iMessage & Live Photos 🚫

I take Live Photos so I can choose a preferred still frame. When adding a photo to iMessage I don’t care to show anymore than the still photo I’ve already chosen. Not to mention concern myself with audio now too.

If I were attaching a video clip I’d surely review it in its entirety, trim it, possibly save as new clip if I wanted to retain any part of what I omitted, attach and send. This workflow is not the same for a photo.

The added step should be to ADD something, not to remove it. By default Photos should be attached to messages as Stills (or at a minimum have option to set the default).

Photos, live or not, are taken by people who want to capture a moment personal to them. Customarily reason why photos are taken, memories, and memories are personal in nature.

Use case: granny wants to see a picture of the snow that kept the grandkids from joining the Lampoon’s Christmas dinner last year. Mom airdrops a photo she had taken last year of kids on snowy white mountain. Except when the photo was taken (on the count of 3, mind you) those photoed had not planned for this use of the photo, and mom forgot dad exclaims “next ride”. Well, until Granny opens it, can’t see the thing and fumbles to zoom in for so long the photo starts to play??? The photo is playing now!!??!! Fantastic, now Christmas is ruined. Granny is crying, mom divorces dad, the dog has puppies, and the grandkids all join biker gangs and wish to be referred to as bicycle-persons now… all because Apple took it upon themselves to change why photos are customarily taken and over share private information by default.

Plus, if I want to say I’m stuck in a blizzard on the Matterhorn: I’d rather Apple not, by default, tell the world otherwise, especially granny who lives in sunny Anaheim, California just 5 miles down the road.

Apple, quit breaking granny’s heart.