This strip on every iPhone has become dangerous. It’s time to put it away

On September 12, 2017, Apple radically changed the design of the iPhone for the first time, and since then we have lived with it without much change. iPhone X has become legendary for many lovers and is still fondly remembered by its owners.

The removal of the Touch ID sensor button and the expansion of the screen area required major changes in iOS. To make onboarding easier, the company has added several new visual elements to the system, including stripe.

You understand what strip I’m talking about, right? If you’re reading this on your iPhone or iPad, just look at the bottom screen. Now I definitely understand. This is the seventh year since this bar is almost always displayed both in iOS and in almost all applications, except for games and video viewing mode.

It’s time to remove this strip. Not only does it no longer play almost any useful role, but also harms every deviceon which it is displayed. Perhaps it has already left an irreparable mark on your device. And if not, then it is guaranteed to remain.

What problem does the bottom screen bar solve in iOS and iPadOS?

The bar at the bottom shows the quick access area to the multitasking menu. You pull it up. Everyone knows this. Some manufacturers of Android smartphones even included the indicator in their covers.

You can also swipe left or right along the strip to open the previous (or next, respectively) application. analogue Alternative option (cmd) + Tab. on the computer. This feature doesn’t add much, but it certainly doesn’t bother anyone.

Do you know what’s stopping you? That’s right – the strip itself.

Absolutely everyone knows what multitasking looks like in iOS and iPadOS. Even those who pick up an iPhone for the first time do not find it difficult to get used to the gesture. Moreover, the same principle has long been used in devices from other manufacturers. But here’s a curious thing: many of them subsequently abandoned this indicator or simply added the ability to close it.

Only Apple doesn’t do that. And the strip remains on the screen all the time. Black or white, it lies on the content and takes up more useful screen area than the increase in diagonal and reduction in the Face ID block in the new iPhone added together.

The multi-task bar is also harmful to the device

If you’ve been using your iPhone for more than a year, then I have bad news: with a 90% test, this strip is already permanently “embedded” in your display. Burn-in has not been canceled, and the strip is the most common element of the iOS interface that users of Apple devices notice when rotating the screen.

In my iPhone 13 Pro Max, after a year, this strip was visible on a dark gray background. And now I see her almost always, with the exception of the white lantern. All you have to do is turn on the full screen of any video, and the outlines of the bars are as clear as the rest of the content.

The same thing happened to my wife with an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and we noticed the first evidence after six months of using the smartphone. My son is generally silent about the iPhone 11 Pro Max, everything is clear there.

All this is happening only because Apple has stubbornly refused for 6 years to provide users with the ability to turn off this virtual and completely unnecessary interface element.

We are waiting for iOS 18, which will fix this (of course not)

In your time, the multi-task bar was useful. Today it is a rudiment.

When you first sit down at your computer, it doesn’t tell you that you need to right-click to select an item on the screen. You are not taught to press spaces and letter keys to use the keyboard. This knowledge is supported by evidence.

I believe that calling up multiple tasks on smartphones via swiping has become absolutely as obvious a phenomenon. And for a long time now there is no need to draw a huge thick line that almost always sticks out pointlessly at the bottom.

Doesn’t Apple understand this? Or am I just wrong, and you personally need this iOS, even a useful one? Interesting opinion. Personally, I would be the first to turn it off if the company added such an option…