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- Apple has increased the size of its timer and its alarm buttons on iOS 26.
- The update facilitates them.
- All software updates should not be flashy to be useful.
I wake up at dawn, after a night’s sleep of sleep. My iPhone alarm and her still strong siren song resound as she shakes me with my sleep. At this point, I will do everything to turn this miserable sound as quickly as possible.
The only thing that bothers me? The iPhone rejection button for its alarm is too small. In my half asleep condition, I do not strike it and do not always reject it the first time.
For the context, this is what the previous alarm screen looked like on the iPhone.
Elyse Bests Picaro / ZDNET
The smallest and perhaps the most subtle update of iOS 26 solves a problem for me. The dismissal buttons on Apple’s latest software update are, fortunately, deleting a point of pain that I had with its timer and its alarms on the Apple clock application, one of my most used native applications.
Also: 5 features that updated iOS 26
The clock application and its alarm function meet users to their groggy, disturbing their sacred sleep. Most people are not happy to be awake. When an apple alarm is triggered – and with it, this signature and scary ringtone – I immediately activate the fight or theft. Disable these pieces is quickly imperative, and everything that bothers is a great disturbance at best and at worst a ruiner.
There is no super reliable data on this metric, but Investigation show That most Americans use their smartphone as alarm clock, the use increasingly increasing in young Americans. Unless you are one of the rare lucky sleepers who wake up every day without alarm at the right time, it is likely that you use your smartphone most days of the week to get out of bed.
I am delighted that Apple finally updated this feature in an application used daily by many iPhone owners, including me.
Also: Your Apple Watch gets a large upgrade for free
When you are considering significant software changes, it is easy to focus on more advanced updates, such as AIA assistants or voice translation features, which can be catchy and flashy. However, the updates most appreciated by the largest group of people are simple design changes, such as maximizing the dismissal button on a timer or an alarm.
I also noticed larger buttons in other applications, such as the Apple Watch training application, where, instead of an elliptical type of drive taking part of the screen, training activation takes the whole screen.
Before updating to Watchos 26, I sometimes can’t click the Start button because of its smaller size. The problem of the button size was only exacerbated when I was in motion, such as the execution or the beginning of an elliptical training.
Also: if these aerial rumors of the iPhone 17 are real, my old phone is about to be removed
Appleās September iPhone event takes place in Cupertino next week, and the technology giant will unveil its latest range of new brilliant technologies. It could reveal finer iPhones or Apple watches with blood pressure measurement features.
AI will surely settle in all these products, and, although I will be impatient to discover all the latest catchy and overwhelming hardware and software features, I also hope that Apple will continue to improve simple features too, little by little.