Apple Fooled Us for Over a Decade - An Unintentional Masterclass in Product Management
Apple Fooled Us for Over a Decade - An Unintentional Masterclass in Product Management
Apple Fooled Us for Over a Decade - An Unintentional Masterclass in Product Management
By
Abbas Vajihi
Published on:
Nov 3, 2025
Recently, a discovery rippled through the tech corners of the internet, from Hacker News, Reddit to YouTube: the time picker on your iPhone’s alarm clock, that smooth, endlessly spinning wheel... isn't endless at all. It’s just a really, really long list of numbers.
The internet’s reaction was a beautiful mix of bewilderment and glee. APPLE, the company that obsesses over every pixel and curve, shipped a solution that feels like a cleverly lazy high school coding project. It’s funny. And a little stupid. And absolutely astounding. But for us, as product managers at an app development agency, it’s also an unintended but relatable masterclass in what truly matters when building great products.
At Flywheel, we see it all the time. A client comes to us, brimming with passion for a complex, feature-rich product. The vision is invigorating, but our job is to keep our eyes on the prize: delivering real value to users without getting lost in the weeds of over-engineering. And this little viral story about Apple’s alarm clock is the perfect, almost hilarious, extended metaphor for that exact principle.
Why Go Big When You Can Go Long (Really Long)
This viral “discovery” wasn't a bug; it was a feature - or rather, a pragmatic engineering decision that also highlights a fundamental principle of product management. Today’s mobile hardware and sophisticated UI frameworks could easily handle a truly infinite looking, dynamically looping solution without breaking a sweat but it’s almost as if they looked at the problem, shrugged, and said, “Why make it complicated when simple works? Also, lunch break.”
It’s likely they had a few practical reasons, most of which were a product of its time. Back in the early iPhone days, hardware and software were limited, so engineers had to be pragmatic. First, UIKit favors simplicity, UIPickerView was likely designed to be predictable, efficient, and straightforward. Adding a built-in infinite loop could have added extra flags, edge cases, and testing complexity for a feature most apps probably wouldn’t need. Second, implementation simplicity: under the hood, UIPickerView is basically a vertical table view. Making it truly infinite would likely require additional math, virtualization, and careful logic, so Apple seems to have opted for the simpler solution of a very long list that creates the illusion of infinity. Finally, it’s not a common enough use case - while clocks or slot machines might benefit from infinite scrolling, most pickers, like birth years, countries, or cart quantities, don’t. Apple appears to have prioritized mainstream use cases over rare edge scenarios. In short, it was probably about doing just enough to solve the problem efficiently - without sending engineers into an infinite loop themselves.
The PM’s Cheat Code: Impact > Perfection
This seemingly “under-engineered” approach by Apple - this “shocking” simplicity - offers a powerful, albeit slightly embarrassing, lesson for product managers and development teams, even in an era of more capable technology. It begs the question: if Apple can get away with it, what are we over-engineering?
Performance and User Delight 🤝: While modern devices can handle more complex solutions, the principle remains: prioritize a consistently smooth and delightful user experience. Apple’s choice, at the time, ensured this by avoiding potential visual jitter or performance hiccups on their ultra revolutionary, super duper cool new hardware. The user’s perception of fluidity is paramount. Nobody cares if it’s looping, nor do they care about whether about the infinite scrolling nature of it,” they just care about setting that 6am alarm.
Focus on the Core Problem 🧘: For 99.9(9999)% of users, the distinction between a truly infinite list and a very long finite one is irrelevant. Apple’s solution effectively solves the user’s problem without expending engineering effort on an edge case that provides no additional user value. And if you’re scrolling for infinity, maybe the real issue isn’t the alarm, it’s your bedtime schedule… or that you’d rather scroll through a time picker than Instagram.
Balancing Complexity and Resources ⚖️: Every complex feature or “perfect” technical solution comes with a cost, in development time, testing, and potential maintenance. Apple’s decision demonstrates a pragmatic balance: achieve the desired user experience with the simplest, most efficient technical solution possible. This frees up valuable engineering resources to focus on other, more impactful features. (Like inventing new ways to sell us the same iPhone every year.)
Sometimes “Lazy” Is Brilliant and Brilliant is “More than Good Enough”
The iPhone’s alarm time picker is a hilarious yet profound example of pragmatic product management in action. It teaches us that even for a company as meticulous as Apple, the goal isn’t always to build the most technically complex or “perfect” solution. Instead, it’s about understanding user needs in the moment, prioritizing a smooth and reliable experience, and making smart, efficient engineering choices that deliver maximum value without unnecessary overhead.
Even with today’s advanced capabilities, the lesson holds true: sometimes, a very long list is all you need to create the illusion of infinity and a delightful user experience. As we partner with clients to build their next great app, we’re going to remember this principle - it’s certainly a hard one to forget.
Recently, a discovery rippled through the tech corners of the internet, from Hacker News, Reddit to YouTube: the time picker on your iPhone’s alarm clock, that smooth, endlessly spinning wheel... isn't endless at all. It’s just a really, really long list of numbers.
The internet’s reaction was a beautiful mix of bewilderment and glee. APPLE, the company that obsesses over every pixel and curve, shipped a solution that feels like a cleverly lazy high school coding project. It’s funny. And a little stupid. And absolutely astounding. But for us, as product managers at an app development agency, it’s also an unintended but relatable masterclass in what truly matters when building great products.
At Flywheel, we see it all the time. A client comes to us, brimming with passion for a complex, feature-rich product. The vision is invigorating, but our job is to keep our eyes on the prize: delivering real value to users without getting lost in the weeds of over-engineering. And this little viral story about Apple’s alarm clock is the perfect, almost hilarious, extended metaphor for that exact principle.
Why Go Big When You Can Go Long (Really Long)
This viral “discovery” wasn't a bug; it was a feature - or rather, a pragmatic engineering decision that also highlights a fundamental principle of product management. Today’s mobile hardware and sophisticated UI frameworks could easily handle a truly infinite looking, dynamically looping solution without breaking a sweat but it’s almost as if they looked at the problem, shrugged, and said, “Why make it complicated when simple works? Also, lunch break.”
It’s likely they had a few practical reasons, most of which were a product of its time. Back in the early iPhone days, hardware and software were limited, so engineers had to be pragmatic. First, UIKit favors simplicity, UIPickerView was likely designed to be predictable, efficient, and straightforward. Adding a built-in infinite loop could have added extra flags, edge cases, and testing complexity for a feature most apps probably wouldn’t need. Second, implementation simplicity: under the hood, UIPickerView is basically a vertical table view. Making it truly infinite would likely require additional math, virtualization, and careful logic, so Apple seems to have opted for the simpler solution of a very long list that creates the illusion of infinity. Finally, it’s not a common enough use case - while clocks or slot machines might benefit from infinite scrolling, most pickers, like birth years, countries, or cart quantities, don’t. Apple appears to have prioritized mainstream use cases over rare edge scenarios. In short, it was probably about doing just enough to solve the problem efficiently - without sending engineers into an infinite loop themselves.
The PM’s Cheat Code: Impact > Perfection
This seemingly “under-engineered” approach by Apple - this “shocking” simplicity - offers a powerful, albeit slightly embarrassing, lesson for product managers and development teams, even in an era of more capable technology. It begs the question: if Apple can get away with it, what are we over-engineering?
Performance and User Delight 🤝: While modern devices can handle more complex solutions, the principle remains: prioritize a consistently smooth and delightful user experience. Apple’s choice, at the time, ensured this by avoiding potential visual jitter or performance hiccups on their ultra revolutionary, super duper cool new hardware. The user’s perception of fluidity is paramount. Nobody cares if it’s looping, nor do they care about whether about the infinite scrolling nature of it,” they just care about setting that 6am alarm.
Focus on the Core Problem 🧘: For 99.9(9999)% of users, the distinction between a truly infinite list and a very long finite one is irrelevant. Apple’s solution effectively solves the user’s problem without expending engineering effort on an edge case that provides no additional user value. And if you’re scrolling for infinity, maybe the real issue isn’t the alarm, it’s your bedtime schedule… or that you’d rather scroll through a time picker than Instagram.
Balancing Complexity and Resources ⚖️: Every complex feature or “perfect” technical solution comes with a cost, in development time, testing, and potential maintenance. Apple’s decision demonstrates a pragmatic balance: achieve the desired user experience with the simplest, most efficient technical solution possible. This frees up valuable engineering resources to focus on other, more impactful features. (Like inventing new ways to sell us the same iPhone every year.)
Sometimes “Lazy” Is Brilliant and Brilliant is “More than Good Enough”
The iPhone’s alarm time picker is a hilarious yet profound example of pragmatic product management in action. It teaches us that even for a company as meticulous as Apple, the goal isn’t always to build the most technically complex or “perfect” solution. Instead, it’s about understanding user needs in the moment, prioritizing a smooth and reliable experience, and making smart, efficient engineering choices that deliver maximum value without unnecessary overhead.
Even with today’s advanced capabilities, the lesson holds true: sometimes, a very long list is all you need to create the illusion of infinity and a delightful user experience. As we partner with clients to build their next great app, we’re going to remember this principle - it’s certainly a hard one to forget.