I recently wrote a pretty decent article (Can I say that? I guess I just did, but…) about my impressions of the new iPhone 6s. Spoiler: my 1+ month impression is that I love it more than any iPhone I’ve ever owned, save for maybe iPhone 4. With iOS 9, Apple’s mobile operating system has never been more powerful and many bugs and undesirable experiences were refined in this latest software. However, in my day-to-day use of my iPhone and iPad, I notice several things that seem to hinder my user experience. Here I will describe the problems and offer suggestions on how to improve, if the solution is apparent to a simpleton like me.

Maps

This is probably my biggest gripe, actually. In short, it takes entirely too many taps and clicks to get my god-damned GPS to pump turn-by-turn directions into my big, dumb, directionally-challenged brain.

First, I have to click Maps’s app icon. Then, Ihave to tap the search bar and type in the place, thing, or address that I’m trying to get myself to. Then I have to click “Search.” This much I guess I’m okay with, more or less. That is to say that I have no idea how to streamline this process any further.

However, once entered, I then get transported to a pin with a pop up containing the address or location name.

I have to click on that little “pop up.” Then, I get taken to a larger contextual menu showing me all of the details of this place that, in this time and place (I’ve already made up my mind that I’m trying to get there — eventually and somehow), I don’t care about. I have to further click “directions.” Incidentially, this button is sometimes real tricky for me to activate, for whatever reason.

THEN, I get taken to a big, dumb, pointless, “Directions” menu and I have to tap “route,” for some reason.

I’m already kind of annoyed at this point, but this is where it gets excruciating. FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON, my directions are still one tap of the “start” button away from actually being the thing I needed this entire fucking time.

I guess I know the reason for this version of hell, personified as a screen. It’s so that I can select a different route, if I want to. The problem is, 99.99% of the time I don’t want to. Getting directions to a place costs me six button presses, plus any additional typing I will have to do, plus the unavoidable animation lag between each step in this process. This seems like entirely too many steps just to get this dumb robotic map genius to teach me her secrets.

Also, look. I’m not saying that these options or whatever don’t have any inherent value. Maybe sometimes I DO want to take an alternate route. However, an overwhelming majority of the time, this is not the case. If I need to reroute myself, I should be able to do it easily once the navigation has begun. What I shouldn’t have to do is be inconvenienced every time I need directions just because I will need to use this feature a fraction of the time.

Siri might be helpful for this. However, often times Siri doesn’t know what I mean when I say something like, “I need directions to Kenmore Komics,” instead reading it as Kenmore Comics and telling me nothing exsists. She has a small, dumb, child brain. Most egregiously, even if I’m somewhere weird and need to know how to get home, telling Siri something to the effect of “get me directions out of here and home!” still necessitates that I make the unneccessary “Start” click to initiate the directions. This shouldn’t have to be the default, or at very least I should have the option to kill this additional click. Same result with 3D Touching Maps’s app icon and selecting “get directions home” — I still have more work to do even though I should be good to go. This hole process feels bogged down and kind of low-key one of the major inconveniences of my day (I guess I live a great life?). I don’t know how, and it seems like it would take a fundamental reimagining of the Maps app and process, but it’s one of the glaring annoyances still left in iOS.

Siri

A lot can be said about Siri, Apple’s Virtual Assistant.

HomeKit

Man, I love this idea. I have two iHome SmartPlugs in my room, one that is plugged into a lamp on my desk, the other which is plugged into a lamp on my nightstand. Eventually, I’d like to get a Hue set-up for lights, but I can’t really justify spending $200 on some light bulbs right now, especially because the status of HomeKit is so… garbage-y.

I love the idea of talking to my wrist and telling my little computer brain there to turn my home on, and POP! All my lights explode into their full glory. I love the idea of telling my watch to open the garage door, to lock the doors, turn on the coffee (wait nevermind it has a timer), et cetera.

Unfortunately, in practice HomeKit and Siri fall… decidingly short of the mark. I would say that about 40–50% of the time I ask her to “turn on/off my home,” she is inexplicably incapable of doing so.

But whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?

If I ask her again right away, however, she will comply with the request.

I’m so confused it hurts.

Mind you, this is when my iPhone is connected to the same WiFi as my SmartPlugs, so it’s not an issue with that. I genuinely have no idea what’s going on here, but a 40–50% failure rate is absolutely not acceptable from any company, let alone Apple. I am hoping this is simply a software bug that can be pushed out in the next iOS update and not some inherent and fundamental flaw with the HomeKit protocol itself. It appears to be a common issue will all HomeKit devices, so I’m pretty confident it’s not a flaw in my set up.

I recently upgraded to the newest, fourth generation, Apple TV. Prior to this, I had my Apple TV3 signed into my iCloud account, so that I could control my HomeKit devices remotely (read: not connected to WiFi). I still have this “old” Apple TV, I moved it upstairs when I brought home the new hotness. However, even though the Apple TV4 is signed into my iCloud account, I can no longer control HomeKit from off-WiFi. That’s right — even though all I did was unplug and re-plug my older Apple TV3 the entire set up is, inexplicably, broken. Maybe I could trouble shoot this, but (a) I shouldn’t have to, (b) I genuinely don’t have the time right now (I say as I write a blog post for fun that nobody will read…).

My second issue is a Siri one. She’s not super great at deciphering what I’ve said, in the conext of HomeKit. I’d say upwards of 50% of the time I say the phrase “turn on/off my home,” she will respond with “there are eleven of them.” She thinks I’ve said “turn on/off my ALARM.” She has a small, dumb, child’s brain, because this is absolutely not even close to what I’m trying to accomplish here. I’ve said the two words out loud back-to-back and I’m fairly confident that “home” and “alarm” sound NOTHING alike. Not even remotely. I have absolutely no inkling about what’s going on here. I have to literally talk to her like she has a small, dumb, child’s brain. Loud and slow… it’s so obnoxious.

I absolutely love the concepts behind Siri and HomeKit integration. When they work, they are beyond cool and are genuinely futuristic. However, for as long as these severe and fundamental issues remain, the future will have to wait.