How does Apple deal with feedback?

Welcome!

— There seem to be issues that are raised and the threads are closed without resolution.

Agreed. That is because this is a community of end users, not a conduit to Apple. Threads get closed for inactivity or age. There is the occasional removal for cause, as outlined in the Terms of Use we all agreed to follow when we signed up here.

With an estimated 3 million users, I can anticipate bandwidth issues at play. Another factor: of those millions of users, there are fewer than 100 volunteers worldwide who choose to help here on a semi-regular basis.

— It is not clear what happens to requests/suggestions/queries

Nothing if posted here.

Apple seldom shares details of its internal processes like Feedback with us. We respond to questions based on our observations and experiences. My observations on feedback are the same as Kilgore-Trout's. I've had follow-up contact from Apple after one of my bug reports, telling me feedback gets read.

We refer users to this page if they wish Apple to see their issue or concern: Product Feedback - Apple. It covers hardware, software, and Apple services like Music and Apple TV.

I have seen where enough feedback stimulated action, whereas posting here does not. After an iPadOS update some years back, the layout of the onscreen iPad keyboard changed. A campaign here to encourage people to use the feedback links appeared to work, because the keyboard was restored to sanity with the next point update.

Nickystick2 wrote:

Is there a list of known bugs?

No. There can be a list of security CVEs, once addressed.

Some lists of feature updates intended for customers, and other lists for enterprises, also exist.

Lists of known bugs? No. Not from Apple.

There seem to be issues that are raised and the threads are closed without resolution.

Old threads get automatically closed.

Of all the bad choices here, Apple chooses to automatically close the old, inactive threads.

This is also a user-to-user forum, and Apple may or may not read postings, and only seldom replies around here.

It is not clear what happens to requests/suggestions/queries

That depends greatly on the particular requests and the suggestions and the queries, and on the frequencies and severities, and details such as costs and profits, and the sheer scale or dealing with billions of devices, and millions of suggestions.

As an example of this, requests/feedback/queries for a new rose gold iPhone color will probably get handled differently at Apple than might reports from thousands of folks that can’t connect to their mail.

I’ve had some of my own documentation bug reports fixed quickly, and other reports or suggestions might go unaddressed.

One size does not fit all.

Feedback and suggestions post via the feedback form are triaged and analyzed for possible future use. None are posted publicly, not are details of criteria or process posted publicly.

Suggestions and feedback posted on these communities is pretty much ignored.

Nickystick2 wrote:

How does Apple deal with feedback?

All indications are that Apple usually ignores it and does what it thinks is best. Historically, that's worked out pretty well for them. But lately, Apple does seem to be a bit more responsive to user outrage. But that responsiveness actually isn't a good sign. It's more a sign that Apple was on the wrong track for a long time and even a sustained campaign of complaints and ridicule only resulted in slight changes in response.

Is there a list of known bugs?

There is, but it's known only to Apple.

There seem to be issues that are raised and the threads are closed without resolution.

This is a tech support forum. It has nothing to do with any official Apple feedback.

It is not clear what happens to requests/suggestions/queries

Indeed it is not. There are rumours that Apple does sometimes pay attention to serious issues here in the forums. I'll repeat that people say that. I don't know if it's true. My own experiences with Apple official feedback systems doesn't even reach the "dismal" category.

I am a big fan of Apple products and have spent a small fortune to keep my membership of what is becoming an extravagantly expensive club.

I don't recommend that approach. It's better to focus on material conditions. Do Apple products give you a better experience than alternatives? You're correct to place less value on cost. Your time, effort, stress, and frustration all come with a cost that isn't as easy to measure, but is very real. In the past, Apple excelled in that user experience perspective. Lately, they've been struggling.

It is hard to understand why Apple would not look at these fora, it is free feedback after all. I feel that it displays a certain arrogance that could lead to their demise.

I'm in complete agreement.

I will give the Apple feedback link a try. Fingers crossed.

In theory, it can't hurt. But I'm afraid the actual experience these days is more likely to give people a negative impression. In many cases, people submit feedback and then expect some sign that Apple is listening. That never happens. Sometimes they submit very specific feedback about specific issues, and get no response. But they're still hopeful and expect their bug to be fixed in a matter of weeks. They don't realize that a major, headline worthy bug affecting millions tends to take months. And on the very rare occasions anyone does get a response from Apple, it's often nonsensical.

So I recommend you purchase the products that are best for you, whatever those happen to be. Apple is a big company with a lot of money. Their demise will take a long time. I hope they'll be able to recognize the problem and turn it around. Unfortunately, I've seen no evidence of that recognition so far.

Nickystick2 wrote:

Is there a list of known bugs?

There seem to be issues that are raised and the threads are closed without resolution.

It is not clear what happens to requests/suggestions/queries

It appears you are referring to threads in this community. This community is not the place to provide feedback. Apple does not participate in these user-to-user communities and will not see feedback posted here.

If you want to provide product feedback to Apple you can do so here: Product Feedback - Apple