Open Radar

 
Summary:
It's rare I'll file a radar to berate an entire update to a product. Even rarer I'd file a radar to something not related to development. Numbers 3.1 for iOS, in the 10 minutes I've had to endure it, has prompted me to file this.

So the first thing I try to do is insert a new column, something I've done many times before. I tap. I tap again. I long tap. I try tapping a cell. I give up, add a column to the end and then drag it across.

Next thing is something very simple, in fact so fundamental to the purpose of the app it's the entire name of the app: I try to enter some numbers. WHERE THE FUCK HAVE THE DATA ENTRY KEYBOARDS GONE?! I have to go to tap to go the alternate standard keyboard to get numbers. Ok, I suppose it could be worse, it could switch you back to the main keyboard when you hit return. Oh wait… THAT'S WHAT IT FUCKING DOES! I mean seriously, how do you fuck up number entry in an app called N-U-M-B-E-R-S?! Bloody hell.

Then I see there is an = sign, I wonder if that gives me back something resembling a usable spreadsheet app? Nope, it takes me to a function view that is impossible to escape without dismissing the keyboard. There are now numbers visible but it takes a fucking PhD in Rocket Science to figure out how to access them. And all the common function symbols have vanished half way up the screen making it impossible to hold an iPad two handed in landscape and access them without constantly re-adjusting your fingers.

And to finish it off is the new "Cell/Column/Row" button in the bottom right. This is where all the context menu items have vanished to. This is the straw that broke the camel's back. I mean seriously? You folks do realise Fitts' law still applies on mobile right? I had to select the column or row or cell on the left of the screen, move all the way to the bottom right, then move most of the way up the screen. I measured, because I'm petulant when I'm pissed off. 11.5 inches to insert a column before the column I selected. ELEVEN POINT FIVE BLOODY INCHES!!! And that's on an iPad Air 2. Just think about the poor sods on 12" iPads! It took about 1-2 inches of movement to do that before. 

What problem were you trying to fix with all this? Discoverability? You replaced standard OS behaviour with custom behaviour hidden away in a corner where it is easily missed. Maybe it was speed of input? Well you made complex functions marginally faster to input, but every other sort of input (you know, the stuff that makes up 99% of what people put into a spreadsheet) is painful to the point of making the app useless.

I've been a Mac user since 1990. I've used iOS since 2008. I got a friend to ship me a 1st get iPad from the US as I didn't want to wait until it was available in the UK. So I've been through an awful lot of updates to an awful lot of Apple software. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Numbers 3.1 is the worst "upgrade" I've known Apple to ship. It's like a UI prototype full of failed ideas that somehow made it past any sort of user testing.

Numbers used to be one of my favourite iOS apps. Besides the lack of conditional formatting, it felt like I had the power of a Mac app on my iPad. Now it's forcing me to use the Mac version for trivial stuff, because the iOS version is not fit for purpose.

Please fix.

</rant>

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install Number 3.1
2. Endure it for more than 30 seconds

Expected Results:
A delightful experience that lets me quickly and easily build a spreadsheet on my iPad

Actual Results:
It was faster to rant on twitter, leave a 1 star review on the App Store (my first), wake up my Mac, write this radar, open the spreadsheet in Numbers for Mac, and finish building the spreadsheet there than it would have been to continue on iPad