iPhone SE (2016) Bought my first iPhone, I'm regretting it, tell me why I should reconsider returning it

[StaceyMJ86]

Just an addition to this I’d also like to mention that I am one of those who likes to know if a text or call is coming from a certain person who has more value in my life than average. So I do assign custom ringtones and text tones to people to identify them even without looking at the phone. But even for that I just choose one of the other tones provided by Apple.

Making a song as your ringtone is so 2000 that you might actually end up attracting weird looks.

I still have customized ringtones for special people in my job. My coworkers all have the same ringtone and text tone. Out of everyone I know with an iPhone and work with, I’m the only person who have customized ringtones. Everyone use the standard ones that come with the iPhone.

 

[subjonas]

The iPhone is "boring" but for my daily driver that I just need to work, boring is good. Besides, I need the iPhone for NumberSync and SMS forwarding to the iPad.

Yes, sign me up for “boring” any day, especially when it comes to work. The iPhone was my gateway to Apple. A couple years later, I started using a Mac for my work because I got fed up with PC for similar reasons as Android. I found I was spending 1/4 of my time as an IT to myself, and I also had data loss because of system crashes. Mac, like iPhone, just works for me, and I am able to spend my time doing the things I actually want to be doing.
I’ve since gone all out with Apple, and yeah those ecosystem features like Continuity are indispensable to me now.

 

[eyoungren]

Huh? Not sure what you're getting at. My point was quite simple. The OP expected an open file system, yet bought an iPhone, and now there's buyer's remorse. Thus the suggestion to return it and get a better device for his/her needs.

Pretty simple. Again, not sure what you're trying to get at. I'm perfectly satisfied with my Android as my primary driver for years.

Shutting down those who complain about features an Apple device does not have by telling them to "Go get an Android" becomes hypocritical when Apple starts offering those same features. You never see those people come back and retract their comments - yet they are now okay using the very features that they shut someone down for when Apple didn't have those features.

People here on MacRumors have long shut down others complaining over the fact that the iOS doesn't have a filesystem. Yet, now iOS has a filesystem and where are they?

That's what I have an issue with.

If the framing of your response was more of an informative thing and not a shutdown then I took the tone wrong and I apologize. However, the attitude I describe above is prevalent in these forums. You just never hear anyone coming back and retracting their "Just get an Android" comments whenever Apple adds the very features that Android has.

 

[31 Flavas]

So with this state of the art phone that I paid all this money for, why on earth can I not set my ringtone to what I want??? The process of doing so seems like it has intentionally been made difficult. I have the file, I want to just drop it in the system folder for ringtones, but no, i can't do that.

Just rename your ringtone with a .m4r extension and drag and drop the .m4r onto it in Finder.

Also, Why am I not allowed to see the directory for the file system on my phone?

You've been using a Macbook Pro for years - yet you are oblivious to Apple's "Think Different" approach to products?

I took some photos today and found that they automatically saved to iCloud.

When you take pictures they save locally first and then when you connect to Wi-Fi copies of them will automatically upload to iCloud. Yes.

Nothing gets deleted from local storage.

I don't want them in the cloud, I want them on my phone.

They are on your phone. How else could they otherwise be uploaded iCloud afterwords? Cellular data is not used by default anyway. Plug your phone into a Windows computer with iTunes on it. Open file explorer - you'll see your photos in the DCIM folder.

I dunno - maybe the day you bought your iPhone SE you instantly loaded it to max capacity with Apps, Music, and Movies and to try to keep some space available the iPhone deleted the local copies of the pictures you took because they were backed up to iCloud.

I had to disable iCloud completely for it to save pictures onto my device by default because IOS just seems to never ask me or give me the option where I want to put my stuff.

You'll never be asked or given "the option" because the only choice to make is whether you want to turn off backups of your photos to iCloud. It's all saved locally then backed up to iCloud when you connect to Wi-Fi.

I love my macbook pro and have been using it happily for years. But on my computer i have the option to see everything and arrange it as I want.

Because it's a PC and not a mobile device.

It is absolutely beyond me that IOS for iPhone doesn't let me have access to the most basic functions.

Apple is very security conscious with iOS for iPhone - file system access has never been a feature they've provided.

Still, it has only been a few days. I want to like the iPhone.

That's great. Is this your first mobile phone? Or what phone were you previously using?

If it can work for me I will be happy, but this is not the experience i expected, to be fighting with the phone every step of the way for seemingly no reason at all.

To assist on this topic -- what guided your choice to buy an iPhone? What other mobile phones did you consider before purchasing the iPhone SE?

 

[TheAppleFairy]

The quickest and easiest way to do custom ringtones is use the program on your Mac or PC called Imazing. Free and paid versions both work. Simply just drag and drop ringtones (any sound file type as far as I know).

 

[Mike Boreham]

If you don't want them in iCloud, they're stored just on your phone and you can easily airdrop between the MBP and the iPhone

Just to add you can also transfer photos and videos from iPhone to Mac with the built in Mac app Image Capture.

 

[pdoherty]

I moved from Android phones (Samsung) about a year ago and one thing I‘m still finding super annoying about iOS is the inability to remove words from the autocorrect dictionary. For example trying to swipe the word ‘and’ will infuriatingly result in ‘abs’, “AB’s”, ‘ands’, or other nonsense. At least in Android I could train it by removing extraneous goof words. For some reason iOS locks this down?

EDIT: another infuriating replacement: going for “around” often becomes “Stone”

 

[eoblaed]

I took some photos today and found that they automatically saved to iCloud. I don't want them in the cloud, I want them on my phone. I had to disable iCloud completely for it to save pictures onto my device by default because IOS just seems to never ask me or give me the option where I want to put my stuff.

Of course you can do this. It's what I do. I have iCloud fully running and operation for almost everything ... except photos. I don't want my photos stored up in iCloud for a variety of reasons (I have crappy internet at home, so the constant uploads suck, etc), so I just toggle that one particular aspect off.

Settings -> Apple ID Header (the thing at the very top of settings with your name/icon) -> iCloud -> Photos

 

[akash.nu]

I moved from Android phones (Samsung) about a year ago and one thing I‘m still finding super annoying about iOS is the inability to remove words from the autocorrect dictionary. For example trying to swipe the word ‘and’ will infuriatingly result in ‘abs’, “AB’s”, ‘ands’, or other nonsense. At least in Android I could train it by removing extraneous goof words. For some reason iOS locks this down?

EDIT: another infuriating replacement: going for “around” often becomes “Stone”

Setting > general > reset > reset keyboard dictionary.

 

[pdoherty]

Setting > general > reset > reset keyboard dictionary.

I’ll give it a shot - how will that help with and becoming ‘ab’ and the other variations since I didn’t add them to begin with?

 

[akash.nu]

I’ll give it a shot - how will that help with and becoming ‘ab’ and the other variations since I didn’t add them to begin with?

The keyboard automatically learns patterns of typing and adds words into the dictionary based on what you type and how often you type certain things. So it might help.

 

[pdoherty]

It didn’t help. Attempts at ‘and’ and other words still get mangled into ‘abs’ and other nonsense.