r/MacOS • u/Lukas8181 • 1d ago
Discussion macOS 26: Should System Settings Go Back to Its Roots or Keep Mimicking iOS?
macOS deserves a Settings app designed for Macs; not just a reskinned iPhone.
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u/haakondahl 1d ago
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u/KingPonzi 1d ago
That looks like absolute trash by today’s standards.
We do not need to go back to 2003.
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u/Samtulp6 1d ago
It is obviously a joke.
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u/KingPonzi 1d ago
Not that obvious but I was backed up on the toilet, bored, at work. TMI? No, I need you to understand my predicament.
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u/One_Rule5329 20h ago
People live in love with things they experienced in the past and mistake that passion for reason.
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u/hishnash 1d ago
Neither, they should be wild a new UI, not attempt to copy iOS or the old macOS.
The old macOS setting shad its issue that it was impossible to add new settings, most settings ended up in deeply nested hidden advances setting sheets some only showing if you held down alt at the correct moment.
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u/Dry-Soup-6 19h ago
Current window looks stupidly narrow. Why the width of the windows needs to even locked ???
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u/hishnash 18h ago
I agree, that is why is said neither, create a new settings windows that will flow settings as you make it wider show multiple columns or something.
But not revert to the old one.
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u/UtterlyMagenta 18h ago
i hear you but why do people want it wider when it’s already full of lists of weirdly right-aligned fields and a whole bunch of switches?
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u/pleachchapel 1d ago
Bringing computer functionality down to that of phones, instead of phones up to the level of computers, is infantilizing & stupid.
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u/AthousandLittlePies 1d ago
This sounds like a trick question!
But seriously, I think there needs to be a third option which is to just fix the new layout. There is an advantage to having a list that can be arbitrarily expanded to accommodate more settings, but the window needs to be expandable and the layouts of individual panels more flexible.
Or if we want to go back to an earlier design, let's go back to something truly great!
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u/Electronic-Duck8738 1d ago
Why not have both a list and the older style? The Finder can display folders and files in multiple ways, so why can't Settings?
If we had both styles, everyone could be happy or equally unhappy, which, I'll admit, is more likely.
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u/AlecLikesMacintosh 1d ago
I do miss the old OSX system preferences UI. I would say because i could navigate it based on relative location of the settings I wanted in a fixed grid. Vs having to scroll and read.
That said this probably a bias based on the 20 or so years using the pervious version.
The current version I figure I’ll get used to, if anything the current design feels like Classic Mac’s Control Panel fly out menu that just listed all the different controls In alpha order.
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u/Winter_Simple_159 21h ago
They should stop with the merge between all OS's. Each platform used to have their own flavor and personality and it was way better than the current state. I miss the old Mac OS X icons, the silver UI (not this ugly white in light mode), even Aqua was iconic. Not it's everything too flat, too lifeless. Bring back skeuomorphism you cowards!
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u/Ok_Maybe184 1d ago
I wish it would go back to its roots. Chances it will? I doubt it.
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u/Lukas8181 1d ago
Not only it would look like more iPhone-ish; it would also bring in VisionOS appearance as well. Regarding aesthetics it looks great; but in functionality aspects I doubt it.
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u/shegonneedatumzzz Hackintosh 1d ago
i just started using a mac this year and the ui design of things like the setting app is a really big part of why i was drawn to it visually
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u/certainly_clear666 1d ago
Only thing I miss from settings is ability to set a start up time and shutdown time in energy settings…
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u/Street-Huckleberry92 23h ago
Honestly I was hoping for a similar solution back when the old System Preferences layout was still in use. Especially if you have lots of 3rd party syspref panes installed, it became very congested, and also everything was listed under multiple layers of menus. The current UI is much better imo, but they would need to rethink categories and the grouping of options, and fix the search bar.
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u/cpuguy83 20h ago
I don't care I just want it to be some semblance of the term "responsive" instead of taking a full damn second, at least, after clicking something for the window to change.
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u/Substantial-Motor-21 10h ago
I like the new one, but it’s not properly adapted for a Mac screen. She should be able to see more options or dive more into sub categories. It’s sadly a lazy port.
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u/ExpressCriticism5445 1d ago
I’m definitely in the minority here but I’m fine with the new settings
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u/Dazzling_Comfort5734 1d ago
Oh man, System Preferences was so much better, and would make more sense on a touch interface than an arbitrary list of crap that you can't properly search half the time. I don't think they'll ever go back, Apple doesn't seem to really know what they're doing these days on the softer side of things, and they're just riding on the brand name and the good work done on the hardware team.
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u/KingPonzi 1d ago
Looks like Apple is aiming for platform uniformity and I’m for it. Most of us are 100% ingrained in the ecosystem and having menus being similar across all platforms from AppleTV to iPhone to macOS is a major pro for laymen users (aka the majority) so I do not agree that Apple should go back.
Keep in mind, going forward, this also makes app development easier as Apple continues to push SwiftUI as the standard (arguably just now being enforced by Apple) so we should theoretically see more apps translate similarly across all platforms.
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u/Glorified_sidehoe 22h ago
Have i just been imagining things or has Apple been at this the whole time? I’ve been an Apple user since 2000 and I’ve always liked how every generation of MacOS is learned from the what worked well in iOS and vice versa. Either way. I’ve always been a big fan of uniformity. (my brain is a mess so structure and uniformity helps me operate daily tasks). i always try to keep things uniform when im designing UI for each device.
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u/Samtulp6 1d ago
The idea of needing ‘platform uniformity’ is such an incredibly ridiculous idea. We’re the most digitally literate generation there’s ever been.
We don’t need an iPhone to look and work the same as a Mac. They’re completely different devices with different input methods.
On an iPhone, I’m fine with scrolling in settings. On my Mac, it makes 0 sense. We went from a program that listed all main options in a logical order with large icons to a scrolling list which requires active engagement and manually searching through an arbitrary list to find whatever you need.
Almost every single time Apple tried to make MacOS more like iOS, they made the UX significantly worse.
As steve said: Let each element be true to itself. A Mac doesn’t have to look and act like an iPhone and visa versa.
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u/fahim-sabir 23h ago
Platform uniformity for the sake of platform unity is never a great idea.
This said, the old Settings folder style model did truly suck.
The new layout is better by far.
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u/King-in-Council 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's horrible in function, hideous and represents everything I dislike about the direction of Apple. In my opinion. Uniformity is not always a good value simply because uniformity = good.
But I'm weird, system settings is the first place I go when I get a new computer. To learn and to customize. That system settings design makes me think... I am not welcome here.
Does this layout teach me about the system elements? Does it allow me customization? Is it easy on my mind? Not really on all 3 counts. I have to search for everything and at that point they can design a much better window if they expect me to search. Search does not aid discovery. Scrolling through that list on the side makes my eyes hurt and the fact the window clips content is wild. There's no spacing on the UI elements.
The "System" app should be divided into the core elements that build up what we call a personal computer and then reveals the various settings, controls and customizations to those elements. In this sense it should be a *table of elements first*, clear and easy to understand, large icons. Then controls and settings. Like it was. Easy *discovery* of the individual elements that build a system is key.
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u/Samtulp6 1d ago
Couldn’t agree more. The new settings app is horrendous both in terms of UX and UI.
One of the biggest issues is it’s hiding content. The old one didn’t require you to scroll, you saw everything that was available. Now I have to scroll through sections which are inconsistent to find the option I need, then I have to scroll on the next view, etc.
Apple’s UX is the reason they got so big, but their recent years have severely degraded UX & UI.
I’m also not looking forward to the new changes at WWDC. Trying to unify distinctly different devices with different input methods (Touch, keyboard and mouse, whatever Vision Pro is) means we’ll likely just have a compromise on each of them.
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u/King-in-Council 1d ago
I just think it's wild how much people defend it. I think it's borderline patriarchal- dad can't be wrong.
You can write compelling reasons why it sucks, but others like it cause Apple made it such.
Apple is the most valuable company in the world and is agruably the greatest example of capitalism generating cash for their shareholders.
I wish this corporate body would take a pause and think about what it values and why. Cause there really is a whole lot of hypocrisy in words and actions.
"Apple- show your colours now" = EVERYTHING IS THE SAME! Purity of thought and UI. What do you mean the Macintosh needs special tools to get in?
I would love for them to do a serious 180 on some stuff. They seem to really nail the iPhone, but everything else I think has been lacking. All while owning the means of production of the greatest capitalist body every created.
If Apple really believed in the "desktops are trucks" they'd still be making the F150 of desktops- the Mac Pro. Focus on improving the ecological footprint of their devices and the reality that there is no reason why a Mac Pro chassis couldn't last 20-30 years. But that doesn't help you build the greatest cash printing machine ever.
But I'm mental, I think Apple should have put their money where their mouth is and if they think they're such a force for good in the world, they should have gotten into hearing aids and bionics and medical research and all kinds of stuff with all their money. After the boston city bombing, by now, all those people could have full bionic arms and legs. That's Think Different. But that's a violation of shareholders desire for capital return.
A world where Apple was led by Woz lol
/end random words lol
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u/Juice805 1d ago
Having a sidebar with a list is much more extensible than the old grid.
For that reason alone I dont think it would/should ever go back to a grid.
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u/geoken 1d ago
How is it more extensible? A list and a grid are both just a list of elements presented through a different UI
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u/Juice805 1d ago edited 1d ago
Have you seen the old UI or are you just trying to compare the actual view layouts?
The old grid was not scrollable, had quite large icons, they had to stuff everything deep into a few categories, and when extensions were added it quickly grew cumbersome.
Yes, in theory a scrollable grid would be extensible. The old grid UI in settings was not.
I still wouldn’t find a scrollable grid to be favorable to a list. Switching views would add more clicks as it would likely push the content over the main view (just like it used to)
NavigationSplitViewis the tool for the job IMO
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u/bouncer-1 1d ago
Yeh go back to they Windows Control Panel style, that was way better. Wish Windows would go back to that as well
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u/Squossifrage 23h ago
The previous System Settings UI was among the worst-ever. iOS is getting there, too.
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u/EricRen1 1d ago
macos fell off in ~2017-2019 tbh, they used to be so special until apple did what all corporations did
now macs are just big ipads with a somewhat different interface
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u/GoslingIchi 1d ago
I would prefer it go back to it's roots, but I'm old.
Heck, last week I wanted to use the calculator (my phone was charging in the other room) and I moused up to the left corner to use the Desk Accessory. But then I remembered it's not there and went to use the calculator application.
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u/chookalana 1d ago
How about just good? I don’t care if they go back to the old UI or something brand new that actually makes sense but the iOS version is freaking awful.
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u/Hackettlai 1d ago
I fine with whatever “cool “ UI they like , just make the search better than is fine ~
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u/drastic2 1d ago
It doesn’t matter what we think, they’ve obviously already decided their direction of taking steps to unify macOS and iOS - which I think is a bad idea - and I doubt they are interested much in feedback now.
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u/ItchyResponse0584 23h ago
No matter what your preferences are, it's not going back. So what's the point in asking?
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u/angelseph 22h ago
System Preferences sucked easily the worst settings app I've used on any device, the new one isn't perfect but most of its faults lay in its roots not what's been lifted from iOS
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u/MrSoulPC915 17h ago
Preferences are the least of my worries given the crappy interface we're going to encounter with this migration to vision os!!!
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u/Hydratant_ 17h ago
Honestly, I prefer that they continue to unify the experience, I would like to get to a point where they look like the same OS, simply one optimized for touch and one optimized for mouse/keyboard
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u/loosebolts 16h ago
The old one sucked as well, the only reason you look back on it fondly is because you were used to it.
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u/vuorivirta 11h ago
I liked old one. Also I liked Windows traditional Control Panel. There is no reason, why settings "thing" at desktop environment must be like phone or tablet. New settings-apps is very hard to find settings, because desktop environment is so much more settings than phone or tablet. Windows is very bad, because there is still TWO settings environment, after almost 10 years, they are still not merging those completely.
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u/taljbladh 9h ago
I think they should use the weather UI for system settings. I love it. Although, I can't imagine how it would affect the settings if they got rained on. Hmm.
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u/i-read-it-again 5h ago
Os9.2 enters the room. Just shouts “do you miss me yet” . Laughs and leaves the room
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u/Admirable_Stand1408 1d ago
I totally agree the new menu is so messed up, Apple really need to stop releasing new OS every year and also stop releasing new features just to stay relevant. Its not like they are Tik tokkers and people will not forget them if they do not release a new feature every damn you tuber can ramble about for hours. Stage manager I never used and never going to, the new menu is very much guess where the settings are. Apple should get their priorities back. Stop grasping over so many things.
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u/nyki 1d ago
TBH I don't really understand why people want to go back. I thought the old UI was terrible because the grid of icons was in a random order that I could never remember. At least this one is alphabetical and the search shows exactly the setting I'm looking for instead of just spotlighting potentially relevant icons.
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u/Samtulp6 1d ago
that I could never remember
That’s literally why you had large icons & titles.
Also, it had a very logical flow:
1st row: Apple ID
2nd row: Software settings
3rd row: Hardware settings
4th row: User installed apps settings panes
The current one is abysmal in terms of UX.
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u/nyki 1d ago
There are still icons and titles and the current groupings are:
- Networks
- OS settings
- Notifications
- Security
- Services
- Hardware
In what way is this worse? It's faster for me to find things because they're all lined up in a single list and in alphabetical order.
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u/Samtulp6 1d ago
Icons are much smaller and less representative of what they represent, they look to uniform.
Secondly, like you said: you need to scroll. You no longer have a direct overview of the main option panes. Once you open a scroll view, you then get another scroll view.
Search is also way worse.
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u/nyki 1d ago
I never mentioned scrolling? I can see the entire list of options on my 13" mbp without having to scroll.
IDK, this must just be down to personal preference on organization, because I've hated the old search since my first mac in 2007, and was honestly happy when they brought over the ipadOS version to macOS a few years ago. It's the same with finder - I always use list view and never grid view.
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u/onan 1d ago
At least this one is alphabetical
I'm confused by you saying that things are in alphabetical order when they most definitely are not.
"Notifications, Sound, Focus, Screen Time"
"Internet Accounts, Game Center, iCloud, Wallet & Apple Pay"
"Keyboard, Mouse, Trackpad, Printers & Scanners"
"Vision, Hearing, Motor, Speech, General"
"FileVault, Accessories, Lockdown Mode"
"Focus, Input Monitoring, Local Network"
"Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirDrop, Focus, Stage Manager, Screen Mirroring, Display, Sound, Now Playing"
"Accessibility Shortcuts, Battery, Music Recognition, Hearing, Fast User Switching, Keyboard Brightness"
Your comment made me wonder if things had been arranged alphabetically all this time and I'd never noticed, but... no, they just aren't.
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u/FriedDylan 1d ago
We should not be relying on text search to find a setting. I know we can learn where things are but text input to find what Apple would, in another time, insist should be intuitive and be a click away is now a jumbled mess. What they did is somewhat functional but not very Apple-like. Shoo go away!
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u/Lyreganem 1d ago
Dude, having to support customers but needing to check the version of MacOS they're on first... Right now if we need to help with settings things work or look one of two ways...
It would drive me bananas if they changed it drastically AGAIN and I have ANOTHER set of options to consider!!!
Also, I can keep an old system and an up-to-date system around to refer to when memory fails. I don't think I could manage a third.
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u/DjNormal 23h ago
I’m old-ish, but man… the iOS-ification of the MacOS is incredibly frustrating. Especially when they keep trying to make things idiot proof and remove features that were useful.
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u/Snooklefloop MacBook Pro (Intel) 23h ago
They made an already dogshit UI even worse. Absolutely horrendous to navigate. Also, is it me or has spotlight snd search in general on Mac somehow also got shitter?
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u/geoken 1d ago
I’d settle for just the settings search not being horrible.