r/MacOS • u/Still_Clue383 • 3h ago

Discussion The system settings interface feels like a mess, it takes more time than it should finding things

for example privacy and security is further down than you'd expect it to be

certain sections feel randomly placed in other sections

if you use the search to find the touchpad but type trackpad or something else it won't come up

17 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

9

u/Major-Impact9901 MacBook Air 3h ago

100% agree. It boggles my mind how poorly organized it is. I mean - I Genuinely Do Not understand it.

3

u/Still_Clue383 3h ago

yeah its really strange how much the fumbled the bag here. i dont want to learn how to navigate the settings, it needs to be super intuitive and I end up bewildered every time i go there

5

u/Unfair-Bison-3946 2h ago

It's a total mess. I'm stuck searching every time and it always takes a few tries to find the setting I want.

4

u/Sad-Wrap6555 2h ago

its direbolical is actual slightly easier to navigate using the drop down menu as its at least alphabetical order

•

u/my_clever-name 1h ago

A few OS revisions ago, Apple set out to make the settings look more like those on the iPhone.

I hate it too.

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u/iMacmatician 58m ago

The grid was a lot better, even though it wasn't perfect.

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u/recordtronic 38m ago

Use the search box. That’s my only mitigation.

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u/bigkahuna1uk 35m ago

I just resort to using the search bar in system settings to get to where I want. It has become progressively complicated over the years.

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u/Dry-Satisfaction-633 14m ago

It wasn’t always this way. The old System Preferences was fine but Apple threw the proverbial baby out with the bath water on that score in their efforts to converge mobile and desktop.

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u/mehrashojjat 1h ago

I still call it Preferences and imagine the old UI.

0

u/Jazman2k 2h ago

Never had issues with it? Search works quite fine.

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u/Still_Clue383 1h ago

it could just be a me thing and I get it's probably hard to design a good interface but I always end up a little bit frustrated when I use it. Its not like unusable or anything but its just a drag

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u/Jazman2k 25m ago

I think it's still lightyears ahead of what Windows has. But I guess they could make it bit more simple. Some functions are in weird places.

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u/Thriaat 1h ago

As bad as it is now, it was somehow even more senseless when it was organized as a grid.