iOS 12 Said to Feature Animoji in FaceTime, Deeper Siri Integration, and Do Not Disturb Improvements

[ChrisCW11]

I'm hoping we'll start to see a bigger focus on customisation, probably not in iOS12 but at least in iOS13. Now that the phones are just rectangle screens with nothing around them, there's not really a lot more that they can do to differentiate new iPhones from the old ones.

Apple won't let you customize because they already know better than you what you want to look at on your phone.

 

[xpxp2002]

Hopefully this finally brings DND for calls or messages only. More often than not, I don't want full DND, but simply to send all calls to VM while still getting text messages. Or occasionally, for work, calls only while muting all other notifications.

 

[pete2106]

Hoping to get rid of the square icon grid and do widgets like on android

I remember seeing a concept video a few years ago which took the standard iOS square icons but allowed you to resize them like the tiles in Windows phone. Making them bigger turned them into widgets. It looked awesome.

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

Anyone else have Siri disabled?

 

[Andres Cantu]

This makes sense, six iOS versions between redesigns (iOS 1, iOS 7, iOS 13).

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I want DND to have an API. If Apple doesn't want to make adequately sophisticated controls of DND available out of the box in iOS, then at least allow me to write my own app that controls DND.

IE: It'd be great if Fandango could automatically turn DND on while I'm at the movies.
Or if Outlook could turn on DND when I'm in a meeting.

And I really want to be able to flag some contacts for which DND doesn't apply, or at least, some contacts where sometimes it doesn't apply.

 

[0982786]

I'm just realising that there's a whole generation of Apple customers who think that software released because of what the calendar says is normal. I miss the old days when the software was released when it was ready, not because it's been about a year since the last release. There would be huge delays for Mac OS X releases but it was a good thing because it meant it wasn't ready.

 

[adamjackson]

I have no issues with Siri's current features. I interact with her dozens of times a day on my wrist, phone, iPad, Mac and soon HomePod. The devices plugged in are far better than the mobile devices. Siri on Apple Watch Series 2 is almost unusable it's so slow but i still use it to lock my doors and turn the lights off for bed.

I would love to do more with Siri. I don't ask it random questions about sports. I want to be able to ask her to send a list of reminders to a shared note with my GF or schedule things and email the right person an invite on the correct calendar or tell my colleague I'm running late with an ETA based on driving time and location of the person (find my friends) synced with my location for A to B route. I want instant translation features so I can understand what my French Canadian friends are saying in real time and being able to speak out loud app store reviews or acquire music and add it to a certain playlist, access my amazon cart and apple store cart app, check in on Foursquare, book mark a yelp location or book me a table somewhere.

A lot of this is 3rd party integration but I should be able to spend an hour talking to my Mac and doing everything without touching a mouse. I'd be fine if IOS 12 is ONLY making siri amazing. I have no idea what Alexa and Google Home are capable of but Apple's 1st party integration should mean everything they want to sell me should be fully voice enabled without any gaps. The fact my mac can't lock my doors or change the temperature in my house is dumb.

 

[xpxp2002]

They should go to a 2 year schedule, keep improving each month with small update and a new major version every 2 years.

There's no need for a new .x release each year for the sake of it, slower major update, faster bug fixes.

Trying to time everything for a once-a-year big-bang release is a very Jobsian presentation-over-practicality move that apparently only he could effectively coordinate. That strategy just doesn't seem to fit the profile of a Cook-led Apple. Just like it did Microsoft over the past few years, some added transparency would do Apple some good.

I do appreciate that smaller features come out through the .1, .2, and .3 releases each year as well, but there's no reason that if something is ready early or needs to be delayed that it _has_ to come out in September with the x.0 release. It made more sense to do things that way when the rest of the world wasn't on such an aggressive upgrade/refresh cycle and products only saw major improvements once every two-to-four years. But now that everything from web browsers to Windows get new features as they're ready, it doesn't make sense to try to fit everything you want to do into a one-year mold and release it whether it's ready or not.

 

[RickInHouston]

More emoji integration is a always a good thing.

/s.

 

[Martyimac]

Anyone else have Siri disabled?

Not completely, Hey Siri is disabled but can still bring it up using the home button.

 

[jonnysods]

That's what I'm talking about!!!

2 year releases are the way to go. Blow everyone away, fix stuff.

 

[Martyimac]

More emoji/animoji? The least interesting thing about iOS, to me. Rarely use use emoji and don't have an X.

 

[Naraxus]

Rather sad that Apple's become known for Microsoft-quality software as late.

 

[DNichter]

I am fine with a 2 year schedule, but I really don't need any Animoji features. Dark mode is really the last thing I need on iOS.

 

[urkel]

Surely Apple has enough money, talent and resources to dedicate a team to quality control while also working on new features.... Maybe they can borrow from the huge department they apparently have designing emojis.

Apples priorities have been all wrong for years. So, while a promise of focusing on stability is nice, I just dont trust that they even understand what is wrong with the current user experience.

Siri - Pioneering voice interface that has been ignored
Multi-User Support - Let families share! Not everyone has budget of the "Whats a Computer" girl.
3D Touch - Interesting UI element that never reached its potential
iCloud Family Sharing - Still no way to share ENTIRE photo libraries with family members
Animated Emojis - Crucial feature for Apples Survival

 

[npmacuser5]

They should go to a 2 year schedule, keep improving each month with small update and a new major version every 2 years.

There's no need for a new .x release each year for the sake of it, slower major update, faster bug fixes.

Nooooo to every month updates. With multiple IOS and MacOS devices, I am spending way too much time updating, and finding broken pieces of the software. Other then a major security or type one bugs, less frequent updates the better.

 

[5105973]

Wait, what...they’re going to put FaceTime with Animoji one of the things on the to-do list? Why? Even the kids aren’t going to use this more than a handful of times after the novelty wears off.

I know I’m not a supermodel but I don’t need to transform into a unicorn or a chicken to conduct a video call. What the ever loving heck is this sorcery?

There just are so many more things they could be prioritizing. Things that have already been pointed out in this thread.

This is just so flipping weird to me. And I use a lot of cutesy stuff on phones. But I still think it’s weird given that they sound like they have limited time and resources and want to use them to focus on building stability and usefulness.

 

[lamina]

I hate to admit it but Alexa is eating Siri’s lunch. If there’s one area that Apple needs to focus on, it’s Siri being able to handle queries in normal speech.

 

[otternonsense]

Animoji everywhere is just what I need when iCloud doesn't even manage to sync all contacts between my two iPhones and Siri has been dormant for 3 years. Jeez, Apple.

 

[AppleorSamsung]

Can someone please tell Apple no one cares about Animojis or emojis use that manpower on something else that people can actually benefit from like the broken notifications.

 

[xpxp2002]

Nooooo to every month updates. With multiple IOS and MacOS devices, I am spending way too much time updating, and finding broken pieces of the software. Other then a major security or type one bugs, less frequent updates the better.

I disagree. When it comes to security and bug fixes, they should be delivered in a timely fashion. I'll never forget when watchOS 3 came out and broke the sync of notifications clearing between iOS and watchOS. For two months, I had to constantly pull out my phone and clear nearly everything two times. Because Apple's non-security change logs are sparse, there was no way to know if or when a fix would finally come even when an update was made available.

I never want to wait that long for a fix to such an annoying bug like that ever again. If they can reliably release good patches every week, I'll gladly take 'em.

 

[williamyun7]

oh, Siri has been for years! but she is still talking ********. Google Home is way better.

And please do not waste time on emoji things. who would use them that much?

focus on other stuff please.

 

[Naraxus]

I hate to admit it but Alexa is eating Siri’s lunch. If there’s one area that Apple needs to focus on, it’s Siri being able to handle queries in normal speech.

That'll never happen so long as Apple obstinately sticks to it's hypocritical privacy policy. THAT is the major thing holding Siri back.

 

[Delgibbons]

With such a high rating on the App Store for XCode and Swift integration, it's only fair they have a little downtime for adding a talking fox to facetime.