This week - like all weeks after a new product launch, no matter how "perfectly" designed - Apple has been beset by hackers proving their mettle by bypassing security features and ordinary customers unhappy with certain features of Apple's new mobile operating system, iOS 7.
For those who have not yet upgraded from iOS 6, the question remains: Is it worth it to upgrade to iOS 7?
Of course, for those who bought a new iPhone 5s or iPhone 5c, the point is moot. And iOS 7 has had a huge adoption rate - in the first couple of days, over 40 percent of Apple mobile users had already downloaded the new system, causing Tim Cook to gloat in an interview and "nearly breaking the interent." By the end of the week, iOS 7 adoption on iPhones and iPads had reached nearly 60 percent.
For the roughly 35-40 percent who can updgrade to iOS 7, there are a lot of factors to consider. The glitch discovered during the week that allowed intrepid users to bypass the lock screen via the Control Center on iOS 7 - allowing hackers to access a users' email, photos, social media, and more - has been fixed in an iOS 7.0.2 update, which Apple rolled out on Sept. 26.
But there are other aspects of iOS 7 that are not glitches - in fact, they're part of the bedrock of the new operating system - which some users wish Apple would "fix" in a subsequent update. There's a risk with every major overhaul you do to a beloved product, and Jony Ive's iOS 7 is no exception: before even releasing screen shots of the new operating system, some were criticizing the completely redesigned flat, multi-colored look of the home screen. Mess with peoples' aesthetics, and you can expect to get some backlash.
And now, one of those aesthetic choices, which was mostly overlooked at first - or garnered, at most, a "hey, that's pretty cool" response from critics - is causing people to get sick of iOS 7. Literally sick, as in seasick.
That feature is a combination of iOS 7's new parallax "3D" tilt-view, which comes enabled on every new iOS 7 device, and the "zooming" animations that occur whenever you launch or close an app.
Parallax looks pretty cool. It's Ive's attempt to exchange a new sense of depth on a mobile operating system, now that he's taken away shadows and textures. "One of the things that we are interested in doing is, despite people talked about this being 'flat,' is that it's very, very deep," said Ive in an interview with Businessweek. "It wasn't an aesthetic idea to try to create layers. It was a way of trying to sort of deal with different levels of information that existed and to try to give you a sense of where you were."
People on Apple's Forums have been reporting nausea, dizziness, and other symptoms of motion sickness, due to the new Parallax feature.
But you can disable the Parallax effect by accessing Settings > Accessibility > "Reduce Motion." But some of those users are also getting sick from the zooming effects of opening or closing an app (and some even blame Ive's new font choices, quirkily enough). There is no option to disable those zooming effects.
There is also no option to go back, or downgrade, to iOS 6 (or at least one that is user-friendly enough to be worth it for average users). Tim Cook, and Apple's, pride in having a less fragmented OS on the market is certainly the motivation behind the "never go back" iOS 7 upgrade system.
And if you have an older iPhone - say an iPhone 4S or iPhone 4 - your battery life will reportedly go down the tubes with the new iOS 7. Disabling the Parallax feature will help with that, but once again, phone performance on older phones is another consideration to make - especially because Apple isn't allowing you to go back.
So what do you think about iOS 7? If you upgraded, are you happy with your choice? Are you afraid to put a new operating system on your iPhone without ever getting the chance to try it - or to downgrade if you don't like it? I personally know someone with an older iPhone who is literally anxious about upgrading now. Are you?
Let us know in the (unscientific) poll and comments section below.