{ "version": "https:\/\/jsonfeed.org\/version\/1.1", "title": "Ilya Birman’s Blog: posts tagged iPhone", "_rss_description": "Ilya Birman’s blog on design, cities, music, and life", "_rss_language": "en", "_itunes_email": "ilyabirman@ilyabirman.net", "_itunes_categories_xml": "<\/itunes:category>\r\n<\/itunes:category>\r\n\r\n", "_itunes_image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic-square@2x.jpg?1573933764", "_itunes_explicit": "no", "home_page_url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/tags\/iphone\/", "feed_url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/tags\/iphone\/json\/", "icon": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1573933764", "authors": [ { "name": "Ilya Birman", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/", "avatar": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1573933764" } ], "items": [ { "id": "397", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/iphone-shift-enter\/", "title": "Shift+Enter on the iPhone", "content_html": "

First, a little historical background.<\/p>\n

On a typewriter, when you reached the end of a line, you had to manually return the carriage to the beginning of the line and feed the paper by one line. There was a special lever for this.<\/p>\n

Early text editing software inserted the same two control characters into the text when you pressed Enter: carriage return and line feed. The CR, LF sequence (\\r\\n) meant the start of the next line in DOS and still does in its successor, Windows. Unix decided that using two characters for a line break was silly and made do with a single LF (\\n). Ever since, the two ways of ending a line have been fighting each other and causing endless problems.<\/p>\n

In any case, back in the twentieth century, people realised that on a computer, text should wrap onto the next line automatically when it runs out of available width. No special characters are needed for that.<\/p>\n

Since then, Enter in text editors has not merely moved to the next line: it starts a new paragraph and, depending on style preferences, separates it with some spacing. To move to the next line without starting a new paragraph, as on a typewriter, you press Shift+Enter. Similarly, Shift+Enter moves to the next line within the same list item rather than creating a new one, and, generally, within any logical block of text.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n<\/figure>\n

And now to the point of this post.<\/p>\n

I have missed this feature on the iPhone my whole life. Sometimes I have wanted to add text on a new line in the same to-do item, or whatever.<\/p>\n

Then, the other day, I tried pressing Shift+Enter on the iPhone — and it worked! Exactly as it has always worked on a computer. I now think it must have worked that way since the original iPhone, but it never occurred to me to try it, and I cannot understand why. All my life, I was simply certain that it could not be done on an iPhone.<\/p>\n

Thinking about it now, I believe there is a general perception that the iPhone has no modifier keys such as Option or Command, and that the Shift key is not really a modifier key either: it is more like a keyboard tab, just like the “123” button. I cannot use Shift on the iPhone to select text with arrow keys, so trying Shift+Enter simply never entered my mind. Which was wrong!<\/p>\n

You are now either amazed that I could be this dumb for nineteen years, or this is as wonderful a discovery for you as it was for me. Or, more likely, you just do not care at all.<\/p>\n", "summary": "First, a little historical background", "date_published": "2026-09-03T23:18:44+05:00", "date_modified": "2026-09-03T23:17:48+05:00", "tags": [ "interface", "iPhone" ], "image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/iphone-shift-enter.jpg", "_date_published_rfc2822": "Thu, 03 Sep 2026 23:18:44 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "397", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": true, "links_required": [], "og_images": [ "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/iphone-shift-enter.jpg" ] } }, { "id": "395", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/ios-26-input-selection\/", "title": "Microphone selection in iOS 26", "content_html": "

When Apple announced iOS 26 last summer, they said you would finally be able to manually choose which microphone to use. I was thrilled: I could permanently choose the iPhone’s own microphone.<\/p>\n

The problem was that whenever I connected AirPods, the iPhone had always switched to their terrible microphone (which should never be used). Every time I needed to record a voice message or dictate something to my phone, I took the AirPods out of my ears so the phone would record with its own, decent microphone.<\/p>\n

Anyway, as soon as iOS 26 came out, the first thing I did was switch the microphone to the built-in one and get ready to live happily ever after. But the joy did not last long: after a couple of voice messages, people told me, as usual, that I sounded like shit. From this I concluded that the iPhone had once again switched to the damn AirPods microphone. I went to check, and sure enough:<\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n<\/figure>\n

It had not simply switched back to the AirPods microphone. It had selected a third option, “Automatic”, which stood for the AirPods microphone. I thought that maybe I had made a mistake the first time and tapped “Automatic” myself when it stood for the iPhone microphone without noticing the “Automatic” label? So I went to select the built-in microphone manually again.<\/p>\n

And of course, a couple of days later, the selection had reset again and returned to “Automatic”.<\/p>\n

What did the authors of this feature thought its value was? Before, the microphone used to be selected automatically. They added a new feature for choosing it manually. But it still knows better and chooses automatically!<\/p>\n", "summary": "When Apple announced iOS 26 last summer, they said you would finally be able to manually choose which microphone to use", "date_published": "2026-08-29T19:36:01+05:00", "date_modified": "2026-08-29T19:35:41+05:00", "tags": [ "iPhone" ], "image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/ios-26-input-selection@2x.png", "_date_published_rfc2822": "Sat, 29 Aug 2026 19:36:01 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "395", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [ "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/ios-26-input-selection@2x.png" ] } }, { "id": "394", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/liquid-glass-on-mac\/", "title": "Liquid Glass and the Mac’s low priority", "content_html": "

In John Gruber’s Talk Show #453 with Louie Mantia<\/a>, the familiar point comes up again: Liquid Glass is particularly bad on the Mac, where it is least well thought through. On the iPhone, it is at least somewhat tolerable. If Apple devoted as many resources to the Mac as it does to the iPhone, it would be fine there, too!<\/p>\n

I think it is not just a matter of resources. Liquid Glass’s poor quality as a design system shows up fundamentally more clearly on the Mac than on the iPhone simply because the Mac itself is more complex and richer: it is used for more complex tasks by more demanding users. The Mac is much more sensitive to interface quality. Compared with it, the iPhone is a toy. It is harder to break with bad design, because there is far less there to break.<\/p>\n

The iPhone has become worse with Liquid Glass too, of course. Take the unstable positions and shapes of elements, which make it harder to develop habits. Or uninformative feedback that makes it difficult to tell whether a control has received your input or not. Or background blur that makes text harder to read. But people notice this less on the iPhone because they do not do anything serious on it for long stretches of time.<\/p>\n

I understand that there have long been people who actually work on an iPhone — people who grew up with one and have barely used a computer. But it is hard to draw conclusions from them, because they have neither efficient habits nor high standards. They do not realise they work many times more slowly than they could. And even when they have a computer, they use it as inefficiently as they use the iPhone, because they do not know that things can be done differently.<\/p>\n

No amount of resources will make Liquid Glass good on the Mac. Only correcting the mistakes built into it will. And the iPhone will benefit from that too.<\/p>\n", "summary": "In John Gruber’s Talk Show #453 with Louie Mantia, the familiar point comes up again: Liquid Glass is particularly bad on the Mac, where it is least well thought through", "date_published": "2026-08-23T20:41:27+05:00", "date_modified": "2026-08-23T20:47:01+05:00", "tags": [ "interface", "iPhone", "Mac" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Sun, 23 Aug 2026 20:41:27 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "394", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "329", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/temporary-disable-iphone-protection\/", "title": "Feature request: Temporarily disable password and Face ID", "content_html": "

Apple did a great job: they invented Face ID, which reliably protects the phone and still works seamlessly. But the scientists at the Wuhan lab did an even better job: they invented a coronavirus that forced the mankind to wear face masks.<\/p>\n

As a result, shopping for groceries with a list in your phone became a torture. You have to enter the damn password every time.<\/p>\n

I want a feature: disable iPhone protection for fifteen minutes, during which I can take it out of my pocket and unlock with just a Slide to Unlock, as with the original iPhone.<\/p>\n

I guess I can disable all the protection in Settings, but that’s way too much work, and turning the protection back on is even worse; nobody would do it. With my idea you can’t forget anything, the phone returns itself back to protected mode automatically. It could display a red “unprotected” icon in the status bar. Tap on it, and the protected mode returns immediately.<\/p>\n", "summary": "Apple did a great job: they invented Face ID, which reliably protects the phone and still works seamlessly", "date_published": "2021-01-15T21:10:19+05:00", "date_modified": "2021-01-15T21:10:16+05:00", "tags": [ "Apple", "iPhone" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Fri, 15 Jan 2021 21:10:19 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "329", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "318", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/ios-safari-and-memory-management\/", "title": "iOS Safari and memory management", "content_html": "

Here’s what I don’t get about the iPhone’s Safari and memory management.<\/p>\n

Safari will sometimes forget the website it has loaded and needs to reload them when you go to their tab. And they tell us that it’s because the iPhone has limited memory and when other apps need it, it has to free it. Unlike on the Mac, there is no virtual memory on the iPhone, so the system cannot automatically restore what was once removed from memory.<\/p>\n

Okay, but why does Safari insist on keeping everything in memory? Why cannot Safari just save what it has downloaded to disk? My photos and videos don’t get destroyed when the phone is low on memory, why webpages should? Even if I opened a webpage a year ago, there is no reason on Earth to reload it from network when I want to look at it today. It’s already open, just show it to me! I didn’t press Reload, so please don’t do what you were not asked to.<\/p>\n

I suspect it’s yet another corollary of general shittiness of modern browsers<\/a> where developers are obsessed with JavaScript performance and security, and completely forget about being nice software<\/i>.<\/p>\n", "summary": "Here’s what I don’t get about the iPhone’s Safari and memory management", "date_published": "2019-05-23T18:48:57+05:00", "date_modified": "2019-05-23T18:48:40+05:00", "tags": [ "iPhone", "Safari" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Thu, 23 May 2019 18:48:57 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "318", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "285", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/monument-valley-2\/", "title": "Monument Valley 2", "content_html": "

During WWDC, the new Monument Valley<\/a> was released. It’s the most splendid game ever. I’ve finished it, having made some screenshots:<\/p>\n

\n \"Monument\n<\/figure>\n

But the pictures show only a small part of the game’s beauty. In reality, everything is live and the sound is amazing. Go buy and play it.<\/p>\n", "summary": "During WWDC, the new Monument Valley was released. It’s the most splendid game ever. I’ve finished it, having made some screenshots", "date_published": "2017-06-11T12:53:59+05:00", "date_modified": "2017-06-11T12:53:55+05:00", "tags": [ "design", "iPhone" ], "image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/monument-valley-2@2x.jpg", "_date_published_rfc2822": "Sun, 11 Jun 2017 12:53:59 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "285", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [ "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/monument-valley-2@2x.jpg" ] } }, { "id": "282", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/mobile-ui-flip\/", "title": "The revolution in the mobile user interface", "content_html": "

It’s about time to flip the mobile user interface vertically.<\/p>\n

\n \"The revolution\n
I have no idea what language this is<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

It was easy to tap “Back” or “Edit” with your thumb on the original iPhone. On iPhone 5, it became harder. Since the 6, it’s almost impossible.<\/p>\n

Apple has added two features to make things less bad. The first was a gesture where you slide from the left edge of the screen to get back. The second was Reachability, where you double tap the Home button to make everything on the screen shift down so you could reach the top row of buttons. This already felt like a duck tape fix.<\/p>\n

The question is: why put buttons on top and then add obscure gesture to reach them when you could just put the buttons on the bottom in the first place?<\/p>\n

Windows Phone has the browser’s address bar on the bottom:<\/p>\n

\n \"The revolution\n
On some screenshots it’s actually on top, so I’m not sure. Anyway, it should be on the bottom<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Apple, when will you do the same?<\/p>\n

It’s interesting that the revolution has already happened in Maps. Before and after:<\/p>\n

\n \"The revolution\n<\/figure>\n

The search field and results have moved to the bottom. Why did this change only in one app?<\/p>\n

We’ve designed Sayve, the smart voice recorder<\/a> so that all the important controls are reachable. A couple of intermediary user interface layouts:<\/p>\n

\n \"The revolution\n<\/figure>\n

At first, the audio controls were on top (the left layout). Then it moved down (the right layout).<\/p>\n

Finally, all the user interface changed to gravitate towards the bottom:<\/p>\n

\n \"The revolution\n<\/figure>\n

I’m hopeful that Apple will do something similar throughout iOS 11.<\/p>\n

When you turn the things upside-down, you may not like the result aesthetically at first. But our idea of what’s beautiful is largely formed by the technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The rule:<\/b> in the mobile user interface, put the controls on the bottom.<\/p>\n", "summary": "It’s about time to flip the mobile user interface vertically", "date_published": "2017-06-01T15:55:45+05:00", "date_modified": "2017-06-01T15:56:31+05:00", "tags": [ "interface", "iPhone" ], "image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/ui-flip-iphone-4.jpg", "_date_published_rfc2822": "Thu, 01 Jun 2017 15:55:45 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "282", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": true, "links_required": [], "og_images": [ "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/ui-flip-iphone-4.jpg", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/ui-flip-winphone-ie10-8x-01.jpg", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/ui-flip-apple-maps@2x.jpg", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/ui-flip-sayve-1@2x.png", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/ui-flip-sayve-2@2x.png" ] } }, { "id": "277", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/iphone-passcode-keyboard-rendering-bug\/", "title": "iPhone passcode keyboard rendering bug", "content_html": "

Years pass, but Apple just wouldn’t fix this bug in iOS. When the iPhone asks you for the passcode, it shows the keyboard where system keys’ borders aren’t semitransparent:<\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n<\/figure>\n

You may think that it is so by design, but no: if you touch the keyboard, all keys’ border re-render normally, with thin borders.<\/p>\n

And sometimes the keyboard is rendered fine initially:<\/p>\n

\n \"\"\n<\/figure>\n

Does nobody in Apple use alphanumeric passcodes? The numeric ones you usually see others type from three-meters distance. Since there is Touch ID and the passcode is rarely asked for, there is no reason to use the numeric ones.<\/p>\n", "summary": "Years pass, but Apple just wouldn’t fix this bug in iOS. When the iPhone asks you for the passcode, it shows the keyboard where system keys’ borders aren’t semitransparent", "date_published": "2017-05-19T20:07:05+05:00", "date_modified": "2017-05-19T20:07:03+05:00", "tags": [ "bugs", "iPhone" ], "image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/passcode-1@2x.jpg", "_date_published_rfc2822": "Fri, 19 May 2017 20:07:05 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "277", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [ "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/passcode-1@2x.jpg", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/passcode-2@2x.jpg" ] } }, { "id": "249", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/the-design-of-iphone-7\/", "title": "The design of the iPhone 7", "content_html": "

Somehow it’s become a common knowledge that the design of the iPhone 7 is almost the same as the design of the iPhone 6. This boggles my mind.<\/p>\n

How can you not see that the iPhones 6 and 7 are the most<\/i> different iPhones in the history of iPhones? The iPhone 6 is the ugliest iPhone ever created. The iPhone 7 is the most beautiful iPhone ever created.<\/p>\n

This is the original iPhone:<\/p>\n

\n \"Original\n<\/figure>\n

It was beautiful. Everything was perfectly aligned. It would be better without the black stripe on the bottom, but it had to be there for the antennas to work.<\/p>\n

iPhones 3G and 3Gs were worse:<\/p>\n

\n \"iPhones\n<\/figure>\n

They looked fine in pictures, but were plastic, felt cheap and often cracked.<\/p>\n

Then there were the iPhones 4 and 4s:<\/p>\n

\n \"iPhone\n<\/figure>\n

These were special. They didn’t look nice in pictures, but were very attractive in person. The antenna lines bugged me a lot, but overall these were good ones. The glass back was really cool (I don’t break my phones).<\/p>\n

Since then, things went downhill. The iPhones 5 and 5s were ugly:<\/p>\n

\n \"iPhone\n<\/figure>\n

The black stripes, unlike on the original iPhone, were completely out of place. The camera was misaligned.<\/p>\n

I wrote about it in The hope for a beautiful iPhone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then came the iPhones 6 and 6s, painfully ugly:<\/p>\n

\n \"iPhone\n<\/figure>\n

The camera was not aligned with anything and sticked out. The rubber stripes were all over the back. How was this even possible? Imagine somebody showing it to you in 2008, after you’ve seen the first iPhones. You wouldn’t believe Apple would have shipped such a device.<\/p>\n

Definitely, these were the ugliest iPhones ever built.<\/p>\n

And then Apple showed the iPhone 7:<\/p>\n

\n \"iPhone\n<\/figure>\n

Image from wylsa.com<\/p>\n<\/div>

How can you even compare it to the 6? This one is finally<\/i> beautiful, after several years of ugliness. The camera is aligned with the phone’s corner, for the first time after the iPhone 4! It still sticks out, but this time the phone is designed with this in mind. It’s not slapped on top of an unexpecting phone; it’s there because it was meant to be there. The same for the antenna lines: they are part of the design, not some crap put on top because it had to be.<\/p>\n

This is the first iPhone in years that you can enjoy just looking at. And unlike the iPhone 4, it looks great from every angle. It’s the opposite of the iPhones 6.<\/p>\n", "summary": "Somehow it’s become a common knowledge that the design of the iPhone 7 is almost the same as the design of the iPhone 6", "date_published": "2017-01-11T19:53:52+05:00", "date_modified": "2017-01-11T21:06:15+05:00", "tags": [ "design", "iPhone" ], "image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/iphone-original@2x.jpg", "_date_published_rfc2822": "Wed, 11 Jan 2017 19:53:52 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "249", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": true, "links_required": [], "og_images": [ "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/iphone-original@2x.jpg", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/iphone-3g@2x.jpg", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/iphone-4@2x.jpg", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/iphone-5@2x.jpg", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/iphone-6@2x.jpg", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/iphone-7.jpg" ] } }, { "id": "243", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/reminders-buggy\/", "title": "Reminders app is so buggy", "content_html": "

Reminders is one of buggiest apps Apple has ever made. Sometimes it forgets to remind, sometimes it reminds twice. It cannot sync anything between Macs, iOS devices and the watch. And now, it decided to remind me of five things:<\/p>\n

\n \"Reminders\n<\/figure>\n

Thanks, I guess.<\/p>\n", "summary": "Reminders is one of buggiest apps Apple has ever made. Sometimes it forgets to remind, sometimes it reminds twice", "date_published": "2016-12-27T22:55:22+05:00", "date_modified": "2016-12-27T22:55:15+05:00", "tags": [ "bugs", "iPhone", "Mac", "software" ], "image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/reminders@2x.jpg", "_date_published_rfc2822": "Tue, 27 Dec 2016 22:55:22 +0500", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "243", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [ "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/reminders@2x.jpg" ] } }, { "id": "236", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/create-new-or-add-to-existing-contact\/", "title": "Create a new contact or add to an existing one?", "content_html": "

Boy do I hate this question:<\/p>\n

\n \"Create\n<\/figure>\n

Sometimes I tap “Create New Contact” and end up with two records for one person. One with an email, one with a phone number. Turns out, I had this contact already.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I tap “Add to Existing Contact” and end up not finding the person in the contact list. Turns out, I was wrong to believe I had had this contact already.<\/p>\n

When I don’t remember for sure, I have to flip a coin. But why should I occupy my brain with this? For a programmer INSERT and UPDATE are different database queries. This purely technological difference degrades the user interface. It should be hidden from the user.<\/p>\n

In most cases a computer knows a name and can at least suggest adding to a contact if it exists. But even if the name is unknown, just show a searchable contact list and a “+” button together. When I press “+”, put my search query into the contact name field.<\/p>\n

Previously in the stupid questions series:<\/p>\n