Apple is to unveil its blockbuster iOS 18 upgrade next week, but there’s one feature that’s receiving a downgrade, according to reports.
The company will unveil the iPhone 16 on September 9, and is forecast to launch two other products alongside.
But the software update, that arrives hand-in-hand with the new handset, is reportedly levelling-down Apple’s Live Activities feature.
Live Activities widgets, introduced with iOS 16 in 2022, are essentially notifications on the lock screen or Dynamic Island that provide second-by-second information.
This is typically used for keeping up to date with football scores, or the estimated arrival time of an approaching cab.
But according to 9to5Mac, Apple is restricting the rate at which these widgets can refresh.
The downgrade, spelled out in recent Apple feedback to an app developer, is expected to cause problems for apps that want to show real-time information.
Apple went on to say that Live Activities were “never intended to be used to create real-time experiences”, despite a mention of real-time fitness metrics on the official Live Activities guide for iOS developers.
Each update from a Live Activities widget requires data to be written to the storage on the iPhone, according to Apple, which can degrade the battery and other hardware components.
The update intervals are going to be set at 5 to 15 seconds in iOS 18.
While most iPhone owners have called “disappointing”, some say it’s “more than enough”.
“I used it for speed tracking of my bike. This metric is worthless with iOS 18,” the app developer said on social media platform X.
“I don’t need to know my speed from 10 seconds ago. Apple clearly says “real time” in their user interface guideline.”
Another added: “Disappointing. You’d think by 2024 our phones would be as powerful as a clock from the 1800s”
A third person replied, saying: “I don’t want to believe it. They will probably correct this.”
A fourth onlooker said: “Sounds bad but [to be honest] 5-15s is more than enough… nothing needs actual on-the-second real-time updates…”
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