[Poll results out] Opinion: iOS 16 update may quickly descend into chaos if the current trajectory continues

New updates are being added to the bottom of this story…

Original story (from October 10, 2022) follows:

There’s plenty to like about Apple’s new iOS 16 update. Be it the customizable lock screen, ability to edit and unsend iMessages or even the new features in Maps and Health, iOS 16 is undoubtedly worth the shot.

The updated Fitness app is now open to non-Apple Watch owners, and there’s no denying that My Sports is a nice touch to the News app for a sports freak like me.

With the upcoming update to iOS 16.1, there’s even more being lined up. High on the list is Live Activities, which is now in the beta stage.

Similar to widgets, Live Activities let you take a quick glance at information on the lock screen without the need to unlock the phone, only that the info gets updated in real time.

Given that it’s the first big incremental update to iOS 16, there’s much more expected from Apple when iOS 16.1 arrives. Besides new features, Apple has plenty of work to do around refining the initial release.

Unless you’re living under a rock, you must have come across a couple or so disgruntled iOS 16 users, be it in person or on the various socials.

Ever since the first version rolled out a few weeks ago, many iOS 16 users have had a quite unexpected experience. Apple is known for its attention to details, but it seems this wasn’t the case with this release.

Truth be told, iOS 16 started off as a great release, boasting a bunch of new features and improved functionality over the outgoing iOS 15.

That’s often expected with every major OS update, but it seems this honeymoon was quite short-lived. A couple or so weeks and two incremental updates later, and iOS 16 is already descending into chaos.

Rather than serve to address the typical quirks you’d expect in a first release of a major OS, the latest iterations of iOS 16 are growing frustratingly painful for many iPhone owners.

The internet is full of documented experiences from iPhone owners lamenting how terrible some aspects of the new OS have been ever since rolling out.

Here at PiunikaWeb, we’ve also highlighted a flurry of bugs and issues that surfaced following the new release. Perhaps the most annoying is excessive battery draining, but that’s only a scratch of the surface.

Some have narrowed down the battery drain issue to the Facebook app, but that’s unlikely to be the only culprit.

It’s also easy to shift the blame to third-party app developers for issues like inability to login to Microsoft SwiftKey, missing Telegram formatting options, YouTube app not loading or crashing, or recorded Wyze videos lacking sound.

But for the most part, the many bugs iPhone users are experiencing after the update to iOS 16 are down to Apple’s poor software optimization.

Things like wallpapers missing light/dark versions, AssistiveTouch issue where button won’t move, missing battery percentage in status bar, and Spotlight search lagging are all Apple’s fault.

Some iPhone owners are finding it hard to get used to changes such as the relocated lock screen notifications, Apple Books page turn animation, percentage in the battery icon, and the missing lock screen volume slider when playing media.

Sure, Apple seems to be moving fast to address some issues like ghost touches on select iPhone models. But many others still persist even in the latest iOS 16.1 beta builds.

For instance, there are still no improvements to the wallpaper Depth Effect. We are also still seeing newer bugs popping up in recent times, among them missing notifications or receiving them without sound or vibration alerts.

There are also cases of weak or non-responsive keyboard haptic feedback, broken HDMI and AirDrop functionalities, Fitness activity not updating or showing incorrect data, and even screen flickering.

It doesn’t seem like ending soon, and it even feels like new bugs crop up every dawn. The list keeps growing steadily each passing day, which is so un-Apple.

Given how buggy it is on some iPhones, one wonders whether iOS 16 was hurried just for the purpose of having it power the iPhone 14 series at launch.

Indeed, Apple is known for its quality software that is often less buggy compared to Android. But lately, especially with how iOS 16 is progressing, it seems Cupertino has been reading from Google’s playbook.

Google had a chaotic Android 12 rollout, and Android 13 hasn’t been off to the best starts either. But unlike Google, Apple is often quick to address nagging issues, so hopefully iOS 16.1 does the trick for the most part.

Apple must take full responsibility and address the increasingly frustrating software releases or watch as iOS 16 quickly plunges into further chaos than it already has.

Do let us know what you think in the comments section. As for the poll below, the results will be shared after a week.

The results are here. And apparently, 38.5% of our readers feel iOS 16 is buggy, but it’s still very much usable. On the other hand, 30.8% have had no major issues with their overall experience.

There’s another lot of 7.7% that is totally unhappy with the OS since it made their devices unusable, while the remaining 23.1% are still on iOS 15.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.