UX stories > Fingers matters
Fingers matters
I know, talking about Apple and Interaction is not so easy, and for some enthusiasts, it's like aiming arrows at perfection. We, as users, don’t know how to properly interact with their functions..
I’m not an Apple fan, but I use their products because they are really user-friendly. Not everything is perfect, obviously, but for most common uses, Apple devices come close to perfection.
I would like to talk about a hidden function available through a long-press interaction that lets you go back to a specific page in an app’s flow. Let’s look at an example with some screenshots I took to let the images explain better than words. The example is related to the 'Mail' app, and the steps are as follows:
Open the app;
Go to Inbox;
Go to a mail detail.
Long press on the “back” icon
1
2
Everything seems to work perfectly. As I mentioned before, it’s a long press, so let’s move on to see a representation of what really happened:
1
2
I wasn’t able to take a picture, so I tried to reproduce it at a 1:1 scale, showing the size of my thumb in relation to the iPhone screen (12 Pro model). My hand is of average size, neither big nor small, and again, using the other hand doesn’t change the experience.
Right finger
Left finger
It’s not a user-friendly popover, because when you lift your finger to read, you confirm the highlighted label and are taken to the first page of the flow, not the previous one.
Of course, I did some tests with other people, and once again, the experience was the same.
I know it’s not a vital function and not used by most users, but since I like to think about improvements in what I see and do during my daily activities, there might be a solution with no impact on standard users and clearer for the advanced ones.
Recap
During the long press interaction, the labels are hidden by your finger.
The problem doesn’t depend on the finger or its size.
During the long press, the first label is highlighted, and when you release your thumb, you are taken to that page, but you don’t know which one.
To read the labels, you must maintain pressure while scrolling up and down with your finger. If you move outside the popover, it bounces and stays visible, allowing you to read all the labels.
A tap outside the popover dismisses it.
Do we really need to improve this function?
My answer is YES, because I don’t see any reason to interact that way to maintain visibility and then select the page. I think everything could be done faster in terms of selection and dismissal. The idea is simple, and below are two images as an example:
Right finger
Left finger
Simply widening the element and moving the label to the left can avoid the need to take extra steps with your finger to read and select the correct label.
This interaction is present in all iOS system apps, and in my opinion, it can speed up the process.
It’s a small detail, but if we want to add a function that affects more than one or two apps, why not do it in a way that minimizes mistakes?
Thank you for reading about my experience. I hope it was interesting and provided some food for thought.