A company once well known for excellent design made a big mistake. They started doing the same things that made me switch from Android a few years ago. At that time Apple, Steve Jobs, and Jony Ive were my design idols, and I looked up to them. This changed with using iPhone X and iPad together.

I decided to write this because usability inconsistencies, in my opinion, exceeded the acceptable level.

iPhone X experience is excellent

Two months ago I bought my iPhone X, and it was outstanding in every aspect (I switched from iPhone 7). I quickly learned all new gestures and got used to the huge screen. I must say I use reachability more than ever, but it's no bother at all. It’s pretty handy and it’s a feature that’s missing on Android.

Reachability gesture helps you reach top of the screen.

Tap to wake and rise to wake works perfectly. It immediately scans my face and unlocks, so I don’t need to think about it or do anything (like a tap on a home button, search for the scanner on the phone back, sacrifice a goat, etc.). One other small thing I realized with this is that I can unlock and use my phone in my touch friendly gloves (I always needed to take it off to Touch ID unlock).

The new home gesture is even faster than home button, and I can even switch apps by simply swiping. Reachability helps me with opening notifications and control center. Surprisingly I somehow naturally know how to open which (control center opens by swiping on the right top, where the signals and battery icons are). This feature is pleasing especially on the iPhone X since I just need to swipe down a bottom of the screen and it whole moves down to my fingertips. It naturally does precisely what I show it by this gesture.

iPad experience is exceptional as well

I use iPad every day for several years now, and it’s a great device. I quickly realized that it has a lot more to offer than just stretched iPhone, and I started to love it. Ability to unlock it with Touch ID was the best improvement in years (and it’s lightning fast). I also admire how Apple designers merged app switcher and control center. By simple swipe, you have everything on your hand.

Additionally, I like new split-screen multitasking despite the fact that I don't use it very often. You can read resources on the one side and write notes on the other. Or drag images from one app and drop them to the other.

Furthermore, I watch videos in a Picture-in-Picture mode (PiP). You can just switch from Netflix (or almost any video app) to another app, and you can listen or watch your video while you are, e.g., sexting with someone.

Picture-in-Picture mode (PiP) — Facebook Messenger with a floating Tubex video.

Using them together is when the universes collide

Using these devices on their own is awesome, but using them together? That sucks. I’ll give you some examples of features I love and use often to demonstrate the issues I came across.

I'll start with waking up my devices. I have no issue waking my iPhone, yet, when I rise my iPad, it stays dead. I tap on it once…twice, still dead. Then, after a brief moment of confusion, I realize that I should wake it by pushing the power button. Hurray! This (blanky staring at my iPad, waiting for it to miraculously wake up) happens to me more than I am willing to admit. That’s how much I got used to the “lazy” way my iPhone works.

After all that struggle I find myself staring at my iPad just waiting until it unlocks. No Face ID, no fun (that’s probably another point for Face ID because it reduces my cognitive load — I don’t need to do anything, just look at it). But now I subconsciously expect this from every other device. I think we won't see this feature anytime soon on iPad because it can be more complicated to implement (e.g., Face ID can recognize me only in a portrait mode and the working distance is okay for the iPhone use, but not enough for the iPad). This could be a tough cookie for Apple engineers, so fingers crossed. 🙂

But the misery doesn’t end there. Whenever I try to open control center by the top right gesture, it’s not there. I know that it’s a little bit hidden on iPhone (and I believe they will put it on “swipe from right side of the screen” in iOS 12). But why they didn’t put it on both top right and bottom gestures for now? It’s a real mystery to me.

Switching the apps on the iPad is a breeze for some time now due to four-finger gesture. However, it works slightly different on iPhone. You realize this only when you use both devices. On iPad, all apps stay in order when you switch them by for-finger gesture. Whenever you switch apps (by home-bar), it remains in order…until you start using the app, let’s say scroll the Facebook. At that moment Facebook becomes the first one on the list. In reality when you use two apps and switch between them, on iPad you switch left and right although on iPhone you will always switch left.

I must say I like the new (iPhone) way a bit better. It feels more natural to me, and I was now a little bit confused using the old way on my iPad (I used it a lot before iPhone X).

As I use PiP on my iPad a lot, I got used to listening to video (e.g., TED talks or YouTubers) and switching between apps. I can quickly switch apps on my iPhone now, but the video stops playing. I believe there should be some lightweight PiP on iPhone. I do not suggest creating a full split-screen hybrid on this relatively small iPhone screen, yet there must be a way to solve this.

Small controversy at the end, with changing bottom control center gesture (by iPhone or swipe from right side gesture), there could be a hidden home bar. I made this mistake using the gesture already on my iPad.

Conclusion

I understand that with this new iOS release Apple wanted to show that iPad could be a device for professionals (which they did successfully). And with new iPhone, they wanted to show what they are capable of, to create something entirely different and completely rethink the iconic home button. I believe they did a tremendous job. As a result of those radical changes, this two devices are further away from each other than ever.

Don’t take me wrong, experience on both devices is great, but some things could have been easily fixed with iOS 11 (and new iPhone X) release. Apple designers must have known what’s coming and design new iOS with that in mind. This is merely a big misstep from a company famous for design and tightly integrated ecosystem. I believe they will fix this issues with some further release of iOS, not by releasing newly redesigned iPad which everyone must buy to have it consistent.

Do you like it? 👏👏👏

Is there something I missed? Let me know. I would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks for reading.