Phones Whilst Driving - Apple's 1st Steps

[Psamathe]

Although not a major change, and interesting feature in iOS11 seems that when in your car your iPhone/iPad will automatically shut off all notifications (i.e. an automatic Do-Not-Disturb). It will even go to the extend of automatically sending a reply test to those trying to contact you shortly, even mutes incoming calls.

Automatically enabled by using a Car Play device of by the phone detecting vehicle levels of acceleration/speed.

Of course it's configurable e.g. you can configure specific contacts to bypass the lock down e.g. the automatic reply to a text will tell the sender how to bypass the lock-down if it's urgent e.g. you can declare yourself as a passenger and get all the normal notifications. But, parents can enable the feature on their kids' phoned under password protected restrictions (stopping their kids from disabling it!

And of course we don't know what functionality will be in the real release version (later this month).

So a step in the right direction ? Seems a bit more extensive than Android's "Auto respond whilst Driving".

Ian

[Mick F]

I understand that IOS11 isn't available for previous iPhone like ours.
iPhone5 and earlier will be left behind ............... as will be iPad Mini.

[honesty]

I understand that IOS11 isn't available for previous iPhone like ours.
iPhone5 and earlier will be left behind ............... as will be iPad Mini.

That's just the usual apple forced obsolescence for you. Any device over 3 or 4 years old is left behind by leaving them out of new updates. This is supposedly because apple want to make sure you have the best experience with their stuff. nothing to do with making you buy new stuff at all...

[thirdcrank]

I can't see the "must have" benefit of this as described above. Are we saying that there are people who lack the self-discipline not to use their phones while driving but who will buy a phone that will remove the temptation, which can be overridden anyway? Sounds a bit like a gesture by the manufacturer towards appearing socially responsible while doing not very much at all.

[Psamathe]

I understand that IOS11 isn't available for previous iPhone like ours.
iPhone5 and earlier will be left behind ............... as will be iPad Mini.

That's just the usual apple forced obsolescence for you. Any device over 3 or 4 years old is left behind by leaving them out of new updates....

In the days hen I had an Android phone I did get an update to Android (available since before I purchased the phone) but didn't get any more. Something most manufacturers do. And often with good reason as older devices have less memory, slower processors and more limited hardware so they become less capable and less usable as the OS gains functionality.

I once compared iOS on my iPhone 5S with same OS on an iPhone 4 and I'd have given up on the iPhone 4 as it was "not good" (surprised Apple enabled it on the phone).

And when you buy an old iPhone (and were warned about this) it's not really a surprise!

Ian

[Flinders]

I can't see the "must have" benefit of this as described above. Are we saying that there are people who lack the self-discipline not to use their phones while driving but who will buy a phone that will remove the temptation, which can be overridden anyway? Sounds a bit like a gesture by the manufacturer towards appearing socially responsible while doing not very much at all.

I never use/answer my phone whist driving, but it would be useful if it had a specific automatic reply to incoming calls when I was in the car saying 'driving, please leave a message or call again later'. It would also help push the point that driving and answering the phone ought not to be done at the same time.
Not a must have, but useful, surely?

I have a very quiet ring set, it's easy to ignore (even to miss altogether) and so it doesn't distract me if it rings and I leave it to go to voicemail (I have it on divert), but some people will have louder rings and not use divert for other reasons, and sometimes may genuinely forget to turn it off, in which case this sounds like a useful option.

[[XAP]Bob]

I'd like google maps to auto enable 'do not disturb' mode when navigating...

That'd be all it takes.

I'd quite like it to put a speed limit icon in the top right of the screen as well...