zlacker

>>mfwit+(OP)
Its getting worse everywhere:

some things I've noticed: Mobil Safari seems to be using the search bar to hijack my google search (Particularly for locations which open in apple maps)

Although I'm mostly linux these days I went to install an alternative browser on a windows machine (using edge to download). I mentioned this in another post, but edge seems to watch for "chrome" or "firefox" downloads and politely reminds you that 'Edge is a great browser with added "trust of microsoft"' (A company who happen to be watching when you download a web browser).

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/2/22813733/microsoft-window...

Linux seems like an OS that is way more respectful.

>>acomje+Gf
Apple are experts are experts at creating these patterns that fall just at the edge of being classified as anti-consumer, to the point where you frequently find heated discussions about whether they are.

Battery throtteling on the iPhone 6s; The sandboxing / sideloading discussion; The no-iCloud experience; The way that regular bluetooth headsets work fine, but AirPods work even better; How unauthorized Apps on MacOS must be opened with a right-click.

Safari suggestions are also a great example: So far, I like them in iOS 17, since they can also provide direct links to useful sites such as Wikipedia. But don't doubt for a second, that taking traffic away from Google was the primary goal here.

Microsoft isn't so smart. Most users, including non-technical, can see through their attempts.

>>Sebast+q01
Don't forget making SMS in unreadable neon green (to the point that it violates Apple's own accessibility guidelines https://archive.is/4nSWV)

"iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones" -- an actual quote from the SVP of Software Engineering in charge of iOS, revealed in Epic Games v Apple court discovery

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.36...

Of course, if you really cared about green bubbles, you'd switch to Android because there you can adjust outgoing message color to your heart's liking :-)

>>madars+i41
SMS messages have always been green on iOS. Since before iMessage existed. I don't recall ever having trouble reading them.

>>lttlrc+s71
They deliberately reduced the contrast. Compare iOS 5 when iMessage came out: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/archive/09-27... and now: https://images.macworld.co.uk/cmsdata/features/3468389/how_t... This underscores GP's point: Apple is expert at making anti-consumer decisions that fall just inside the Overton window.

>>madars+k81
What am I missing here? In iOS 5, it's black on blue vs black on green. Now it's white on blue vs white on green. Contrast between text and background looks the same to whether green or blue.

In general, Apple has lowered contrast throughout the UI over the years. There's an accessibility setting for high contrast if you need it.

>>js2+ah1
Green has higher luminance than blue at equivalent saturation. The values for SMS and iMessage background colors are, respectively and in sRGB, #00CC46 and #0080FF, corresponding to relative luminance values of 0.436 and 0.227 according to the WCAG 2 formula.

With white foreground text, this gives a contrast ratio of 2.15:1 for SMS and 3.79:1 for iMessage. WCAG 2.x AA level compliances requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and at least 3:1 for large text.

https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/contrast-minimum...

>>AprilA+4n1
Thank you. FWIW, here is it under iOS 16 with Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Increase Contrast turned on.

https://imgur.com/a/b61lmAf

To my eyes, the green/blue doesn't make much difference in terms of legibility. I obviously find the reduced contrast throughout iOS annoying and keep increase contrast turned on.