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Users prefer Apple’s ‘hideously ugly’ new iOS 7 icons to old ones 2 to 1

Published Jun 24th, 2013 3:50PM EDT
IOS 7 Icon Poll

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Apple’s new iOS 7 software has been pretty polarizing so far. Specifically, the new design has been met with mixed reactions as users adjust to the flat new look of Apple’s mobile software. While overall opinions have varied, it seemed like most people could at least agree that the new iOS 7 icons are pretty terrible. In fact, one accomplished designer BGR spoke with went as far as to call them “hideously ugly.” As it turns out, however, not everyone dislikes the new icons. In fact, it looks like a pretty surprising number of users prefer the new iOS 7 icons to the older versions they replace.

A recent poll created using Input Factory’s “Polar” app asked iOS users which icons they prefer, Apple’s iOS 7 icons or the older versions from iOS 6 and previous builds. Each icon pair was lined up so that users could vote on them individually, and the results are pretty shocking. As Protean co-founder Henry Balanon pointed out on Twitter, users prefer Apple’s new iOS 7 icons to the older versions nearly 2 to 1 with more than 46,000 votes having been tallied.

Of course, there are several new iOS 7 icons that are undeniably ugly to almost everyone who looks at them. For example, respondents preferred Apple’s old Reminders icon to the new one by a sizable margin, and response to the new Safari icon was even worse.

The full results of the poll can be seen here.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.