[mrob]

Using v1.10.1, I notice that when I open the Remote app and try to change volume by tapping on the speaker icons, at first it is responsive, but then there is a long lag during which I keep tapping the buttons and nothing happens. Finally, it starts working again.

Is this a known issue?

Speaking of the UI, I hate to say it, but I preferred the old design.

At some point, the Remote Control became a pop up that pre-empts everything else on the screen. The only way to get rid of it is by hitting the "X" to close the pop-up. Kind of annoying, really.

EDIT: to clarify what I mean by this, let's say I want to move between the Music, or Movies, and Remote Control tabs of the Remote app. With the old design, the Remote Control panel was embedded in the tab, and I could freely switch between these various tabs by tapping them. In the new design, by contrast, the Remote Control is now a modal pop-up, so I have to tap the "X" button to close it before I can switch to another tab.

Here, I'm going to quote Larry Tesler, one of the early pioneers of UI design, who famously said "don't mode me in". Perhaps there is a rationale for having the Remote Control panel as a modal pop-up, but I'm not seeing it. Rather, it just strikes me as a poor design choice.

[Buschel]

Thanks for your feedback! From your comment I understand you use an iPad? I will look into the volume buttons thing once I get my test system back up (later this week). Is this happening with both the bottom toolbar volume buttons and the one on the remote? Is the slider also lagging?

The rationale to change the remote for iPad was to keep the library browser open in the background. The old way closed the current browser window stack in e.g. movies or music albums. I agree, now you have one more touch to close the remote either via "x" or (on new iOS versions) just click in the area outside of the remote before doing anything else. But at the same time you did not lose the already browsed stack. Which can save you multiple clicks and selections. I guess the reception of this change depends on the use cases you typically use.

[mrob]

Sorry, I should have mentioned it: yes, I'm using an iPad running iOS 12.5.5.

AFAICT, it's the control buttons that lag. I haven't tried the slider. I can experiment with that and report back here if it also lags or not.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding (or doing something wrong), but when you say "just click in the area outside of the remote before doing anything else", I take it to mean I can tap on any area outside of the remote modal pop-up and it will close. Modal pop-ups on web sites often work this way, so I thought to try that before. However, this has no effect for me. The only way to close the modal is by tapping on the "X". Again, maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean.

As you say, this seems to be a question of "typical use case". I don't really understand how the current stack is working for movies or music, so maybe that's the issue. Is there some documentation you can point me to that explains this stack?

In general, I find that I often get tripped up with stack or context using Kodi, e.g., searching for movies via tags, though my sense is that's something in the app itself, not the Remote. Then again, maybe I'm just not grokking how it works.

[Buschel]

AFAICT, it's the control buttons that lag. I haven't tried the slider. I can experiment with that and report back here if it also lags or not.

That would be great.

Modal pop-ups on web sites often work this way, so I thought to try that before. However, this has no effect for me. The only way to close the modal is by tapping on the "X". Again, maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean.

Yes, you got me right. The different iOS versions behaved different when I checked the functionality. This is why there is a "x" button at all.

As you say, this seems to be a question of "typical use case". I don't really understand how the current stack is working for movies or music, so maybe that's the issue. Is there some documentation you can point me to that explains this stack?

No, I am sorry to say there is no documentation of the App. Some functionality, I feel, is pretty self explanatory, but there are plenty quirks which are not obivous -- like long press functions and such. With "stack" I mean the overlapping windows when you browse into the database, e.g. "music artists > albums by selected artist > album details" or "movie genres > movies for selected genre > movie details". In these cases you will see three overlapping windows on iPad.
In general the App can either be used as simple remote to navigate the Kodi UI on a TV or monitor, or you browse the database via the App's UI -- which is the preferred way to use the App from my point of view. This also works for headless setups, if you just use it for audio playback. As you rightly mentioned in the other thread you need to scan your media into Kodi's database -- preferably with scrapers which add artist fan art and such. With this the App's UI really becomes colorful and visually attractive. Screenshots are shared in the App Store or in the beta software thread.
You can also configure the App/UI behaviour through the App settings, e.g. hiding some of the main menu entries, if you do not need them (many users might not have a PVR connected).

In general, I find that I often get tripped up with stack or context using Kodi, e.g., searching for movies via tags, though my sense is that's something in the app itself, not the Remote. Then again, maybe I'm just not grokking how it works.

You can share a video (also via private message) and I can help with what's going on.

[Buschel]

Btw, when your App is connected to Kodi server, what color does the connection status show on your iPad (bottom right corner)? If it is yellow (and not green) this could also explain laggy response. If so, you can fix this by enabling TCP connection on Kodi server. For this go to remote > gear > ...more > services > control > allow control from other systems = on. I am not sure, if this works for you as it normally requires an OK by a user in the Kodi UI.

[mrob]

I think the connection indicator has been green, but I'll pay attention to see if it isn't.

Let me try your suggestions for a couple of days and then report back with some better info.

[mrob]

I'm finally back to report that I think the issue is simply that my iPad is too old and too slow.

There are some quirks with the UI of the Kodi Remote, but the lack of responsiveness is (I think) just due to the age of the iPad.

Marking this post as solved.