Watch Effect: Apple's iPhone, iPad could learn a new way to wake
In Apple's post-Watch world, pressing a button to bring your iPhone to life just feels wrong, something akin to plugging a Retina MacBook into an ethernet jack --?a procedural relic of a time gone by. Tap-to-wake has arrived, and we hope it's here to stay.
Editor's note: Apple frequently introduces new technologies and features in a singular new product, then gradually brings them to other devices in its ecosystem, making for a more coherent user experience. Our Watch Effect series examines how the Apple Watch's own innovations might make their way to the iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
We suspect that Apple didn't really want to ship tap-to-wake in the Apple Watch. Their marketing department --?which runs the product side of the business --?clearly prefers "activate on wrist raise," but it's simply too unreliable to send into the world without a backup.
This is obvious in no small part because it's called "activate on wrist raise." Were it a feature Apple wanted to tout, they would've named it "Wrist Peek" or "Flick View" and given it a colorful line art icon.
Yes, you can also wake the Watch by pressing the side button or the Digital Crown, but try that with your hands full of grocery bags and let us know how it goes. We've found ourselves waking the Watch with our nose more than once since we first strapped it (the Watch, of course) on.
In the process, something odd has happened: we keep trying to tap our phone awake when it's laying on a table, or when we need to check the next step in a recipe while our hands are caked in flour and the display has gone dark because we forgot --?as usual --?to disable auto-lock.
After the iPad came out, many otherwise intelligent people admitted that they occasionally tried to touch the screen on their MacBook, having become accustomed to fondling their operating system. In user interface design, this is considered a Good Thing; it means that the interaction paradigm feels so natural that our brain no longer associates it with a particular device.
Apple will probably never make a touchscreen MacBook, but they should port tap-to-wake --?along with Force Touch --?to the iPhone and iPad yesterday.
Nokia added double-tap-to-wake, which is exactly what it sounds like, to Symbian in 2008 and brought it along to Windows Phone. The feature has been shipping in some popular Android handsets since at least 2013.
Here's what The Verge had to say about its appearance on the LG G2:
"LG has cribbed the double-tap to wake feature pioneered by Nokia, making it much easier to turn on the screen. Two taps on the display and the G2 springs to life, two more and it goes right back to sleep. It's such an intuitive and smart feature, I really wish every smartphone maker would adopt it."
We agree. There's no way to know for sure why tap-to-wake hasn't appeared in an Apple device yet; the company actually has a patent on a similar system for laptops.
It could be that leaving the iPhone's digitizer on adversely affects battery life. They might not have been able to make it work reliably enough. Maybe Jony Ive just doesn't like it.
In any case, the genie is out of the bottle, and it's time to bring tap-to-wake to the rest of Apple's mobile device ecosystem. Jailbreakers have already done it, and Apple has never been shy about adding popular jailbreak features to iOS.
Tap-to-wake simply makes too much sense for Apple to leave themselves out of the party.
Editor's note: Apple frequently introduces new technologies and features in a singular new product, then gradually brings them to other devices in its ecosystem, making for a more coherent user experience. Our Watch Effect series examines how the Apple Watch's own innovations might make their way to the iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
We suspect that Apple didn't really want to ship tap-to-wake in the Apple Watch. Their marketing department --?which runs the product side of the business --?clearly prefers "activate on wrist raise," but it's simply too unreliable to send into the world without a backup.
This is obvious in no small part because it's called "activate on wrist raise." Were it a feature Apple wanted to tout, they would've named it "Wrist Peek" or "Flick View" and given it a colorful line art icon.
Tap-to-wake, like mutitouch before it, is an astoundingly natural user interaction paradigm.
Yes, you can also wake the Watch by pressing the side button or the Digital Crown, but try that with your hands full of grocery bags and let us know how it goes. We've found ourselves waking the Watch with our nose more than once since we first strapped it (the Watch, of course) on.
In the process, something odd has happened: we keep trying to tap our phone awake when it's laying on a table, or when we need to check the next step in a recipe while our hands are caked in flour and the display has gone dark because we forgot --?as usual --?to disable auto-lock.
After the iPad came out, many otherwise intelligent people admitted that they occasionally tried to touch the screen on their MacBook, having become accustomed to fondling their operating system. In user interface design, this is considered a Good Thing; it means that the interaction paradigm feels so natural that our brain no longer associates it with a particular device.
Apple will probably never make a touchscreen MacBook, but they should port tap-to-wake --?along with Force Touch --?to the iPhone and iPad yesterday.
Nokia added double-tap-to-wake, which is exactly what it sounds like, to Symbian in 2008 and brought it along to Windows Phone. The feature has been shipping in some popular Android handsets since at least 2013.
Here's what The Verge had to say about its appearance on the LG G2:
"LG has cribbed the double-tap to wake feature pioneered by Nokia, making it much easier to turn on the screen. Two taps on the display and the G2 springs to life, two more and it goes right back to sleep. It's such an intuitive and smart feature, I really wish every smartphone maker would adopt it."
We agree. There's no way to know for sure why tap-to-wake hasn't appeared in an Apple device yet; the company actually has a patent on a similar system for laptops.
It could be that leaving the iPhone's digitizer on adversely affects battery life. They might not have been able to make it work reliably enough. Maybe Jony Ive just doesn't like it.
In any case, the genie is out of the bottle, and it's time to bring tap-to-wake to the rest of Apple's mobile device ecosystem. Jailbreakers have already done it, and Apple has never been shy about adding popular jailbreak features to iOS.
Tap-to-wake simply makes too much sense for Apple to leave themselves out of the party.
Comments
I disagree, I don't want tap to wake on my other stuff. It'd seem especially pointless on the iPhone (and soon, most iPads) seeing as you have to authenticate with TouchID to unlock it...
I disagree, I don't want tap to wake on my other stuff. It'd seem especially pointless on the iPhone (and soon, most iPads) seeing as you have to authenticate with TouchID to unlock it...
I'm fairly certain that most people are accustomed to waking their iPhone to check the time or see what notifications they've missed, without actually unlocking it; I know I am. Bring on tap to wake.
One thing I'd welcome is the ability to turn the volume up or down using the volume buttons without having to unlock the phone. It's incredibly irritating having to do that, IMO.
I just did that right now, so I'm not sure what you're talking about?
After experiencing the then-new iPad at an Apple Store for all of five minutes, I then walked over to a MacBook Pro and proceeded to raise my hand to the screen to touch it in the same fashion. I was surprised that my entire way of thinking about computer interaction had changed.
I'm fairly certain that most people are accustomed to waking their iPhone to check the time or see what notifications they've missed, without actually unlocking it; I know I am. Bring on tap to wake.
On my Lumia 925 - which glance screen, I don't even need to wake my phone to get that stuff.
One thing I'd welcome is the ability to turn the volume up or down using the volume buttons without having to unlock the phone. It's incredibly irritating having to do that, IMO.
unless i misunderstand - you dont have to.
play a tune in iTunes, lock you phone with the side button - the side volume controls still control volume.
What is wrong with pressing Home button to wake the iOS device temporarily?
One thing I'd welcome is the ability to turn the volume up or down using the volume buttons without having to unlock the phone. It's incredibly irritating having to do that, IMO.
Huh? Never had that issue.
The iPhone already has a very intuitive system with Touch ID. Press the home button quickly to wake and see your notifications. Press the home button a little longer to unlock and go to the main screen.
The reason for the differing behavior is because the whole Apple Watch is not much bigger than the home button. Another thing to think about is that the iPhone is big enough that people's fingers, as well as pocket stuff, will touch the screen if you're casually carrying it, but the Watch won't touch anything other than your sleeve.
I hadn't realized how inconvenient it was for me to push the home button until now. It requires a much greater degree of manual dexterity and is now completely uncalled for.
I'm fairly certain that most people are accustomed to waking their iPhone to check the time or see what notifications they've missed, without actually unlocking it; I know I am. Bring on tap to wake.
Yes, and then I get annoyed when Touch-ID kicks in and wipes the very information I was interested in off the screen!
lol
So dont hold your finger on it.
Huh? Never had that issue.
My phone behaves like this too...must unlock to adjust volume. Must be a setting somewhere.
"After the iPad came out, many otherwise intelligent people admitted that they occasionally tried to touch the screen on their MacBook..."
After experiencing the then-new iPad at an Apple Store for all of five minutes, I then walked over to a MacBook Pro and proceeded to raise my hand to the screen to touch it in the same fashion. I was surprised that my entire way of thinking about computer interaction had changed.
This has happened to me too (I recall furtively looking around to make sure that on one else saw what I was doing, because it might have looked a tad dorky!
)
I'm not sure which way to go on this one. There are benefits both ways, the problem with Touch to wake on an iPhone and maybe an iPad is that the screen is always being Touched as it moves around in your pocket. Doesn't seem like a battery friendly way to do things.
I agree. It doesn't make sense for a device that gets shoved in pockets and bags and is being held in your hands, subject to errant touches. Once it wakes, anything could happen, especially if it unlocks in the future.
So I don't see Apple implementing this until they figure out a way to make this foolproof. However, the benefits of incorporating the wake/touch ID into the home screen and eliminating the Home button are understandable -- it frees up a lot of real estate to make the phone have a smaller footprint, as well as another moving part prone to failure. Perhaps touch ID could be moved to the camera area instead (though that's not as practical on the 6 series phones).