Being the total iJunkie that I am, I jumped at the chance to upgrade to iOS 7 when it came out on Sept 18. I did a little research before I installed it, scrolling through the Apple website to familiarize myself with all the new features. The features sounded pretty cool, in theory. So I went for it.
Initially, I regretted this decision. After using the updated software for less than an hour, I was feeling mildly nauseous and a little dizzy. I often get the same feeling when I try to read in the car or watch movies in 3-D. After complaining about it to a friend of mine, she explained to me how to turn off the parallax effect (the feature that makes the background appear to shift slightly behind the icons depending on how you tilt your phone, creating a 3-D illusion) and that helped some, but for a few days the zooming effect that occurs whenever an app is opened and the slight bouncing of the message bubbles continued to give me mild headaches.
Since then, I’ve gotten used to it, and it’s not so much of an issue anymore. However, it seems like I’m one of the fortunate few. People with vestibular disorders or issues with the system that regulates balance and spatial awareness experience “intense nausea, dizziness and vertigo” that can be triggered by the new dynamics present in the newest iOS upgrade, according to theguardian.com. It’s such a problem for some users that they have gone out and switched their upgraded devices for brand new phones that still run iOS 6 because downgrading isn’t an option.
The Apple Support discussions page is rife with complaints from people who suffer debilitating nausea from such simple actions as opening apps and folders. One user complains that he or she “lost the rest of the day” to vertigo from using iOS 7, and another is “going on day three of total nausea.” Many users have called Apple’s support line only to hear that the zooming effect of opening apps and the dynamic bubble shifting can’t be turned off. The only feature that can be turned off is the parallax, and for many that’s the least of their concerns.
Apple is usually very conscious about accessibility concerns for users, offering plenty of assistance to those with vision, hearing or motor-control impairments, so I’m surprised by the apparent lack of concern for users who are sensitive to such dynamic visual stimuli. Even with my love for Apple products, the company’s disregard for not only customer satisfaction but also the health of the people using its devices is upsetting.
If users are becoming physically ill from using your devices, it should be your responsibility to fix that issue. Simply being able to revert back to iOS 6 for users that are having trouble would solve almost all of the complaints, so why not make that an option? It seems like the most simple and effective fix. As far as fixing the issues with the upgrade, I’m no expert in software development, but for a company at the forefront of technology, one would think making it an option to turn off the zooming effects and reducing more of the superfluous motion integrated into iOS 7 wouldn’t be all that hard. Hopefully, a solution is on the way. Apple owes it to its customers to make its technology as user-friendly as possible, and with such a negative backlash towards the new iOS, changes are going to have to be made.
Samantha Bloom. can be reached atsamantha.bloom@spartans.ut.edu
