Big Screens, Big Problems
Written by Michael Foiani and Isabella Ting.
In the race to make the perfect, beautiful “bezel-less” phone, Apple had to remove its most iconic feature: the home button. Following this trend, gestures have replaced physical features, and some of these gestures are frustrating. Having to overextend my thumb and twirl my hand to turn on my flashlight conflicts with the smooth, seamless nature of iOS.
To access the notification and control centers, one must pull down from the top of the screen. However, I (along with many others) grasp my phone from the bottom with their pinky lining the bottom rim for comfort, making it hard for my fingers to reach the top of the screen. Because of this, these gestures are uncomfortable and intrusive. I have accidentally clicked something else while extending my thumb upwards, or I have lost grip of my phone in moving my hand position. Also, the gestures are slow. It takes a considerable amount of time to tactically execute this gesture versus quickly swiping up from the bottom to use the home button.
However, in some way, these gestures are simply a byproduct of the paramount home button (gesture). Apple can only implement new gestures in IOS on either the top of bottom of the phone since many apps and native page scrolling require the slide-side gesture. Furthermore, it does make sense to completely separate the home button gesture to the bottom because of how crucial a role it plays in controlling the phone. Therefore, the only spot left for the notification and control centers would be the top of the phone.
Also, at the time of implementation, larger screens did not exist on IOS devices. The iPhone X, the first device with this new design, only had a 5.8” screen. The bigger screens on more recent devices — 2018 iPad Pro and iPhones (11, XR, XS Max) — really revealed this issue.
Nonetheless, it may be time for a redesign. For users not familiar with the new iPhone structure, these gestures are not easy to naturally learn. Many will need to search the internet on how to access their notifications because IOS has no built-in affordances for this gesture, unlike the home button gesture indicated by a solid line segment. Also, the gesture is not efficient. As mentioned earlier, reaching upwards on a large screen feels sluggish compared to other gestures. However, after time, users will become accustomed to it. It is easy to remember as the notification and control centers can offer vast convenience to the IOS experience. The convenience factor outweighs the low efficiency of this design.
Therefore, in redesigning these gestures, I would replace these gestures with swipes from the bottom corners towards the center of the phone. This will add to the efficiency as one naturally rests his or her fingers near the bottom of the phone and can easily reach the corners. To not impede with the function of the home button, we will still have the home button occupy a large middle space on the bottom of the phone. Lastly, to offer affordances to improve learnability, I would add curved arcs at the corner of the phone similar to the existing home button line segment. That would be my refresh.
In the era of big phones, our design choices of the past may need to be reevaluated to make a better experience for one-handed use.
