Open Radar

 
Area:
GameKit

Summary:
With the Game Center app gone in iOS 10, there is currently no way to specify Game Center avatars. Where apps showed fun, colorful avatars in the UI before, they now show dull, gray circles. The Game Center leaderboards (still accessible through apps) shows a long list of dull, gray circles (see attached leaderboard.png file). This is the opposite of the fun experience Game Center should promote.

In my app SmartOthello (https://smartothello.com), the player avatars are an important part of the overall design. Please see https://smartothello.com/screenshots.html for screenshots showing the avatars in the UI; I've attached images games.png and friends.png as samples. With gray circles, the app loses much of its visual appeal.

In Settings > Game Center in iOS 10, users can specify their Game Center handle and some settings; they should also be able to set an avatar. The API for developers to get those avatars is already available in GKPlayer.loadPhotoForSize and used in many apps; please make that API return proper images again.

Steps to Reproduce:
Steps:
1. Launch SmartOthello app.
2. Tap + in top left to start a new game.
3. Tap Game Center.
4. Tap Leaderboards at the bottom.
--> All the game center players are shown as dull gray icons. No faces or fun avatars.

Expected Results:
Game Center should be fun and make people smile!

Actual Results:
Game Center shows gray circles. Sad.

Version:
iOS 10.0.1 (14A403); also iOS 10.1 beta (14B55c).


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2016-10-03: Resolved as Won't Fix by Apple with the following comment:
Thank you for your feedback, it is noted. Engineering has determined that there are currently no plans to address this issue.