But software developers don’t always feel the same way. Some companies are notorious for changing software design and function on the fly. Whether it’s actual innovation or not, the reception for sudden shifts is almost always negative. Click or tap to see this iOS change that frustrated users last year. Now, Apple has another design blunder under its belt. The iOS 13 update included a change to a familiar and frequently used app: Mail. Two long-time icons have been moved for no apparent reason — and people are starting to get angry. If you made the jump to iOS 13, here’s what you need to know.
Thousands of messages lost.
Apple users noticed an unusual change in iOS 13 that seems to have come out of nowhere. In the default Mail app, the positions of two critical icons — Trash and Reply — have been moved for unknown reasons. Now, the Trash icon occupies the spot on the screen where the Reply icon used to sit. This has unfortunately led to numerous cases of emails being deleted by accident.
As you can see in the image above, things no longer look as they used to. To the left we see how Mail appeared in iOS 12, and iOS 13’s new design on the right. Several icons for flagging and organizing have been outright removed, and the Reply icon now sits in the far right corner of the display. The new position of the Trash icon is dangerous for users who rely on muscle memory to compose email. iOS doesn’t require extra confirmation to delete a message, so one tap of the Trash icon will send your message away. Users across Twitter have already weighed in on the unusual placement of the icon and are calling on Apple to change things back in their next software update. Apple has yet to publicly respond to any tweets or requests for comment on the matter.
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) October 14, 2019
— Jenna Rosenstein (@JennaRosenstein) October 1, 2019
— Marcus Smith (@MarcusSmithKTLA) October 19, 2019
I hate this change! What can I do to avoid it?
Unfortunately, if you’re already on iOS 13, there isn’t much to be done. People across the web are already submitting complaints to Apple regarding the change, and it remains to be seen whether the company does anything about it. For now, you might want to seek out an email client for your iPhone that offers a more intuitive control scheme. If you use Gmail, Google’s native GMail app is a fantastic addition to your phone and features some extra goodies like dynamic email that you won’t get on the vanilla iPhone Mail app. Click or tap for more information on dynamic interactive mail in Gmail. If you have an icloud.com or me.com email address through Apple, you’re out of luck. Those email addresses are specifically designed to work within Apple’s native mail app. We’ll keep our fingers crossed in hope of Apple coming to its senses by the time the next update rolls around. In the meantime, we’ll leave you with this quote from Fox anchor John Roberts that sums up how we all feel about this:
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) October 25, 2019 Well said, John. Apple lover? We want to give you just the tips you’ll use. Tap or click here to sign up for Kim’s weekly Apple Updates newsletter for news, tips and tricks and the coolest new apps.
