Background: Recent “minor” updates to my Apple Watch and our iPhones are driving my wife and I nuts. We’ve seen undocumented changes to user interfaces, well-hidden settings to put things mostly back, and overlapping settings that interact in mysterious ways. I’ve been using Apple devices regularly since 1979, and I’ve never been this frustrated. WYSIWYG has become as bad as a CLI, but without a usable manual, or even semi-logical workflows. I change WHAT setting to undo THAT new annoyance which breaks THIS other feature?
Why this rant? What happens if you update your smart device just before a backpacking trip, or during a thru-hike? I’d be tempted to throw the cursed thing into the bushes, LNT or no LNT.
Recommendations:
– Don’t update in the week or so before a backpacking trip where your smart device is important to success or safety.
– After every update, thoroughly check out the features and settings important to you. Fix the broken settings you can, and learn to curse through the new features you hate.
– Think twice or more before updating during an extended thru-hike. If you choose to update, accept the risk that features you depend on might go very sideways until you learn to work around the problems, if you can.
After a long career where computer security was a critical part of my multi-faceted job, it pains me greatly to recommend delaying security updates. So my last recommendation:
– If you choose to delay updates, stay away from dangerous stuff even more than you are supposed to. Don’t click on that tempting link in an email, text message, or social media post. Stay away from sketchy web sites. And don’t install that new app that all the cool kids recommend until you’ve done a lot more investigation.
End rant. For now.
— Rex
PS – Most of this applies to satellite communicators, too. Can’t wait until headlamps require periodic software updates and monthly subscriptions to keep running. :-(
