Apple launched it’s latest operating system for iPhones last week and I made a huge mistake in allowing the phone to upgrade to iOS 14. Such a big mistake.
Here is my story after my update. I have iPhone 7 (128 GB) bought in January 2019. I know, I should have gotten a newer device, we had iPhone X. But I bought the phone for my mom as she had lost her phone in the US and we needed a backup right away. We saw an Apple store nearby, went, purchased the phone, and started using it right away. No other devices were available. This is not your typical “research and purchase” scenario. But, in a few weeks, she found her phone back and I decided to take the iPhone since I was using OnePlus 3T for about 3 years and wanted to upgrade. Lol! Not really, was it?
Anyways, now that you know why I have an iPhone 7, let me share my pathetic story after my upgrade to iOS 14.
After COVID happened, I have been working from home and my desk setup was not so ergonomic until recently (my doctor yelled at me for using a dining chair for work). I started having terrible neck and upper backache because I was crouching and my monitor setup screwed my neck big time. I finally found the courage to go to a chiropractor because I found a good deal on Groupon. $60 bucks for x-ray and 2 adjustments. China town massage costs $70 bucks to put it to perspective. So I thought I would give it a shot. With so much excitement for the first session, I took the entire day off because I wanted to just relax after the adjustment session. Why not? I deserve that.
The previous night I chose to upgrade to iOS 14. Even after my boss warned me not to, this was my first big iPhone update so I couldn't wait. Everything went great. I sent screenshots to my girlfriend showing off the new widgets and how I customized my home screen for productivity.
The next morning I woke up before the alarm went off because of excitement. Took a nice shower just in case the doctor is an attractive woman. Got ready and started my navigation to the destination while I was wearing my shoes on. Got into the car and started driving. As usual, went to Spotify to play some nice upbeat, it wouldn’t load. I thought the Spotify app had issues, so I went to my downloaded library and played the first song.
In a few minutes, I hit an under-construction road because Apple Maps didn’t get that info (first time trying Apple Maps). I decided to take a quick detour and expected the maps to reroute. Well, didn’t happen. I gave it a few seconds; nope. I decided to take a turn around in the next block to connect back into the navigation that was already there and continued to drive to the destination. Until this point, I thought it’s the apps that had issues.
Once I reached, I had 3 minutes before my appointment, so I decided to open the Groupon App and load the QR code to be proactive. Well, Groupon had logged me out the previous evening. I tried to log in to the app with my personal Gmail ID (1) and couldn’t find the coupon. I tried to log in using the other personal Gmail ID (2), even then there was no coupon. The immediate thought was, “Shoot, I didn’t buy the coupon? Nooooo”
I went to my email to see if there was any email related to that chiropractor. Nope, nothing there either. I tried to log in to my credit card apps to see if there were any transactions, nothing would let me in too.
At this point, I had no choice but to show up. I went inside the clinic and the first thing I asked is, “Before you check me in, could you give me access to your WiFi please? I am trying to get the Groupon coupon”. Her reply was, “Sorry sir, due to COVID, we are not sharing Wifi passwords to our customers”. Wait, what? How does that even make sense? I didn’t want to argue. I asked her if it’s too late to reschedule my appointment. She said it’s fine if I wanted to and gave an appointment after 10 days.
You may think everything went okay. Well, no. Now I am stuck in the chiropractor clinic without the internet and have no idea how to return back to my house.
Apparently, my iPhone’s cellular data doesn’t work with the latest update and they need to fix that. I was able to use my inner instincts to guide myself back to my place, which took twice as much, but at least, I didn’t hit an under-construction road for Christ’s sake.
You may be fine without the internet, but my neck and back are not.
I have put some of the issues that iPhone users are facing with the iOS 14 upgrade. If you don’t mind these issues, you can choose to upgrade. Otherwise, learn from us soldiers.
From Republic:
Battery Life
It shouldn’t be surprising that the new update might cause some battery life issues to older iPhones. The tech giant has gone on record and stated that they lower the battery life of their older devices in order to maintain longevity. Similarly, the new iOS 14 update is causing a quick battery drain for users on the iPhone 8 and below.
Although, I didn’t find many issues with my iPhone’s battery. In fact, I had better battery life after the upgrade. But Apple is known to not fix issues in older devices just so they would get frustrated and upgrade.
Picture-in-Picture mode
The latest Picture-Picture mode introduced by Apple is surely a welcoming change in iPhones but it still needs a little polishing. The P-i-P mode has been showing issues during playing videos where either the videos do not play while being out of its dedicated application or end up pausing and not playing. Whereas, users have also reported that their audio stops while being in P-i-P mode.
I was trying to watch the Indian Premier League while drafting an email, such a horrible experience. I thought the server had issues, after reading this, I gave up on Apple’s QA team. If you know anyone in Apple’s QA team, send them a rose on my behalf me.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth has become a prominent feature in iPhones ever since the inception of AirPods. However, users have now complained that their previously connected devices are now not getting connected after the update. Users can simply ‘Forget Device’ and reconnect in order to get their earphones and other Bluetooth devices connected.
There is a trick. Go to your Bluetooth setting and check the option for “Incoming call”. If you see “Automatic”, change it to “Bluetooth” or “Speaker” or “Handset”. When I am in the Gym and I receive a call while I am on a Bluetooth headset, I accept the call with my headphone button but the phone decides to put the call on handset. I need to run to my phone which might be under someone’s dumbbell and change the audio to Bluetooth and say “Hey, who is this?” only to find that was a Spam call.
Cellular data and network issues
After the iOS 14 update, some users have complained about not receiving any signal strength on their iPhones. Network bars have dropped drastically for some users after installing the new software. However, this issue was also rectified for some after rebooting their device after the update. Users can even try to put their devices in flight mode for a minute or two and go back to the normal settings.
Well.
These are consistent across the board. What a bad job by the team. These are not unique use cases to ignore while writing the test case scenarios. They definitely need a better QA manager.
Wait for .1 or .3 to be safe. I would think, it would still fail in some basic scenarios even after going to that stage, but these painful issues won’t be there. PLEASE DON’T UPGRADE TO iOS 14 yet.
