Did you perhaps skip the on-boarding process? A lot of what you mention has been part of the Getting to know your iPhone on-boarding since they were introduced on the iPhone X. Specifically where to pull down from and pull up from.
I’m not sure what you mean by the flashlight not being actionable. Notification shade/Lock Screen buttons are long press actions to prevent accidental activation.
On iOS 16 there’s now a button on the launcher to invoke search in case people want to avoid swiping
You say they design their products to be used by tech savvy people but gestural design is designed to become intuitive after the first tutorial. Indeed the only people I know who struggle with it are tech savvy people who skip the on-boarding. In much the same way that people who think they’re handy disregard ikea instructions etc
I’m not sure what you mean by the flashlight not being actionable. Notification shade/Lock Screen buttons are long press actions to prevent accidental activation.
On iOS 16 there’s now a button on the launcher to invoke search in case people want to avoid swiping
You say they design their products to be used by tech savvy people but gestural design is designed to become intuitive after the first tutorial. Indeed the only people I know who struggle with it are tech savvy people who skip the on-boarding. In much the same way that people who think they’re handy disregard ikea instructions etc
Here’s a talk on the thought process behind a lot of their “fluid” design https://developer.apple.com/wwdc18/803