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Apple Working on Fix for Reachability Bug in iOS 11

Monday October 9, 2017 4:40 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is working on a fix for a Reachability bug that prevents the new iOS 11 Cover Screen with Notifications from being accessible from the middle of the iPhone's display, Apple engineering chief Craig Federighi told a MacRumors reader this afternoon.

In an email to Federighi, MacRumors reader Michael asked the following question:
Ever since iOS 11 was released as a beta, the ability to invoke the Notification Center from the middle of the screen during reachability was removed. This was an incredibly useful feature as one didn't have to awkwardly try to take ones' thumb all the way back to the top even though reachability was invoked---defeating the whole purpose of it for one crucial task.

If this was done by design I fail to see the purpose or any benefit whatsoever to its removal. If it's a bug, I hope Apple can get around to finally fixing this mistake/oversight.
Federighi replied to Michael's email with a short "We are fixing it" note, confirming that the issue will be addressed in a future version of iOS 11.

Reachability, accessible by tapping (not pressing) twice on the Home button, is designed to bring down the entire top portion of the iPhone's display so it is within thumb's reach for one-handed access to all of an iPhone's apps.

The iOS 11 Reachability bug has not been well publicized, but a few readers on the MacRumors forum have previously complained about it.

In iOS 10, when the Reachability gesture was used, a swipe down at the middle of the screen just above the app line brought down the Notification Center. In iOS 11, the Notification Center and the Lock Screen have been merged into one, so a swipe down in the middle of the iPhone's display should bring down the Lock Screen Cover Sheet to display a user's Notifications, but it doesn't work.

To access Cover Sheet Notifications in iOS 11, users need to swipe down from the very top of the iPhone's screen, meaning there's no way to access Notifications one-handed through Reachability at the current time.

It's not clear when the Reachability fix will be implemented, but it is not available in iOS 11.1 beta 2, which was released this morning. Today's update did, however, bring back the 3D Touch App Switcher, another feature that iOS users have been missing.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
[ 116 comments ]


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JosephAW
9 months ago
Apple just go ahead and release a signed version of iOS 10.4.0 and allow the bulk of users with buyers remorse with iOS 11 return to iOS 10 until the bugs are worked in November or December.
Rating: 19 Votes
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WannaGoMac
9 months ago
It feels like this release is worse that prior releases, and the prior releases were all worse than predecessors. Anyone detecting a pattern? :(

Glad I decided to not upgrade.
Rating: 14 Votes
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theelysium
9 months ago
Rename the OS to iSlop!
Rating: 13 Votes
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pat500000
9 months ago
Please, people. Keep sending in feedbacks! Thanks.
Rating: 9 Votes
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TMRJIJ
9 months ago
It’s surprising that Apple is more open about addressing these bugs.
Rating: 7 Votes
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MrGuder
9 months ago

Apple just go ahead and release a signed version of iOS 10.4.0 and allow the bulk of users with buyers remorse with iOS 11 return to iOS 10 until the bugs are worked in November or December.

This is so true. I could never understand why Apple stops signing the last iOS version so quickly after releasing the latest version. It's almost like Apple is saying yeah update but we're going to lock you out very quickly and stop you from downgrading. When in reality the prior iOS version still works fine but apple won't let you go back once they lock it down.

This is why I'm so hesitant about updating to the latest iOS because Apple locks the prior iOS version too quickly for no reason other than making their stats chart look higher for those updating to the latest iOS.
Rating: 6 Votes
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MrGuder
9 months ago
Soooo many bugs I can't take it lol
Rating: 6 Votes
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iamMacPerson
9 months ago
iOS 11 was not ready for prime time. Features were removed because they were interfering with other, new features. Instead of trying to sort them out before releasing, Apple released it with a bunch of things removed, a whole bunch of bugs yet to be addressed, and no way to downgrade. This is terrible.
Rating: 5 Votes
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JosephAW
9 months ago
Apple released iOS 11 way too early. More would have adopted it on rollout if they waited until November.
Rating: 4 Votes
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MarlboroLite
9 months ago

Maybe the fix is the remove it? I turned that worthless thing off long ago with my 6 Plus...

I know, I know. Some people use it and I’m glad you find utility out of it


Considering the mammoth size of the plus models...it’s a major and useful feature For people who don’t have basketball player sized hands. This bug was one of my top 3 annoyances of iOS 11.
Rating: 3 Votes

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