Apple : You Broke Time
Please improve the UX of this native iOs function
My sincere apologies to the specific designers at Apple who worked on the native iOs clock app… but your alarm clock experience… is broken.
Every time I use this native function (which is quite a bit when traveling) I find myself cursing and shaking my fist at the sky. Rather than suffer in silence any longer, I will share my thoughts here in hopes that they will find their way to a build in the future. Normally, I charge for UX audits, but this one is on me. I just want this to work so badly I am willing to just give it away.
Yes, the clock functions do fundamentally work. It tells time. There is a stop watch. The alarm clock will go off at the time you set it to. Yet, the experience of using these functions is more Microsoft than Apple… sorry I know that is harsh, but this is tough love time.
Where do we start? Can I change that?
For some reason I can’t explain, the answer to this question is we start on the Timer… Why? Is this really the most common use case?
So I know that there is a tradtion at Apple of not designing based on focus groups or user opinions. (we have all heard the faster horse example) but, from a pure logic perspective, I have never been able to figure out why this was chosen as the default.
It seems that the majority of users would be far more likely to use the Alarm Clock than need to time something. The timer as the default seems so restrictive to one type of person.
Maybe my very smart phone could just always default to the last clock function that I used, that way it would truly feel like it was my phone.
Lets talk about the alarm clock. Why so many clicks?
Once I get to the alarm clock, the frustration continues. The sheer amount of clicks I have to make to alter existing alarm(s) is daunting in the light of day, let alone in a sleepy haze when I find myself sleeping away from home and trying to make sure I wake up on time the next morning.
If I am looking at a list of four different alarms and I want to change two of them, I need to click Edit, then click the alarm to change, then make the changes, but then I still need to click Save. The worst part is yet to come. To change the second alarm I need to start all over (rather than still being in an Edit mode on the list page.)
Why so many clicks? There are many ways to streamline this. Make a long hold on any alarm immediately send you to edit (just like when editing apps) or have an edit mode that stays active for all alarms until the user toggles it or exits clock using the home button.
It is just a request, take one of those talented UX designers and let them really put some thought into the alarm clock. It is one of those native apps that so many of us rely on. Give it the interaction polish that it deserves.
Remember that, when we use it, we are probably pretty groggy.
your buddy,
Coburn.
