Alfred, I know. However, I observe that's the only thing that lies at the root of all the complaints, and of course none of us knows the solution to the UI so our complaints are all over the map.

It all points to this: Whoever designed the iOS user interface is a superb hardware designer who has no training in UI design, never knew that he had a color perception problem, and needs no approval to get his work released. Because Apple's hardware designs don't use color, the designer would never have run into a color selection problem before.

I don't get the impression that Jony is full of himself. I would imagine that he is very embarrassed by the reception of his first foray into UI design. His work has only met with accolades until now. He might well be receptive to the suggestion.

Except that I, and everyone of my acquaintances loves the new design, as do many of the posters on these forums, so whose suggestions should he be responsive to?

And Apples hardware designs don't use color? Are you serious? Have you ever been in an Apple Store, or looked at their website?

I have also not yet met anyone in person who dislikes iOS 7. I've met some people who were neutral. But no one who dislkes or hates it the way some of the people in this thread seem to.

Personally, I'm disappointed with Mavericks. I was hoping that we would see more of Ives's influence there. It has lots of nice features but, compared to iOS 7, it just looks old.

Best of luck.

Ken, you're trying but you're not going to pull me into a debate about the asthetics of iOS 7. :-) In any case, I think your observations are based on several assumptions that are not likely true. Some truly not.

Can someone tell me how to stop getting updates on this useless thread? Please?

Look in the upper corner. you will see a box labeled "Actions". click on the link "Stop email notifications".

kellyjdrummer wrote:

 

Can someone tell me how to stop getting updates on this useless thread? Please?

See this user tip:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3661

USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/10/17/apple-ios-7-problems/2986189/

Apple loses some of its magic touch with iOS 7

SAN FRANCISCO —   Apple's iOS 7 launch is fast becoming its most troubled mobile operating system update, increasing concern that the technology giant has lost some of its magic touch since co-founder Steve Jobs passed away two years ago.

Since iOS 7 was released Sept. 18, the list of bugs and flaws has grown.

Draining batteries, dropping Wi-Fi and spotty Bluetooth connections are getting big boos across discussion boards at Apple's own support communities. Some apps are working poorly or slowly, the interface is harder to use for some people, and game players have also found faults.

"Apple really needs to get back to  focusing on device testing and hyper attention to detail to maintain customers' trust,"  says Jefferson Wang, senior partner with IBB Consulting.

Text messaging via iMessage, nearly as indispensable as a phone call, has users fuming over an inability to consistently send text messages from iPhones with the new operating system.

On iMessage,  "I'll do the hard restart, and that seems to work, but it's pretty frustrating. It shouldn't happen this way, because everyone uses iMessage,"  Eric Retzlaff, 33, who works at The Doctors Company in Napa, Calif., said in an interview.

Some users of Apple's new flagship iPhone 5s have even experienced a so-called blue screen of death, familiar to many who have seen a Windows computer screen freeze and turn blue.

"It did feel more like a Microsoft release," Retzlaff said. "I've never had an issue like this with one of their updates, so it's pretty shocking."

Apple's problems raise questions about its dramatic mobile makeover decisions and the company's elevation of Jony Ive to oversee much of that development.

"It's Apple's most problematic operating system launch so far," said Raluca Budiu, senior researcher at consulting firm Nielsen Norman Group, which released a report on Oct. 12 saying the design of the new operating system makes it harder to use.

STORY: Jony Ive - The man behind Apple's magic curtain

Buttons that used to stand out now blend with the background, and links that used to be visible may now be mistaken for plain text, the consulting firm said.

Budiu has also experienced problems with iOS 7 personally. When she installed the new OS on her older iPhone, it drained the battery much faster. When she got the latest iPhone 5s, she thought that would fix the issue, but the new phone's battery is still draining quicker, she said.

The battery problem may be caused by iOS 7's ability to have many apps running at the same time. In previous versions of the OS, only one or two apps could run at the same time, limiting battery usage, Budiu noted.

STORY: Consumers sound off on iOS 7

STORY: How to boost iPhone's batter life on iOS 7

Still, Budiu said iOS 7 problems are not as bad as some of Microsoft's legendarily troubled OS upgrades, such as Vista in early 2007. Microsoft's more recent Windows 8 launch was also more problematic, she noted. Microsoft on Thursday began rolling out a Windows 8.1 update to address some user issues.

"iOS 7 is doing some harm but not at the level of Windows 8," she said.

Apple has already released iOS 7 updates to fix some problems, including a bug that allowed people to bypass the Lock screen passcode. But the pace of updates for iOS 7 —  two in eight days — is unprecedented for Apple, says Wang. Normally, updates come after 30 to 60 days of a new version of the mobile operating system, he says.

The company is planning more fixes in coming weeks, possibly after an Oct. 22 event at which it is expected to unveil new iPads.

"We are aware of an issue that affects a fraction of a percent of our iMessage users, and we will have a fix available in an upcoming software update," Apple spokeswoman Trudy Miller said. "We apologize for any inconvenience this causes impacted users." She declined to comment further.

HIGH BAR

Some Apple partners said iOS 7 is being criticized so much because the company has trained users to expect its devices and software to work almost magically together with little learning required.

"We expect fantastically high-quality software that automatically works with the hardware. So when these problems come out it seems like the world is ending when in fact it just has a few bugs," said Kiran Bellubbi, CEO of Applauze, an iOS app for concerts, sports and theater tickets.

Indeed, iOS 7 has already been installed on more than 70% of all existing iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches less than a month after launch. Yet there's still an unusually wary group of people who aren't interested in downloading this version.

"In previous iOS releases people have always said, 'Did you get the new iOS?' There's a sizable base that has said, 'We don't like it. We won't download it. We don't want it,'" Wang says.

DESIGN WOES

Apple's iOS 7 mobile operating system iteration took a radical leap from iOS 6. Before it was even launched, those in the design world were sharply divided over Apple's plans to flatten its look.

Apple's move to do away with such design cues as yellow legal pads for Notes, fake glass and other faux vintage effects to resemble objects did away with what's known as skeuomorphism.

"Overall I like the functionality of the new OS, but the visual style looks unfinished. The color design is awful, and it's flat to a fault.," said Mark Rolston, chief creative officer at Frog Design, whose firm designed early Macintosh computers.

Hardware issues are also cropping up. Some Apple users are complaining that the iPhone 5s motion sensors are not working properly. Games that rely on the accelerometer are affected by the apparent flaw, yielding inaccurate results when tilting devices for movement. The new inclinometer and gyroscope used in iOS 7 also are giving flawed results, according to multiple accounts.

USA Today? Not a paper I could ever take seriously. There's a reason it's often referred to as MacPaper.

As a developer, I can tell you in the past it WAS impossible for us to downgrade beta versions of new operating systems, however with iOS 7 Apple allowed developers to do so. Whether it was on purpose or a slip I don't know.

As a developer myself, I can say with absolute certainty that Apple never "approved" downgrading iOS 7 beta, evidenced by both the disclaimer on download page of the dev website and in the dev agreement you had to affirm.  That you were able to do so anyway is irrelevant. 

In fact, a great many failed in the attempt, with  numerous posts here and in the beta forum looking for help to unbrick their now ex-beta doorstops.

Going back to the original reference to this by Kenneth Collins 1 - he detests iOS 7 and claims he previously was able to downgrade by "Apple approved" method (not mentioned as for the beta), now can't do so, never explaining why he has iOS 7 still on his device if he previously was able to get it rid of it...  Either he is masochistic and reinstalled it, or was boolsheeting about being able to downgrade in the past.

That said, I AGREE with the one-way upgrade path. It's the best thing for the ecosystem

That's not main the purpose in iOS.  Allowing for downgrading creates much bigger target for hacking and jailbreaking, as well as general malware security. 

Alfred DeRose wrote:

 

As a developer, I can tell you in the past it WAS impossible for us to downgrade beta versions of new operating systems, however with iOS 7 Apple allowed developers to do so. Whether it was on purpose or a slip I don't know.

 

It was unintentional.  The very fact that you can't state whether it was intentional or not means you can't claim modular's argument is accurate or not.

The standing position of Apple has always been to not support iOS downgrades.  The fact that it is possible using an non-Apple approved method is irrelevant.

I agree with Kenneth Collins1 -- this is something that I made a reference to as well, so it's good to see that I'm not the only one that noticed this. If you run a website through an accessibility service, that is probably one of the biggest things that gets flagged. They advise that colors be picked according to how contrasting they are so that text and things are easier to read and see, especially for color blind folks, and so on.

I am attaching a few images to show the comparison of the old "Touch to return to call" bar from previous iOS versions, and the one from iOS 7. The gradient work is much more sublte in iOS 7 and uses less colors, especially contrasting colors. The result is a much-harder-to-read light colored text on a light colored background. You can even see the same problem in the Phone and Messages app icons (Facetime as well in the iOS 7 screenshot).

The problem is also there in text messages. The green background makes it hard to read the white-colored text.

Kenneth Collins1 wrote:

 

The only thing wrong with iOS 7 Medusa (because it turns you to stone when you look at it) is the UI. Under the UI lurks a technically superior iOS.

 

We know two things about Jony Ive. 1) He is now in charge of user interface design, and 2) He answers to no one. No one checks his work. Given those two facts, my theory is as follows:

 

The design principles for hardware are different from the design principles for software UIs. Jony has no training in designing software UIs. In hardware, making everything as thin and as inconspicuous as possible is a good thing. In software, it makes the UI harsh, severe, hard to read, and hard to use, because UI elements aren't very visible and the UI is painful to look at. Jony designed the UI as if it were hardware.

 

The color choices in iOS 7 Medusa are weird, particularly the retina-scraping shade of green. The "tap here to return to call" banner has very poor contrast and thus very poor readability for people with normal color vision. My theory is that Jony Ive has a mild deficiency in color vision that he wasn't aware of until now. For him, the green is darker and there is a contrast between the banner and the text. (An optometrist can administer a quick test for color perception.)

 

The solution is for Jony to educate himself in UI design and to have someone check the colors in his work. He has to do this voluntarily, because no one can require him to do it. If he does, then when we look at iOS 8, we won't be blinded. Iff he doesn't, then we are in for nasty surprises with OS X Renegades or OS X Vigilantes, or whatever the successor to OS X Mavericks will be called.

very plausible explanation.. and,yes, 'harsh, severe, hard to read and use' very much fit into my experience.  I gather from the conversation that this Jony is around for a while and likely to be in charge of the next few upgrades?... useful information, thank you.  That will influence my choices and actions in the future.

Thank you James. Enough with this.