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iPhone 12 Pro 12 Pro stutter when closing apps

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willdude

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
239
186
Update: This issue has been fixed as of iOS 14.5 beta 2. Multiple people who submitted this issue through the feedback app received confirmation from Apple that the issue was resolved with this beta.

I feel like we get things like this with every new phone, but... I’m noticing frequent stutters/hitches when closing apps. It seems happen when opening and closing an app that hadn’t been in the background, but not always. I’ve had the phone for 2 days now, so I’d hope that any slow performance due to background indexing or whatever would be done by now, but maybe not.

Update 11/16
Running iOS 14.2 on the 12 Pro, I've tried toggling a number of settings, but have experienced multiple stutters in each test:
- Bluetooth off
- Location Services off
- Airplane Mode on
- Handoff off
- Siri off
- Wallpaper Perspective Zoom off
- All widgets removed

Update 11/17
I've done a ton of testing, but have not found anything that eliminates the stutter. The consistent behavior is that if I open up enough apps to cross some threshold (like filling up the RAM), the stutter starts to occur.

I did a fresh install of iOS 14.2, setting up as new and not restoring from backup. I started just by opening and closing all the pre-installed apps, and saw no issue. Then I installed a bunch of new apps, opened and closed them, and started seeing the stutter. Then I deleted those apps and installed a bunch of different apps, opened and closed them, and saw the stutter again. So it seems to not be a question of *which* apps are installed.

I did another reinstall of 14.2, this time restoring from the encrypted backup. Opened and closed a couple dozen apps, and started to see the stutter.

Installed the iOS 14.3 public beta. Opened and closed a couple dozen apps, then started to see the stutter.

I've also chatted with Apple Support, but they didn't recommend trying anything I hadn't already done. They did a remote diagnostic, but didn't see any problems. Next step would be to have an Apple technician service it.

So I'm not sure what to make of all this. It certainly *feels* like a software problem, but the fact that a significant number of people say they don't have this problem makes it seem like a hardware issue. It's possible there's yet some setting I've missed which is causing this. Or maybe the people who don't have the problem just don't use the phone in the same way such that the memory (or whatever) gets filled up.

I'm kind of at a loss, and honestly a little upset I'm beyond the 14 day return window, because I don't really want to spend weeks having the phone shipped for service, or go to an Apple Store during the pandemic.
 
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willdude

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
239
186
Half thread-bump, half saying this is still occurring 3 days in. I did set this up as a new phone, so there’s no backup restoration issue.
 
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macintoshmac

macintoshmac

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The problem with Apple is they are just in a race for your money, year after year, with the least they need to do to get your money. They are just not taking the time to optimise the experience out-of-the-box and have normalised waiting for updates to resolve things that should have and would have been resolved from the get go were software was being developed at the pace it used to be developed at.

Customers are to blame as well for this. They do not make it clear to Apple that this will not do. They keep buying the latest year after year, and by the time the device has received software this year that it should have shipped with last year, it is time for a new iPhone with a new iOS.

The OS that a device is shipped with, needs to perform at its best, to the capabilities of the device in question. Any short of that and it is not what the customer paid for, when it comes to Apple. They are not charging mediocre prices.
 
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willdude

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
239
186
What’s funny is I keep trying to take a screen recording of it happening, but can never get it to happen then.
 
Cybertox

Cybertox

macrumors regular
Oct 25, 2020
130
234
Switzerland
Sounds like an issue which will be resolved in an upcoming software update. I agree though that such software related issues should not be present on a brand new device.
 
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willdude

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
239
186
I rebooted my phone last night, and while it’s still given me a couple stutters, it’s definitely less than it was before.
 
Knowlege Bomb

Knowlege Bomb

macrumors G4
Feb 14, 2008
10,198
8,833
US
macintoshmac said:
The problem with Apple is they are just in a race for your money, year after year, with the least they need to do to get your money. They are just not taking the time to optimise the experience out-of-the-box and have normalised waiting for updates to resolve things that should have and would have been resolved from the get go were software was being developed at the pace it used to be developed at.

Customers are to blame as well for this. They do not make it clear to Apple that this will not do. They keep buying the latest year after year, and by the time the device has received software this year that it should have shipped with last year, it is time for a new iPhone with a new iOS.

The OS that a device is shipped with, needs to perform at its best, to the capabilities of the device in question. Any short of that and it is not what the customer paid for, when it comes to Apple. They are not charging mediocre prices.
Click to expand...
I'd rather have a phone with a few hiccups out of the gate that gets better with time and lasts for years than a phone that is silky smooth at the start and degrades over time. I've had my 12 Pro since launch morning and haven't noticed any stuttering as of yet, likely because I'm not the type that looks for stuff like that because it doesn't bother me.

Edit: Forgot to mention I'm currently on the 14.2 beta so that may very well be why I'm not seeing this. I opened and closed six apps before this edit and saw zero stutter.
 
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macintoshmac

macintoshmac

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Knowlege Bomb said:
I'd rather have a phone with a few hiccups out of the gate that gets better with time and lasts for years than a phone that is silky smooth at the start and degrades over time. I've had my 12 Pro since launch morning and haven't noticed any stuttering as of yet, likely because I'm not the type that looks for stuff like that because it doesn't bother me.

Edit: Forgot to mention I'm currently on the 14.2 beta so that may very well be why I'm not seeing this. I opened and closed six apps before this edit and saw zero stutter.
Click to expand...

I'd rather have a device that is silky smooth at launch and stays that way for its lifespan. That is the standard people used to hold Apple to, and Apple held themselves to, when it came to software. The whole point of hardware and software integration was to allow for such never-heard-of quality control that they seem to have lost their grip on, lately.

Software by Apple is still quite good, as in, I am using an 8 with 14.2 and I do not notice as many issues as people with newer devices do, for my unique use case at least, but still, I have felt a noticeable decline in software quality from the Apple stables. Small things like in Mac OS X Tiger, if I was typing in a window and a new app opened in the background, my typing would remain in focus, unlike Windows where the new app would gain focus. Such tiny details and user conveniences are sort-of lost today. Even in Big Sur, as I am typing this, if I launch a heavy app, say Affinity Publisher on my MBA 2017 so that it takes a few bounces to start, and meanwhile I shift back to typing this text, I will lose focus of this text and macOS will shift focus to Affinity when the app starts. In Tiger, the app would open in the background.

Same goes for iOS. I used to be able to type more accurately on 4s and 5 and 5s than I am able to on 7/8 and it is not muscle memory, since typing experience started to noticeably degrade on 5s itself around iOS 10. Small things, that did not happen with Apple previously.
 
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Knowlege Bomb

Knowlege Bomb

macrumors G4
Feb 14, 2008
10,198
8,833
US
macintoshmac said:
I'd rather have a device that is silky smooth at launch and stays that way for its lifespan. That is the standard people used to hold Apple to, and Apple held themselves to, when it came to software. The whole point of hardware and software integration was to allow for such never-heard-of quality control that they seem to have lost their grip on, lately.

Software by Apple is still quite good, as in, I am using an 8 with 14.2 and I do not notice as many issues as people with newer devices do, for my unique use case at least, but still, I have felt a noticeable decline in software quality from the Apple stables. Small things like in Mac OS X Tiger, if I was typing in a window and a new app opened in the background, my typing would remain in focus, unlike Windows where the new app would gain focus. Such tiny details and user conveniences are sort-of lost today. Even in Big Sur, as I am typing this, if I launch a heavy app, say Affinity Publisher on my MBA 2017 so that it takes a few bounces to start, and meanwhile I shift back to typing this text, I will lose focus of this text and macOS will shift focus to Affinity when the app starts. In Tiger, the app would open in the background.

Same goes for iOS. I used to be able to type more accurately on 4s and 5 and 5s than I am able to on 7/8 and it is not muscle memory, since typing experience started to noticeably degrade on 5s itself around iOS 10. Small things, that did not happen with Apple previously.
Click to expand...
I'm sure you're not alone on that first sentence. The reality is that it's just not the way things work these days. There's absolutely no doubt that the Apple experience has floundered over the years but I'm sure it goes without saying (around here especially) that it's still miles ahead of the competition. In regards to typing, the Apple keyboard is still the best feeling, most accurate option. The autocorrect is where it's gone downhill, which is really sad because turning it off is just not an option as it also seems to disable the expanded touch zones that shift based on what it thinks you're typing and typing without that is an absolute nightmare.
 
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macintoshmac

macintoshmac

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Knowlege Bomb said:
I'm sure you're not alone on that first sentence. The reality is that it's just not the way things work these days. There's absolutely no doubt that the Apple experience has floundered over the years but I'm sure it goes without saying (around here especially) that it's still miles ahead of the competition. In regards to typing, the Apple keyboard is still the best feeling, most accurate option. The autocorrect is where it's gone downhill, which is really sad because turning it off is just not an option as it also seems to disable the expanded touch zones that shift based on what it thinks you're typing and typing without that is an absolute nightmare.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on all of this. The experience used to be so great that even though it has gone downhill noticeably, it still is the best experience.
 
Sam in SoCal

Sam in SoCal

macrumors 6502a
Oct 13, 2019
762
1,031
Knowlege Bomb said:
I'm sure you're not alone on that first sentence. The reality is that it's just not the way things work these days. There's absolutely no doubt that the Apple experience has floundered over the years but I'm sure it goes without saying (around here especially) that it's still miles ahead of the competition. In regards to typing, the Apple keyboard is still the best feeling, most accurate option. The autocorrect is where it's gone downhill, which is really sad because turning it off is just not an option as it also seems to disable the expanded touch zones that shift based on what it thinks you're typing and typing without that is an absolute nightmare.
Click to expand...
Oooooof yes! this. The autocorrect needs an overhaul
 
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