’s actually very possible to go back to the previous app with just one swipe. No need to return to home screen. I have iPhone 11 Pro (should work the same for any newer models too) and you just swipe at the bottom from left to right and it will switch to the previous app you had open. You can do the same gesture from right to left to go forward to the next app. You can continue the same to shift through all your recently opened apps.
Also just pulling up on the bottom will bring up all your open apps in recent order. I omit that a single press button is quicker, however I prefer not to have any on screen buttons or off screen buttons so it’s fine for me
I don’t see anyone in the Apple forums defending the lack of offline maps. The reaction is more along the lines of “fucking finally.”
People use Apple Maps for the Siri integration and or if they find the maps less cluttered. For long trips in dead zones, Google was always king.
To be fair, unlike previous years iphone releases I’ve seen more skepticism than normal. I fully expected diehard apple users to be resenting the removal of the lightning connector due to excess charging cables. And while those comments exist, it is a very small minority of people. However with that said I don’t fully understand the mindset of buying a phone that has limited or obsolete hardware / software. (ergo headphone jack, ergo missing software feature, ergo USB 2.0 from 23 years ago)
Apple have really turned the “let’s screw over our customers” dial up to 11 this year.
The normal iPhone will be limited to 2.0 USB speeds whereas the Pro will have access to 3.0 USB speeds. There’s literally no reason to limit the normal iPhone to 2.0 speeds except to be dicks. I fully expect the likes of Lewis Rossman to announce that it’s just a software setting that can be changed if you jailbreak your iPhone
Idk, on the Pro they said the sun controller is built into the SoC. So they couldn’t just use last years soc and still give usb3 to the non-pro phones.
Or at least it would have cost more in components and design. But maybe they should have done it. Idk, I doubt the typical iPhone user cares.
Are you a fanboy from 2009? No one cares about any of these things you’re complaining about up and down this thread.
The non-pro has last years SoC which doesn’t have usb3. It’ll probably have it next year.
Things on iphone only seem to work if you don’t know anything better.
Mystery resolved.
Basically iPhone users don’t know what they don’t have because they never bothered to look outside of their little walled garden. There are some good features of iPhones (like 3) but mostly they’re just been sold as a lifestyle product.
or… some people just prefer iPhone? Disliking android os doesn’t make me tech illiterate
e: for relevance, I don’t like google analytics and in its current state I consider apple a lesser of two evils (marked up hardware vs advertising company). I don’t want to spend time configuring an android phone to my tolerance levels when I can just use the same tech I’ve been using for years with hardly any issue.
Let me introduce you to the case we’re apple handed over private information to hackers pretending to be feds.
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/03/30/apple-user-data-forged-legal-requests/
Downloading Google maps is an option. I have never used Apple maps.
Things on iphone only seem to work if you don’t know anything better.
Competition is good, so I like that iOS provides an alternative to Android.
I still consider the lack of sideloading without jailbreaks a dealbreaker for iOS though.
Out of curiosity, how often do you talk about smartphone choice? I’ve never once heard “it just works” in real life, nor have I really talked about what phone I use or why. It’s not a subject I’d purposefully avoid either.
Well it tends to come up for me because I’m the tech person around the house and at work, so phone and other device / software recommendations tend to come my way. I don’t really care what phone you use, I ain’t that much of a prick.
“It just works” is more or less accurate. Apples ecosystem is tightly integrated and we are only now starting to see these features come to Windows and ChroneOS, and they don’t work as well.
Apple Maps + CarPlay is so much better than Google Maps + Android Auto that the latter is embarrassing.
I say this as someone that has owned Android phones since the very beginning (HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1).
I’ve never seen or used CarPlay. Mind telling me what I’m missing out on as an Android Auto user?
Not the person you replied to; I found the UI to be terribly laid out. Text is too small, too much wasted blank space. This was on a Pixel 6 Pro. Not sure if I’ve tried it on the latest OS.
Depends on the car
That maybe, but CarPlay has been good on every car I’ve ever used it in. I have the first gen screen size ratio, nothing crazy.
Your anecdote is appreciated
That it just works does not mean I’m bound to Apple apps only. It just works includes having fantastic third party apps that do the job when Apples are lacking.
Calendar, mail, maps, music, password manager and the likes are such for me. But it still “just works”.
Missing features at OS level is one thing. But missing features in a goddamn app, when there are alternatives? Common…
I think part of the “it just works” definition is the default apps should work without missing features, however you’re not wrong, alternatives do exist.
Edit: spelling
Fair enough. Guess we just have different views when it comes to that then.
For me “it just works” is much more about the OS. Sending files between my Apple devices in high quality within seconds without internet, browsers and files syncing, having my Airpods switch from phone to Apple TV with the press of a button/automatically, face-id not failing 50% of the time, the watch works when I speak to it and does what I want it to.
These are by no means crazy and things, but I struggle daily at work with my none Apple headset, the windows computer, my android phone. It just “does not work” smoothly. And they all sync horribly with each other for some reason. Files are not easily shared I often end up having to email myself, my headset that cost $400 lives it own life, features are automatically turned on again and again by themselves, for some reason. I have to restart my Microsoft IDE at least 10 times a day. Stuff like that.
You do not get all the features, that’s for sure. But you get less friction. I think that’s what most are getting at with it just works. Less friction.
I agree, the features apple does implement do tend to be more polished or at the very least not annoying to the user.
Most apple users never even wanted or used an Android phone, so our collection of basic features are different than theirs (ours is superior, of course)
Apple devices are just status symbols. And as such, too many people that cannot really afford them buy the devices and have to tell themselves there’s a rational reason to. That’s also why they cheer record financial figures, passionately fight criticism or tell people having technical issues that it’s their fault. It’s basically Stockholm syndrome.
I’ve yet to have an android (and I’ve had a few…) that kept up reasonable performance for more than ~2 years. And yes, I’m talking about flagship Samsung, htc, lg, and google phones.
Android has a ton of extra functionality, but while a tough choice, I have been fine using my iPhones. My iPhone 7 lasted 4 years before I decided to upgrade. And my iPhone 11 has been in service for 3 years, though released 4 years ago. Oh and when I broke my 11s screen, the 7 was a perfectly serviceable backup while I waited for a replacement screen to come in, even at 7 years old.
There’s apparently 25% of iPhone users running 4+ year old phones. We’re not your typical status symbol idiot.
I’ve used both iphones and Androids. Battery performance degrades past 2-2.5 years regardless of brand or OS.
If you replace the battery only, the iphone is still snappier because the android probably has a bunch of junk slowing it down. That’s the downside of having more freedom to install and store stuff in your phone. If you reset it, it works just fine. iOS gets around this by preventing users from doing anything. My jailbroken iphone had the same problem after 2 years.
There are some light users who would rather not have to deal with that, and prefer a locked-down OS. That’s fine. For me, having to jailbreak just to sideload apps is a dealbreaker, so I use Android.
Having only one dominant OS is bad for consumers anyway.
The factory reset to restore performance only ever worked for me with the pixel. But it had GPS issues and I had to abandon it when I was doing deliveries.
Samsungs felt great, only for a short period of time, or completely void of apps.
Others either never had good performance, or in the case of one of the HTCs I had, great performance, with atrocious battery life.
Trust, I love android, but it’s such a chore trying to find a good phone that lasts. I’d hope it’s better now, I’ve been out of the android game for ~5 years (I was dual wielding phones for a while, then still tinkering w android for a bit) but prior to that I had lots of fun tinkering with my androids for like 9 years.
I’m just so hesitant to go back, because I know iPhones are fine. Androids are a gamble…. especially if I’m not planning on replacing it in a year or 2.
Android phones from the last 4-5 years are still completely usable after multiple years. I have a OnePlus 5 (from 2017) that I keep as a backup device which is perfectly usable even if the battery life is now quite weak. And unlike iPhones even after OS updates stop you can continue to install, use and update any apps without restrictions or minimum OS requirements on Android.
It’s not a big deal? I didn’t even remember there were no offline maps. I haven’t had any connectivity problems in the last several years I guess. I flip back and forth between Apple Maps, Google maps, and Waze depending on my needs or if I forget.
Marketing.
The fact that this is the only new “innovation” worth writing an article about is sad. Technological progress has declined so much over the last decade as Big Tech has consolidated the market. Doesn’t help the every minor leap gets turned into a subscription these days either.
Is there an article? I only see a screenshot.
It’s news from over three months ago. This is just a screenshot highlighting a single new feature from the iOS 17 page.
The era of growth in tech is over. It’s now the era of enshittification and monetization.
See: youtube, netflix, unity, reddit…
You could give an iOS user a current Android phone that has an iOS-like launch screen and an Apple logo on the back and tell them it’s the new iPhone with a whole bunch of new features.
I mean, why don’t we just do this anyway? iPhone is obsolete at this point.
This isn’t an iOS thing, it’s an Apple Maps thing. You could do this with Google maps on iOS to just fine. Google maps was the only map app that had downloadable maps up to this point that I know of, not even Waze - Google’s neglected step child - has it.
All map apps have had this for ages. Here, Magic, the OSM ones, etc. Apple is the outlier here.
First USB-C, now this?! They’re really spoiling us
But it’s only at usb 2.0 speeds
Because the controller in the base model supports only 2.0, next year the base model will get the pro chip from this year with 3.0 support, nothing really new
When was the last time you transferred data to or from your phone by cable? The USB port is mostly only for charging.
Actually this morning
Ok then you are probably not the target audience
Just because I use my phones usb port often doesn’t mean others who don’t should get obsolete technology.
Not to also mention most people probably don’t want to pay for cloud storage and transferring images to a computer with more storage makes the most sense for those people.
what are those people gonna do when their $900 phone that they overplayed for takes 3 hours to transfer 50gb worth of photos?
I torrent movies on my phone and move them to my media server all the time.
Having USB 3.0 on my phone makes it a lot faster than it would be with 2.0
This is such an overblown complaint. I’d wager a bet that a VAST majority of users never do any data transfer from their cell phones at all anyway, but if you are someone that needs faster transfer, the pro supports it.
That’s not the point. USB 3 is 15 years old and has been widely available for 13 years. Most would expect a new $800 flagship phone to have modern standards.
That’s not their flagship phone. The Pro is. And the pro supports usb3. For the vast majority of users that don’t give a shit about data transfer speed via a cable, this just doesn’t matter at all.
The base iPhone 15 is still a “premium” phone, it costs 2x as much as Google’s A series phones, and google never had a problem putting USB 3 on those. Maybe most people won’t do this, but it’s obviously important enough that they didn’t do the same on the pro version. It’s so weird to see people defending a company purposely gimping their phones just to give them upsells.
The pro has a new processor that they’ve added usb3 to. The base uses the last generation processor which did not have that.
You’re making a lot of assumptions about their intentions and claiming that people are defending bad behavior, but it really just looks like you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Christ, who cares if you use it or not, it’s a standard that’s been used for years. "Most people charge phones overnight, so why put bigger battery? " You’re paying thousand dollars for a phone and you don’t even get USB 3, and you’re expected to pay even more for a basic feature??
Why should apple spend the time to develop features that their users aren’t asking for and don’t seem to care about? Again, this is just overblown outrage over something the vast majority of users literally don’t know or care about. If you do care about it, then you’ll probably know which phone you want anyway.
Because it’s convenient no matter who you are, everybody benefits from faster transfer speeds. Competition is using usb 3.2 and apple with it’s 160 billion dollars profit couldn’t? And it’s not like they are developing it from scratch. I don’t get it why can’t you keep multi billion dollar corporations up to a certain standard. This is 2023, not 2003.
It’s more that I don’t presume to know the full reason behind every decision they make.
The A16 processor that’s just made its way to the iPhone didn’t have usb3 on chip, the new A17 on the iPhone pro does. My assumption is that next year when iPhone presumably moves to the A17 that it will then have usb3 speeds.
Not everything has to be some nefarious plot, damn.
See, you’re assuming that this would have taken time and money to develop. Usb3 is ubiquitous at this point, it probably doesn’t even cost any more to include, or if it does, it’s a trivial amount. This isn’t apple “not adding a feature” this is apple purposely removing features to push people to the more expensive versions
It’s not built into the A16 chip that is in the iPhone, but it’s been added to the A17 that’s in the pro. You think there’s space in these devices to just add an extra chip? Get real.
Textbook Apple fanboy reply.
And still the biggest bullshit on iPhones is still the lack of clip board and how the copied item will vanish after 20 mins… my ADHD brain won’t remember what I needed that copied thing for because as soon as I see my Home Screen I will end up on a different app and spend an hour on there
That seems extremely niche. The vast majority of the content I copy and paste are passwords or Mfa codes, so that would be a huge security risk keeping it active.
It’s not a niche thing, I come from an android phone nd it still after 2 years bugs the hell out of… mfa expire after a couple minutes anyways before you have to request it again, and then passwords??? Why do you need to copy it when passwords will input it for you after authentication of Face ID? You’ve never used clipboard hence why you assume it’s “niche” thing, but its one of the most side loaded thing on iOS on both iPad and iOS? So not so “niche”
Not all sites or apps code their login fields correctly.
A tad bit late.
I’m kind of glad the main dev team is seconded to visionOS this year. iOS 17 doesn’t have anything too crazy but the QoL improvements and long-standing feature gaps like this one being closed are really where the attention needs to be.
Apple has really polished Maps, Mail, Safari and Home over the iOS 17 beta period and I hope that continues during the minor updates.
For offline usage, I prefer using Here WeGo (I like download the full map instead).
For the other 90% usage, Waze and Apple Maps are good enough.
For open source alternatives there is Map.me and Organic Maps.
Maps.me is neither open-source nor free, I believe they even introduced IAP at some point.
Organic Maps though is FOSS and it’s by the same developers. They both use OpenStreetMap mapping data, developers of which created Osmand which is just orders of magnitude more customisable. Quite a powerhouse of a navigation app, but may be overkill for some people.
Isn’t this it right here?
last release march 2020;
according to the OSM Wiki, Maps.me was sold in November 2020 and the source code was locked down. The original developers forked the app, reused old code and created Organic Maps.
Well that’s bittersweet. I did not realize it had been sold. At least it was forked though. Thanks for pointing that out!
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