digerataJan 30
Tony Arnold

I have spent my career leaning on Apple's excellent design chops when building my own apps.

Now they've broken the design language of their operating systems so badly that it's not possible to build excellent, bug free user experiences.

I've lost a north star here, and it's heartbreaking because there's no real way for them to turn this around for a very long time.

Jan 28 at 9:19pmIvory for Mac
Show threadgsJan 28
@tonyarnold I think the recent woes are a bump in the road similar to the iOS 7 era. Clearly they realize it https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-11-23/apple-ios-27-snow-leopard-like-quality-focus-ai-features-tim-cook-retirement-mibq7jv8?cmpid=BBD012526_POWERON
Show threadAndrewFeb 3
@gsapienza @tonyarnold Hard disagree but I can see from your other posts that you have a monopoly on perspective. "Clearly they realize it"....clearly they didn't, because Dye wasn't forced out (in fact leadership was pissed he left).
Show threadgsFeb 3
@Nowicki @tonyarnold it seems that way because Mastodon is an echo chamber and sometimes other perspectives are needed. I have my problems with the *os 26 releases
Show threadAndrewFeb 4
@gsapienza @tonyarnold It's the result of a company which has spent down their goodwill with their most passionate supporters on multiple fronts. They are the largest company in the world, they don't need you or I to carry water for their unforced errors. If Apple wants to return to the good old days of ardent online fanboys they need to do good work and earn that. Like I said, they did not want Dye to leave, and that should give you more pause than the 26 releases themselves.
Show threadMΛTTJan 28
@tonyarnold fwiw, your passion for details has been one of the stars in the north for me. The situation with Apple isn’t great, but we can still make great stuff.
Show threadTony ArnoldJan 28

@mattro that's really kind of you to say — thank you!

We can absolutely still make great things, but I will miss having somewhere to go for inspiration when I get stuck.

Show threadMarc EdwardsJan 28
@tonyarnold Let’s show ’em how it’s done.
Show threadTony ArnoldJan 28
@marcedwards I am not sure that I can show anyone much of anything from inside a consulting firm, but I'm eagerly awaiting your app babies 🫶🏻
Show threadMarc EdwardsJan 28
@tonyarnold The 3D buttons and dials will continue until morale improves.
Show threadAdam Bell Jan 28
@tonyarnold Apple has learned from 3rd party devs for many years, they aren't the only North Star! :D
Show threadNatJan 29
@tonyarnold Enshittification is so goddamn frustrating 😭
Show threadWTLJan 29
@tonyarnold @siracusa I know so many people who haven't updated to Tahoe or iOS 26 (like myself), that I'm quite curious to see what Apple does - they've got to know so many are putting the brakes on automatic major updates.
Show threadJohn ClearyJan 30
@WTL @tonyarnold @siracusa They are getting more aggressive at pushing notifications about it; using dark patterns in dialogues (“update now or tonight” but no later); re-enabling auto updates after small updates; not providing security patches for iOS18 etc etc.
Show threadWTLJan 31
@john @tonyarnold @siracusa It’s infuriating.
Show threadJohn ClearyJan 31
@WTL @tonyarnold @siracusa My iPhone is stuck on iOS 18.5. Thanks Apple.
Show threadJohn ClearyJan 31
@WTL @tonyarnold @siracusa Woke this morning to another push notification. I have auto updates turned off. 🤬
Show threadWTLJan 31
@john @tonyarnold @siracusa I think I have those notifications off.
Show threadJohn ClearyJan 31
@WTL @tonyarnold @siracusa Where do you turn them off? I don’t see “Settings” as an app to control notifications for in Settings, and I have auto updates turned off.
Show threadWTLFeb 1
@john @tonyarnold @siracusa It’s the notifications i have turned off - I’ve turned off notifications from practically everything.
Show threadgullevek ☢️ 🇯🇵Jan 29
@tonyarnold Hope dies last. Perhaps they get to their senses and just fix this mess of hot ass.
Show threadArcticulateJan 30

@tonyarnold Yeah, that’s true. I used to look at how Apple built their apps to understand what a 5/5-stars app looked like. When I reviewed the GUI of the new Pages app part of their new subscription bundle, it looks crazy.

Well, at least there are third-party apps which outperform Apple in what a great Mac app should look like, ironically.

Show threadGus MuellerJan 30

@tonyarnold I feel the same. So many LG bugs and things that just don’t seem to work right. I feel like I’m just flailing in the wind, not sure what direction to go.

The worst is that I feel like I’m just waisting my time on these things. It’s upsetting.

Show threadTony ArnoldJan 30
@ccgus it warms my heart to hear *you* are feeling the same, Gus. I can't bring myself to think hard about solutions to the common issues (readability near window edges, etc) because Apple's team clearly didn't do that (or did, and were overridden by someone pushing what we ended up with).
Show threadmatt sephtonJan 30
@tonyarnold @ccgus I’m about to launch a bunch of apps I’ve been sitting on for ages, hoping things would improve but it just doesn't seem to be on the cards. Possibly the worst time to ever release new macOS apps.