3 mo. ago • 72%

The Worst Feature Apple Ever Made

www.theatlantic.com The Worst Feature Apple Ever Made

So what if my screen time was up last week?

Non-paywall link: https://12ft.io/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/08/apple-screen-time/679359/

41 comments

Counterpoint.

161
- The number of people that defend this obvious design flaw/slight is incredible.
  
  48
  
  I don’t think anyone actually thinks this is a good design, but there are people who will say that the 2 min fast charge time is a manageable frustration. But it is a frustration.
  
  My bigger gripe is the ergonomics, or lack thereof. I don’t understand people who like the feel of that mouse.
  
  17
  
  Ok, I'll bite.
  
  Now I'm not an apple fanboy, I have a macbook and this mouse, but no iPhone, iPad or even an apple ID. I'm also not claiming that this is good design.
  
  But there is also nothing wrong with that mouse. The previous model used two AA batteries, which I think is worse. I do still have some of them around, but I use them rarley and sometimes forget to restock. So with it being rechargeable, at least for me, there is less risk of ever running out of battery. And the battery lasts like 3 months on a full charge. It also charges quite fast so it's really hard to get that thing depeleted. Just plug it in everytime you take a shit and you're good. You can charge it for like 2 minutes and you're good for 2 days. The issue is a meme only.
  
  The only real problem I have with it is that it uses the stupid lightning port. If they'd just make it USB-C then I could ditch my lighting cable all together.
  
  3
- Well, indirectly the Magic Mouse does control screen time. Can’t be doomscrolling when you can’t scroll at all while the mouse is charging.
  
  13
- What on earth is that?
  
  6
  
  A wireless mouse which Apple decided should have the charging port on the bottom
  
  12
  
  It’s their Magic Mouse. You can’t use it while it’s charging (since its port is on the bottom) and it also has questionable ergonomics since it’s very flat and thin (but most mice also have questionable ergonomics as well so there’s that)
  
  10
What’s even worse is that screen time for children is actually, directly, flagrantly broken. It resets itselfs regularly. This is a known thing for parents who get into habits of re-enabling it twice daily to ensure it’s likely to be on when their kid exceed a quota. Apple, of course, ignores it. I doubt a single person on the team that owns the feature actually uses it OR they are under instructions to leave it broken to ensure digital habits get built in children. Get them started in the crack early.

17
- I hate the parental controls so so much.
  
  2
I’ve never found Screen Time all that useful, for the same reason as the article - it can’t distinguish good usage from bad usage. Screen Time only counts time - but it can’t tell which minutes is doomscrolling and which are used more positively.

Maybe that’s an application for Apple Intelligence, although there would be some pretty big privacy issues there.

Screen Time is also not helped by only working on Apple devices. It can’t account for time spent using using non Apple devices like TVs, consoles, PCs with other operating systems etc. it might have been more useful if there was an external API screen time software for other platforms could report to.

9
- Apple has to keep it generic or the software providers will have a fit. It cannot start making judgments that 9 hours of Facebook is bad, or Meta would throw a fit.
  
  8
  
  And Apple will never just let users decide that. They consider it anti-user to force us to make choices.
  
  1
- I think it’s still important to measure “good usage,” because whether you really need to shop for that dress or not, it’s still sedentary time and that affects your body.
  
  But it does seem like they could do a better job of knowing when you are actually sitting still looking at the screen. Google maps time while driving shouldn’t count for anything at all.
  
  3
I’m currently using the iOS 18 beta and - during an earlier beta (3 I think) - Screen Time was broken in that it didn’t let you change the settings or extend a session, it would just crash.

This actually made the feature useful! You could no longer just click a button to skip the warnings, you had to actually stop when the time was up. Sure it was a bit annoying but that’s the whole point.

So yea, I’ve been thinking of getting my partner to change the PIN for it so I can’t skip the warnings in the future.

It’s not a bad feature, it’s just often poorly configured and badly implemented.

4
- Us students (16 yo) managed to circumvent Apples MDM restrictions multiple times. Finding each way took us maybe a minute on average. That's just pathetic.
  
  6
  
  sounds more like an Apple skill issue
  
  2
- You could also change the PIN to something random that you’ve written down somewhere inconvenient, or stored in a password manager.
  
  1
Man I've been struggling with it and thought that I am doing something wrong.

2
Onesec Has been a great tool for helping me be more intentional with my screen time.

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