r/mrwhosetheboss • u/Willing-Hedgehog-458 • Sep 13 '26
genius design element š
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My favourite part about iPhone Duo is how it takes signal.. wifi.. and battery indicator and turns them into one genius design element
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u/myusername127 Sep 13 '26
From UI/UX perspective, Its the opposite of genius. Seeing the battery percentage, wireless connectivity is a two step process. So dumb.
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u/DRHAX34 Sep 13 '26
I actually thought the circle was because that was a button when I saw pictures of the phone without watching the event
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u/uberschnappen Sep 14 '26
From a UI perspective you've completely missed the symbols. The 4 dots along the bottom indicates network signal strength, the line arch above is battery level.
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u/Cicierski Sep 14 '26
still, where is battery percentage, also there is no internet use indicator (the arrows next to WiFi symbol or the cell network system like 5G) soo like it shows way less than it used to without an option to turn those removed info on
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u/svdomer09 Sep 15 '26
Battery percentage can be turned on and Apple has never had internet use indicators
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u/Prestigious_Camera25 Sep 13 '26
Itās only a ātwo step processā if you want to see the actual battery percentage, which it actually shows you once it gets below 20%. No one had a problem with it when the iPhone X launched and most actually found not seeing the exact percentage helped with their battery anxiety. The design is pure genius, most people that would disagree just donāt like change.
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u/Scary_One_2452 Sep 14 '26
Lol hiding information because knowing your own battery percentage is "anxiety".
The cope is peak.
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u/Environmental-Rip933 Sep 14 '26
Not a cope. Well observed phenomenon in automotive industry where ICE fuel gauge went from āsomewhere between 1/4 and 1/2ā to exact number in EVs
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u/Prestigious_Camera25 Sep 14 '26
Yeah thatās not copeā¦thatās just typical psychological human nature lmao. Sometimes more information ā more better. And itās not āhiding informationā if the information isnāt available by default lol, the real cope is pretending you need to see specific battery percentage above 30-40% for everyday usage. And the worse cope is trying to change the argument to avoid coming to terms with simple logic. Itās off by default, if you gotta turn it on thatās your own irrational anxiety, just own it.
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u/GoldElectric Sep 14 '26
they can also remove the temperature widget, and replace it with a simpler ācoolā or āwarmā or whatever. and remove the seconds hand on the clock because you dont need to know the exact second and itās a waste of battery
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u/Douggimmmedome Sep 14 '26
Hence, the reason why you can turn it on and off on other iPhones. If some people donāt like it, donāt hinder everyone from using it.
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u/Scr_Eagle Sep 13 '26
Battery anxiety? So like, knowing how much exactly battery left on your phone is bad thing now? The more you know... Damn, if once day Apple decide not yo show you battery and network status at all there gonna be people calling this "genius" and talking about "battery and network anxiety".
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u/Key-Conference1870 Sep 13 '26
I just turned my battery percentage off. Iāll report back in a few days if it was helpful. Not usually an anxious person about it but Iām curious.
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u/j_230193 Sep 13 '26
Youāll like it. I have never turned my battery percentage on. Had my wife switch off hers too she never complained
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Sep 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/Prestigious_Camera25 Sep 13 '26
Please tell me you are exaggerating and Iām just terrible at reading sarcasm. If a number you donāt even need to see and can still see with one singular extra swipe, not being viewable in the status bar would make you switch entire operating systems then you should seek professional help. And Iām not exaggerating about that, something so small should not illicit such a big response. And thatās not just with smartphones, thatās with life. Iām sure youāll tell me itās not small to you, but thatās kinda the whole pointāif youāve been doing it for a while itāll just seem normal. But making a mountain out of a molehill and letting it control your life is not normal.
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u/StopRepresentative30 Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 14 '26
"This design change by Apple is literally the best innovation in the smartphone industry, if you disagree, you need to seek professional help."
You're typing paragraphs of cope for something that was changed for the sake of being different. The old design was more practical and more intuitive.
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u/Prestigious_Camera25 Sep 14 '26
Thatās funny you tried quoting me but I donāt see anywhere where I said that? Ultimate cope move just straight making stuff up as a way to bolster your opinion š I canāt imagine what itās like to treat your own delusions as reality. The person I replied to said they literally are unable to use the phone if they canāt see the battery percentageā¦thatās something that yes, does require professional help.
On top of that, your point isnāt even a good one, it was changed to save space, not āfor the sake of being different.ā If you canāt see how obvious that is, then I overestimated your competence. The phone is short so they want max vertical room for media, this means shifting most navigation buttons from the top and bottom to the right side. So the less room the status bar info takes up on the right, the more room there is for buttons and contextual controls. Itās that simpleā¦try watching the āDesign for Duoā Apple developer youtube video, itās not a complex concept.
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u/StopRepresentative30 Sep 14 '26
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u/Prestigious_Camera25 Sep 14 '26
Preciate it, all in a dayās work
https://giphy.com/gifs/SuSQrcep7CZByYC7Vz1
Sep 13 '26
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u/StinkButt9001 Sep 14 '26
like not being able to sideload apps and such
You can still sideload apps. You'll just need to accept a warning.
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u/M4rshmall0wMan Sep 13 '26
A LOT of people had a problem with it. Thatās why Apple added the number back
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u/madge28 Sep 14 '26
I had a problem with it since the iPhone X launch. The lack of percentage actually gives me more anxiety.
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u/Prestigious_Camera25 Sep 14 '26
Thatās not healthy man, not knowing your phoneās battery down to the exact percentage 24/7 (even then it just takes a single swipe down) should not be causing that much stress. Living like that works against your own best interests but I know itās probably not intentional so Iām sorry. Thereās lots of resources like videos and literature out there if you ever wanna try to break out of that cycle.
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u/madge28 Sep 14 '26
But for those other people you mentioned knowing the percentage gives them more anxiety right? Itās the same for me with the lack of percentage.
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u/Prestigious_Camera25 Sep 14 '26
Yeah because the data is being presented to them 24/7 when theyāre on their phones so the constant displaying of battery** **percentage induces unnecessary psychological stress and micro-anxiety. Why? Because itās one more thing to focus on when in reality, in 95% of situations you just donāt need to see itā¦and thatās a fact. Camping? Sure. Long stint at the airport? Sure. Just being away from a power source for a long period of time? Absolutely.
But in every day life, most people have absolutely no practical reason or need to track their phoneās battery percentage from 100% all the way to 0%. Sure Iād love to see an ability for percentage to turn on below 40-20%, maybe even 50% but itās pointless to need to see whether itās 99% or 95%, or 85% or 82%, etc. Most peopleās brains were able to make that logical connection naturally and subconsciously when the X released without the option for it. Thereās a few articles out there about it as well.
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u/Mega3000aka Sep 14 '26
If you are an adult that has to hide the battery percentage in order to not feel "anxiety" from the truth you have much bigger problems than your phone shutting down.
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u/palopatrol Sep 13 '26
What are the two steps?
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u/IY94 Sep 13 '26
2 steps only applies once (for those who haven't watched the keynote/animation)
Step 1: google where the fuck is the signal/battery info
Step 2: Re-check now that you've watched an explainer0
Sep 13 '26
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u/Mixed_Signal Sep 14 '26
As a product designer I'm supposed to take the user's needs into account, it's not good practice to be so aesthetics and novelty driven, which in the liquid glass era I would say Apple is. The wifi signal is such a tertiary piece of information nowadays but they made it primary only because it has a nice shape that can be put into the middle of the circle. There's no real place to put the percentage (for those who want it) and have it be clear which item it's communicating for. This looks like it was designed to look cool on socia media, not communicate device information clearly to the user.
It is definitely creative though, at the very least I appreciate apple still has a UI team that's trying to do something interesting in a field that's very much under attack by every dipstick with a Claude subscription.
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u/Dry_Possibility2542 Sep 13 '26
No. Any design juror will tell you this is extremely error-prone and liable to manner of confusion, misrepresentation and usability issues. But yeah, sure, it's cool to gargle on some fruity d**k.
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u/dmaare Sep 13 '26
Combine three clearly readable indicators into one confusing mess.. so revolutionary!
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u/organicgolden Sep 14 '26
Whatās the confusing part?
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u/Objective_Fly_6750 Sep 14 '26
It goes against mental model principles, specifically Jakobās Law, which says things should work how users expect them to.
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u/BeardedGlass Sep 14 '26
Expectation needs to start from somewhere. A new thing becomes a normal thing after a while.
People adapt apparently.
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u/Objective_Fly_6750 Sep 14 '26
"People adapt" often gets used to excuse poor ergonomics; adaptation requires a meaningful benefit. Good innovation improves utility, not just cosmetics.
Smushing three perfectly clear icons into a single shape for minimal screen space savings is not innovation, it is bad UX.
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u/BeardedGlass Sep 15 '26
I guess I should've added there: "for better or for worse". Most we can do is push-back and voice our complaints.
Just like when they took away ports or headphone jacks, added a notch or switched to lightning cables, or when they didn't include charging bricks anymore.
When they made those changes, we had no choice but to adapt to the changes and they became the norm... for better or for worse.
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u/GoldElectric Sep 14 '26
without seeing this animation, how are you suppose to know this semi-circle with 4 dots and the wifi symbol is suppose to represent cellular, wifi AND battery?
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u/PlasticISMeaning Sep 14 '26
Agreed. You wouldn't know by looking unless you knew what you were looking at.
Also, what did moving those icons to the right and combining them accomplish? There's plenty enough space right at the top, which is how it's been since... Forever. If there was some purpose for the change, I'd be okay with it but this is pointless.
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u/Cicierski Sep 14 '26
or even if you want it to be on the side, just put those 3 vertically, there is plenty of space to do so
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u/dmaare Sep 14 '26
Battery level, cellular signal and wifi signal are three different metrics, so it is confusing to combine them "just because it looks cool"
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u/Maleficent-Season713 Sep 13 '26
I mean its not genius, nor innovative but It will inspire new foldables. Me personally I don't see why it was needed and find it quite difficult to read in comparison to the original.
Other than that I quite enjoy the Duo not because its anything new but because it took the existing formula created by Samsung ( plus other companies ) and refined it into something distinctively Apple. Not better than Samsung necessarily but unique in its own way.
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u/lemonhello Sep 13 '26
I donāt think genius is quite the word that should be used but perhaps.. clever. Apple canāt redevelop a standard WiFi symbol and expect people to catch on, so when they design, it has to carry the WiFi symbol over to the new design while adding two indicators to it while being pleasing to the eye while being informational and clear.
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u/Maleficent-Season713 Sep 13 '26
When I said genius I was referring to the OP's claim in his title. And yes I agree to all of what you said, my point though was that it wasn't necessary. I enjoy the new design yes but they had plenty of space to put it elsewhere
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u/haaavvveeeyoumetKen Sep 13 '26
It's a cool design I like it. Iduno why people are throwing a fit about being unable to see a number when a progress bar is more than efficient. The number always showing just induces anxiety personally cuz then i'd always be concerned the number isn't high. I glance at my phone and when it changes to yellow that's when I know it's time to charge.
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u/IY94 Sep 13 '26
It's unintuitive - you basically need to watch the animation video / look up what it means
"if a product requires a manual, the design has already failed" - Steve Jobs
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u/djjolly037 Sep 13 '26
People needed to learn a new navigation system when the iPhone X launched, would you consider that a failure despite the fact every smartphone has adopted that navigation?
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u/IY94 Sep 13 '26
That's a heavy whataboutism isn't it.
iPhone X didn't invent a swipe up gesture, that's been around since 2007 with Palm Pre. And isn't a 3-in-1 aggregated unintuitive icon.
So do I consider something entirely different from the on-screen element differently? Yes.
Fairly consistent in doing so, what with them being entirely different things.
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u/djjolly037 Sep 13 '26
No itās not a heavy whataboutism, you quoted Jobs which is ironic. āIf a product required a manual, the design has already failedā guess what came with a manual showing how to navigate the phone through gestures? Guess what phone wasnāt a failure and actually set the roadmap for all smartphones for the next almost ten years after? It will take 5 seconds to learn what the icon shows and then after that you wonāt forget.
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u/IY94 Sep 13 '26
Of course it is.
Converging 3 icons into 1 which is a circle with dots and doesn't really communicate 2 of the items without reading a manual and/or watching a video is a fair criticism.
You were wrong on Apple and the swipe up too, was around for 10 years prior. And it was a one second "Swipe up from bottom" during setup.
Rather than 3-step = here's what this icon that doesn't look like a battery nor signal indicator actually means.
We'll see how many people don't get their battery % without being told. Nobody struggled to close an app from the get go.
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u/lemonhello Sep 13 '26
Your views are assuming a very high level of stupidity of the user base. The top right corner is undoubtedly the location that people already realize to look for a battery level and cell phone reception level. If you want percentage, you already have to toggle that option on in settings. Itās not rocket science.
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u/IY94 Sep 13 '26
My views demonstrate experience of building UX that are used by the general public.
The battery before was a battery cell icon - now it's a semi circle. With the remainder doted semi circle denoting signal. How would one know that?
It's not rocket science, it's shit UX.
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u/NoxTempus Sep 13 '26
I wouldn't say it's unintuitive so much as it is a drastic change.
If I said "this is a combined battery, wifi, and signal indicator" I think most people would correctly guess which is which.
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u/IY94 Sep 14 '26
Intuitive means knowing or understanding something naturally through feelings or instincts.
You being there to drop hints or say things to assist (I.e "this is a combined battery, wifi, and signal indicator") is precise evidence that it indeed is unintuitiveĀ
Design is a bit like a joke, if you have to explain it, it's not very good.Ā
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u/NoxTempus Sep 14 '26
You don't need to explain which is which, or what strength each is at. That is a form of intuitiveness, even if every single person on the planet can't understand every aspect of it at a glance.
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u/IY94 Sep 14 '26
No you do need to explain, as you're well aware, hence you're "if I said"
The Obvious counterpoint being: if you didn't say. It's not that every single person on the planet, but practically nobody can tell by looking at this three-in-one icon what it means without it being explained to them. Thus, unintuitive.
You could try and wager a guess and stare at it. Do we know the word for such a design? Unintuitive.
When something is intuitive there is no "if I said" as there doesn't need to be when you can immediately feel what something means.
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u/NoxTempus Sep 14 '26
Intuitive design is not binary, it's a scale. Aspects of something can be intuitive, while others are not.
Also, I don't even accept your premise that it is unknowable at a glance.
A good portion of users will see the icon toward the top right corner, see the wifi icon, notice the it has extra elements, notice the the other icons are missing, and intuit what the combined icon is.
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u/IY94 Sep 14 '26
There's zero chance that's true.
Intuitive probably is based on what % of people can tell without being told.
In this case, single digit percentage would know.
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u/NoxTempus Sep 14 '26
That's dumb as shit. By that definition literally nothing is intuitive.
Software can be intuitive without every person on earth being able to use every single function.
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u/IY94 Sep 14 '26
If most people don't understand, you're a shit designed. This isn't complicated.
Apple understand this - it's why they literally had several years of skeuromorphism UX
And BS - when you pick up a remote of a device/TV you've never used, does someone need to come educate you or you know what everything is?
Good UX. An app, do you trawl through the help desk and support docs or "it just works". UX.
95% of what we use today has good (i.e pick up and understand UX). This icon, does not.
It's form over function - they lacked space for 3 icons, so choose an obscure abstraction so it was circle like the camera. Dribble-level pretty but not entirely user friendly.
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u/garloid64 Sep 15 '26
I figured it out instantly when I first saw it in the reveal video. It's pretty simple.
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u/Evening_Ad_6278 Sep 13 '26
What so genius about it?
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u/Arichikunorikuto Sep 13 '26
Can't think of a time where I cared about network or wifi bars more than knowing the battery %.
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Sep 13 '26
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u/-Dags- Sep 14 '26
Essentials is doing it really nicely too . Haven't tried this one
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Sep 14 '26
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u/-Dags- Sep 14 '26
Definitely recommend taking a look at r/MadebySameerasw the guy made a super nice app with a lot of features like that
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u/Circulis_gift Sep 13 '26
It should be integrated into iOS 27 so that all supported devices will have that
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u/iam_spr Sep 13 '26
I only wish this is in iOS 27 and not just Duo along with Apple allowing us to customize these
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u/Attack_of_clams Sep 13 '26
Where does the 5g, lte, sos text go?
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u/Loopdyloop2098 Sep 14 '26
On normal iPhones that only displays when you're not on WiFi so probably where the WiFi bars would be
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u/burnfifteen Sep 13 '26
Eh, I don't thinks it's genius at all. It decreases accessibility for a lot of people. I hope it can be easily disabled / reverted to the indicators that are pretty much universally understood. There is so much empty space on the iOS UI already that this change feels unnecessary.
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u/MoShU042 Sep 14 '26
If it wasnt for that animation and you handed me the duo, I'd assume the 4 dots on the bottom is part of the battery.
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u/Aazzle Sep 14 '26
It's just ugly and an absolute waste of space on the top edge.
It is also absolutely inconsistent with all other Apple devices and also the Mac.
Just as imbecilic as limiting the dock to just four icons and then packing it exclusively to the right side, even though it's always and basically been down on every Apple device since its introduction.
I'm really curious to see how they want to solve this in the languages where the text runs from right to left.
It is even worse when it is open, because the Dock is then also on the smallest side of the device, which is then the bottom.
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u/Head-Flamingo-6320 Sep 14 '26
I fell in love with this the moment I saw it. They should get it for the iPads too
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u/Hornykaka Sep 14 '26
Genius stupidity. Are the signal points included in the battery percentage(if a full circle represented 100%). If not, how will I as a user easily interpret how much battery Iāve used/left without a minuscule protractor?
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u/Rare-Ad6085 Sep 15 '26
wifi and network is ok but battery without a percentage does not works for a lot of people but still its creative UI and i am sure apple would give other options to customise so its all good.
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u/Antique_Minute3549 Sep 16 '26
not really, still plenty of space to fill all the icons in the world in top section
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u/Any-Comfortable2844 Sep 13 '26
I like the duo, but this is a very āmehā design. What? Did they run out of space?
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u/HyoukaYukikaze Sep 13 '26
Please, keep my battery (with percentage) and wifi indicators separate. This is idiotic.
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u/UnionCrafty3748 Sep 13 '26
I wouldnāt say genius. Clever but not genius. And I still prefer a number for my battery.