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Look at the mess that is Apple Home. They added it because Google and Amazon were doing it - and, that's about it. Hey, I can add some lights that I can change

Look at the mess that is Apple Home. They added it because Google and Amazon were doing it - and, that's about it. Hey, I can add some lights that I can change color to any color I want! Too bad if I want a thermostat, a doorbell, or... Okay, what about Apple Wallet? It'd be really nice to add my digital driver's license, health insurance cards, auto insurance card, frequent shopping cards - basically make it so I don't have to carry my phone and wallet. Can I do that? Not really. Alright, so what about their iWork suite? On second thought, forget about it. People are using Google Docs or Office 365. Next... That's the problem with Apple software. It all feels kind of half baked and neglected. Apple built their reputation on It Just Works and now it feels like it sorta kinda works, I guess. If Apple's software were a tenth as dazzling as their new hardware then it would be awesome. It's not even close. Their software division needs help.

handrous 5y ago
> Alright, so what about their iWork suite? On second thought, forget about it. People are using Google Docs or Office 365. Next... I'm only able to get away with it because I don't have to send anything other than PDFs to other people very often, but Apple's office-type apps are the only ones of their sort that I don't hate, aside from a few less-integrated and less-stable open source alternatives (Abiword, Gnumeric, that kind of thing—and I'm not even 100% sure those are still around). Google docs and Office 365 are terrible and I pity people who have to use them.
marcellus23 5y ago
You're wrong. You can definitely add thermostats, doorbells, cameras etc. to Home (I've done it). And you can definitely add health insurance cards, frequent shopping cards, etc. to Wallet (I've done that too). Please don't state things that are just factually incorrect. > Alright, so what about their iWork suite? On second thought, forget about it. People are using Google Docs or Office 365. Next... For collaboration, yeah, you're stuck with what everyone uses. But considering the actual software itself, iWork is very nice in my experience. Fast, reliable, and the interface isn't a total shitshow like every other office app out there.
- spiderice 5y ago
  > I've done it Same. I currently have a HomeKit thermostat, doorbell, and cameras in my house. Not really sure where GP is getting his info. They all work really well.
applgo443 5y ago
> Okay, what about Apple Wallet? It'd be really nice to add my digital driver's license, health insurance cards, auto insurance card, frequent shopping cards - basically make it so I don't have to carry my phone and wallet. Can I do that? Not really. As far as I know, things like driving license need user adoption. It's getting there - https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/09/apple-announces-first-states-to-adopt-drivers-licenses-and-state-ids-in-wallet/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/09/apple-announces-first...
fellellor 5y ago
I thought the software division had help. In the form of many many developers making apps for the platform. What happened to them?
AMD_DRIVERS 5y ago
Your comments on Apple Home are factually incorrect. I have lights, cameras, smart blinds, thermostats, temperature/humidity/air quality sensors, my eero6 router and even my Roku added into Home. Apple Wallet also supports some forms of ID, transit cards and even vaccine certificates.
- gonehome 5y ago
  I use Apple home and want to like it, but it mostly sucks. I think the main cause of this isn't so much Home, but the available third party hardware. I wish Apple would make a smart switch (I know that's fairly out of scope for them), but one high quality smart switch that actually worked reliably would resolve 90% of home tech issues. Homepods are similarly bad with basic actions. I have five of them in multiple rooms. If you want to adjust the volume on all of them and say "make volume 50% everywhere" it fails. I have to whisper the command to my phone so the homepods don't hear me and then it can adjust volume on all of them. Volume and playing on homepods generally from the phone is a shitty experience. Often the homepods lose the phone connection and then I can no longer control them from the device. Really it feels like nobody at Apple actually uses these things in their personal life. I also have a gigabit network connection with a stupidly fast access point in a two bedroom apartment so it's not an issue of network speeds or signal.
  - AMD_DRIVERS 5y ago
    In my experience, it's been pretty okay. Not amazing, but I can't really complain. I've got 2 HomePods in a small apartment, and they typically work okay in what I need them to do, and automatons always work. I sometimes have to close the app and open it again to get devices to respond IF I'm in not on my home network. Kind of annoying. What's funny is that I've noticed that it's been better since I bought an eero 6 and added into into Home. Most importantly, it works for my girlfriend who isn't the most keen on new technology. That's the most important part for me, rather than what I want.
    - gonehome 5y ago
      I have two smart switches attached to lights (since our apartment has no overhead lighting) and after a nightmare of setting them up (probably the hardware's fault, but homekit couldn't recognize them via normal pairing method) they worked for a few months. Randomly though they fail to work in Home and I have to manually reset them by holding in the button on the device and redo the entire process. This isn't workable at any scale (it's even annoying with just the two that I have).
gommm 5y ago
And the worst part is that their software division used to be great. Aperture was really good when it came out, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro were great. Eveh talking about iwork suite, numbers and page used to be better than they are now. Even Quicktime regressed. It's frankly both puzzling and saddening how much Apple has lost in term of QA, user interface and vision in the last 10 years. I always feel that Tim Cook doesn't have a clue about what made Apple special and is slowly destroying it by not making sure to keep those qualities EDIT: I do recognize Tim Cook's qualities, he is amazing at managing supply chain and apple does this better than anybody with very little impact in terms of chip shortage. He's original decision to target privacy as a marketing argument was on point (unfortunately the csam controversy kind of destroyed this) and under his tenure Apple has done tremendously well financially. But the issue, is that Apple also benefits from its reputation and in the last few years, they've destroyed it by producing shoddy software, by having major hardware issues over multiple revisions (keyboards, staining screens)...
- ChuckNorris89 5y ago
  >Tim Cook doesn't have a clue about what made Apple special and is slowly destroying it by not making sure to keep those qualities Well their shares have never been higher so as long as that's the metric by which a CEO's performance is judged then you can forget about Apple caring about SW QA and other such "nonsense". Also, before Jobs passed away, Cook was Apple's supply chain mastermind so it makes sense his strengths are with the HW side of things, which, during the current silicon shortage, is an absolutely killer skillset to have, as proven by how little Apple was affected by it in comparison to other companies. When it comes to quality SW, Cook might not be the ideal CEO for the job (like notifications on the new MBP can get hidden behind the notch; WTF, how did this pass QA?! Pretty sure Jobs would have sent them back to the drawing board) but Apple can always rely on the faithful developer base building great quality SW instead of them and then taking a 30% cut on their sales on the Apple store. Basically another win for Apple.
  - alsetmusic 5y ago
    How can notifications, which appear in the upper right corner, end up behind a notch in the middle of the screen?
jjtheblunt 5y ago
the things you complain about, in your comment, work here fine.
pertymcpert 5y ago
Are you posting from 2014 or something?

handrous 5y ago

> Alright, so what about their iWork suite? On second thought, forget about it. People are using Google Docs or Office 365. Next... I'm only able to get away with it because I don't have to send anything other than PDFs to other people very often, but Apple's office-type apps are the only ones of their sort that I don't hate, aside from a few less-integrated and less-stable open source alternatives (Abiword, Gnumeric, that kind of thing—and I'm not even 100% sure those are still around). Google docs and Office 365 are terrible and I pity people who have to use them.

marcellus23 5y ago

You're wrong. You can definitely add thermostats, doorbells, cameras etc. to Home (I've done it). And you can definitely add health insurance cards, frequent shopping cards, etc. to Wallet (I've done that too). Please don't state things that are just factually incorrect. > Alright, so what about their iWork suite? On second thought, forget about it. People are using Google Docs or Office 365. Next... For collaboration, yeah, you're stuck with what everyone uses. But considering the actual software itself, iWork is very nice in my experience. Fast, reliable, and the interface isn't a total shitshow like every other office app out there.

spiderice 5y ago
> I've done it Same. I currently have a HomeKit thermostat, doorbell, and cameras in my house. Not really sure where GP is getting his info. They all work really well.

applgo443 5y ago

> Okay, what about Apple Wallet? It'd be really nice to add my digital driver's license, health insurance cards, auto insurance card, frequent shopping cards - basically make it so I don't have to carry my phone and wallet. Can I do that? Not really. As far as I know, things like driving license need user adoption. It's getting there - https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/09/apple-announces-first-states-to-adopt-drivers-licenses-and-state-ids-in-wallet/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/09/apple-announces-first...

fellellor 5y ago

I thought the software division had help. In the form of many many developers making apps for the platform. What happened to them?

AMD_DRIVERS 5y ago

Your comments on Apple Home are factually incorrect. I have lights, cameras, smart blinds, thermostats, temperature/humidity/air quality sensors, my eero6 router and even my Roku added into Home. Apple Wallet also supports some forms of ID, transit cards and even vaccine certificates.

gonehome 5y ago
I use Apple home and want to like it, but it mostly sucks. I think the main cause of this isn't so much Home, but the available third party hardware. I wish Apple would make a smart switch (I know that's fairly out of scope for them), but one high quality smart switch that actually worked reliably would resolve 90% of home tech issues. Homepods are similarly bad with basic actions. I have five of them in multiple rooms. If you want to adjust the volume on all of them and say "make volume 50% everywhere" it fails. I have to whisper the command to my phone so the homepods don't hear me and then it can adjust volume on all of them. Volume and playing on homepods generally from the phone is a shitty experience. Often the homepods lose the phone connection and then I can no longer control them from the device. Really it feels like nobody at Apple actually uses these things in their personal life. I also have a gigabit network connection with a stupidly fast access point in a two bedroom apartment so it's not an issue of network speeds or signal.
- AMD_DRIVERS 5y ago
  In my experience, it's been pretty okay. Not amazing, but I can't really complain. I've got 2 HomePods in a small apartment, and they typically work okay in what I need them to do, and automatons always work. I sometimes have to close the app and open it again to get devices to respond IF I'm in not on my home network. Kind of annoying. What's funny is that I've noticed that it's been better since I bought an eero 6 and added into into Home. Most importantly, it works for my girlfriend who isn't the most keen on new technology. That's the most important part for me, rather than what I want.
  - gonehome 5y ago
    I have two smart switches attached to lights (since our apartment has no overhead lighting) and after a nightmare of setting them up (probably the hardware's fault, but homekit couldn't recognize them via normal pairing method) they worked for a few months. Randomly though they fail to work in Home and I have to manually reset them by holding in the button on the device and redo the entire process. This isn't workable at any scale (it's even annoying with just the two that I have).

gommm 5y ago

And the worst part is that their software division used to be great. Aperture was really good when it came out, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro were great. Eveh talking about iwork suite, numbers and page used to be better than they are now. Even Quicktime regressed. It's frankly both puzzling and saddening how much Apple has lost in term of QA, user interface and vision in the last 10 years. I always feel that Tim Cook doesn't have a clue about what made Apple special and is slowly destroying it by not making sure to keep those qualities EDIT: I do recognize Tim Cook's qualities, he is amazing at managing supply chain and apple does this better than anybody with very little impact in terms of chip shortage. He's original decision to target privacy as a marketing argument was on point (unfortunately the csam controversy kind of destroyed this) and under his tenure Apple has done tremendously well financially. But the issue, is that Apple also benefits from its reputation and in the last few years, they've destroyed it by producing shoddy software, by having major hardware issues over multiple revisions (keyboards, staining screens)...

ChuckNorris89 5y ago
>Tim Cook doesn't have a clue about what made Apple special and is slowly destroying it by not making sure to keep those qualities Well their shares have never been higher so as long as that's the metric by which a CEO's performance is judged then you can forget about Apple caring about SW QA and other such "nonsense". Also, before Jobs passed away, Cook was Apple's supply chain mastermind so it makes sense his strengths are with the HW side of things, which, during the current silicon shortage, is an absolutely killer skillset to have, as proven by how little Apple was affected by it in comparison to other companies. When it comes to quality SW, Cook might not be the ideal CEO for the job (like notifications on the new MBP can get hidden behind the notch; WTF, how did this pass QA?! Pretty sure Jobs would have sent them back to the drawing board) but Apple can always rely on the faithful developer base building great quality SW instead of them and then taking a 30% cut on their sales on the Apple store. Basically another win for Apple.
- alsetmusic 5y ago
  How can notifications, which appear in the upper right corner, end up behind a notch in the middle of the screen?

jjtheblunt 5y ago

the things you complain about, in your comment, work here fine.

pertymcpert 5y ago

Are you posting from 2014 or something?