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iOS 12 Wishlist: Features MacRumors Readers Hope to See in the Next Version of iOS
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I'd welcome improvements across the board in almost every aspect of the system these days. It has become rather bloated by some big items that don't really work properly and seem to have been stuck in a time circa 4-5 years ago.
Music - The App is terrible and iTunes just seems to get worse and worse. They are terribly dim witted for Apps which should make it easier to find your music.
Siri - It just does not work effectively. I'm not sure how people find it through a proper Carkit but either with my headset on in the car or walking down the road it needlessly gets many many things wrong. Resorting to me physically using my phone. When i'm in the house and its silent it still makes mistakes. I can reliably get it to set me a timer when cooking and the odd phone call here and there providing I don't have many matching names or more than one telephone number associated.
When i watched a round up of what Google is offering next and seeing their Assistant making a call to book Appointments and things, which on the one hand is frightening but on the other in a Tech context is....wow! I actually felt like I was some future shiz and for the first time in a very long time, I considered my smartphone life with a device that doesn't have an Apple logo on it.
Music - The App is terrible and iTunes just seems to get worse and worse. They are terribly dim witted for Apps which should make it easier to find your music.
Siri - It just does not work effectively. I'm not sure how people find it through a proper Carkit but either with my headset on in the car or walking down the road it needlessly gets many many things wrong. Resorting to me physically using my phone. When i'm in the house and its silent it still makes mistakes. I can reliably get it to set me a timer when cooking and the odd phone call here and there providing I don't have many matching names or more than one telephone number associated.
When i watched a round up of what Google is offering next and seeing their Assistant making a call to book Appointments and things, which on the one hand is frightening but on the other in a Tech context is....wow! I actually felt like I was some future shiz and for the first time in a very long time, I considered my smartphone life with a device that doesn't have an Apple logo on it.
The volume display popping up over content is incredibly annoying. I wish it was more subtle. There is no reason it couldn't do what it does in landscape.
Yeah and what's the big deal?
Picture your girlfriend or somebody else having an Android phone, iMessage instantly becomes useless.
iMessage is locked in Apple's bubble which is quite a significant disadvantage so I don't get the anecdote.
Yeah 1 more touch within and app for something people don't need to do every single time when they open that app. So horrible.
You found the golden goose, yeah such a huge feature advantage I wonder why hasn't anybody thought of it.
Miracast is obviously not only a mirror of your phone. And I still don't get the problem. Miracast is a standard widely supported by the electronics industry not an OS level feature. Airdrop is a locked feature.
LoL The more you talk the more obvious it becomes that the things you talk about are just hearsay.
My ChromeCast 2 is two yeas old and is one of the best buying decisions I made.
You clearly are ignoring the fact that he exemplified what he meant by mentioning the action center toggles in iOS. You know the quick toggles that are actually meant to give you quick access cu options/settings not a button within a browser.
You should read the article at the beginning of this thread in order to understand that a lot of the suggested features would definitely improve the experience of using iOS.
So you become angry if somebody challenges you subjectivism? LoL
- Volume settings PER APP
- Ability to change the notification sound (currently seems locked on one sound, unable to change it)
- Notification sound settings PER APP
- LOTS of DnD options like different weekly schedules (like a 5+2 setting), as well as PER APP DnD (or at least a whitelist of what can still notify you, albeit silently. Now I see nothing on screen when push notification happens when in DnD.)
- Notification priority PER APP
- Icon sorting on main screens (sort by alpha, app type, etc)
- wake Siri up from her coma so she's more intelligent than a toddler ("I found this on the web" - lol. Just give me the fscking answer Siri!)
I'm sure I can think of a lot more...
- Ability to change the notification sound (currently seems locked on one sound, unable to change it)
- Notification sound settings PER APP
- LOTS of DnD options like different weekly schedules (like a 5+2 setting), as well as PER APP DnD (or at least a whitelist of what can still notify you, albeit silently. Now I see nothing on screen when push notification happens when in DnD.)
- Notification priority PER APP
- Icon sorting on main screens (sort by alpha, app type, etc)
- wake Siri up from her coma so she's more intelligent than a toddler ("I found this on the web" - lol. Just give me the fscking answer Siri!)
I'm sure I can think of a lot more...
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Grabbing some of the OnePlus 6's options surrounding the notch would be nice. Embrace it, limit use, or hide it completely. In fact, generally just having some more options to toggle features on and off.
The iPad is hamstrung by Apple's pigheadedness over using a mouse on iPad.
Tasks such as selecting text require precise cursor movement and the ability to easily click and drag. The current process of poking the screen to select a word, dragging the head and tail pointers, waiting for the popup to give you the cut/copy option then positioning the cursor at the insertion point and again waiting for the popup is time-consuming and kills productivity. What might take 3 seconds with a mouse takes 3 times as long with your finger.
The benefit of a mouse -- over your finger in this instance -- is the floating mouse pointer. A floating mouse pointer provides visual feedback about cursor position before you click improving confidence and reducing hesitation. The second benefit of a mouse is click/drag functionality for selecting text which is much, much quicker than handle dragging.
Mouse support has been available on jailbroken iPads since 2010 so we know it's not a technological hurdle - it's some sort of wrong-headed idealogical hurdle inside Apple. Perhaps there is a stone tablet somewhere that Steve engraved "Thou shalt never mouse on a tablet."
Despite some incredible apps available on the iPad (I'm looking at you Affinity Photo), until the iPad offers mouse support it remains primarily a consumption device.
Try the Speedometer app (it's free). A line at the bottom of the screen tells how strong the satellite signal is and offers a ± of accuracy. Link to app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speedometer-free-speed-limit/id557871911 (I am in no way associated with the developer of this app.)
I'd love the ability to manage bluetooth connections... for instance, if I listen to music at work through a bluetooth speaker, I stop the music when I take a call... now, if someone calls my personal phone, the call comes through that speaker... I want the ability to limit what comes through. I know this can be done on android...
Also, I would love more options for notifications in Mail. If there is a particular email thread that I want to be notified when a reply comes, it would be great to easily make that happen.
Also, I would love more options for notifications in Mail. If there is a particular email thread that I want to be notified when a reply comes, it would be great to easily make that happen.
Apple plans to introduce the next-generation version of iOS, iOS 12, on June 4 at its Worldwide Developers Conference. Rumors have suggested this is going to be a bug fix and performance improvement update, with Apple delaying some features until iOS 13 to focus on these internal changes.
There are, however, rumors that we may see updates that include cross-platform apps for Mac and iOS devices, new Animoji, Animoji support for FaceTime, updated parental controls, and an enhanced version of Do Not Disturb. Rumors never cover all of the features that we see in new versions of iOS, though, so there could be additional changes in the works.
With that in mind, we've taken a look at some of the most-desired features MacRumors readers are hoping for in iOS 12, pulled from our forums.
User Interface Changes
- Dark mode - Unsurprisingly, a system wide dark mode for iOS is one of the most hoped for features for iOS 12, just as it was for iOS 11 and iOS 10. Apple users have wanted a true dark mode for years, but there's no word that it's coming in iOS 12.
- Split Screen mode for iPhone - The option to run two apps side by side on the iPhone would be useful on larger iPhones, especially with rumors pointing towards a 6.5-inch iPhone in 2018.
- More customization - MacRumors reader Breezygirl would like to see Apple add more Android-like customization options, such as the ability to change the background in messages, adjust the SMS bubble colors, or add a theme to the OS to shift the colors.
- Desktop mode - On some Android devices, there's a feature where you can dock a smartphone to use it as a desktop machine replacement, attaching it to a larger display, a keyboard, and a mouse. It's a long shot, but MacRumors reader Marrakas would like to see Apple implement similar functionality.
- Volume redesign - The design of the indicator when you adjust the volume on the iPhone has always been a point of contention with iOS users, and so it's no surprise that in iOS 12, MacRumors readers are hoping for a new, less intrusive volume interface that takes up less screen space.
[*]Improved battery widget - The battery widget could be improved by allowing all of a user's devices to be displayed for quick cross-device battery checks.
[*]No more shake to undo - Several MacRumors readers are tired of the shake to undo/redo feature in the iPhone, which can be activated accidentally. Some readers would like to see an undo feature enabled through a different gesture.
App Improvements
- Camera controls in the Camera app - On a lot of Android devices, the camera app provides manual controls for photo taking. Apple has no similar feature for full manual control, and it would be nice if it were an option, even one that had to be toggled on in Settings. Other settings are hidden in the Settings app, and users would like to see these more readily accessible.
- Aspect Ratio in Camera app - Multiple MacRumors readers would like to see an option to set a default aspect ratio for photos.
- FaceTime - Several MacRumors readers are hoping for group FaceTime. Rumors suggest Apple's working on it, but it might not come in iOS 12. Animoji are expected to come to FaceTime, though, so you can converse with friends and family as an Animoji character.
- App Store wishlists - The revamped App Store in iOS 11 removed app wishlists that some users took advantage of often. This is a feature that quite a few people miss.
- Photos improvements - MacRumors reader kirky29 is hoping for a major overhaul to the Photos app with a lot more functionality for doing things like viewing and editing metadata, changing grid size, altering the order of the photos, and more.
- Music app overhaul - MacRumors reader GermanSuplex has several suggestions for ways Apple could improve the Music app, including the ability to turn iCloud purchases off if desired, improved playcount syncing across devices, the ability to sort songs within playlists by different parameters, refinements and improvements to cloud services and the way the app handles metadata, more control over which devices playlists sync to, and better syncing of music content in general.
- Messages search and archive - A more robust search feature for the Messages app would be a welcome change, as would an option to archive messages and snooze messages, as Joseph H points out.
iPad
- Mouse support on iPad - This one is a long shot, but MacRumors reader boston04and07 wants to see Apple add mouse support for the iPad for navigating through apps.
- iPhone apps for iPad - Multiple iPhone apps, including Weather, Calculator, Health, and Activity are missing from the iPad and have been exclusive to the iPhone for years.
Settings and Systemwide Features
- Revamped Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Toggles - With iOS 11, Apple changed the functionality of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles in the Control Center. These buttons no longer permanently turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and instead just disable the features for a set amount of time. In iOS 12, MacRumors readers would like to see the on/off functionality returned or enabled through another gesture, such as a longer press.
- Do Not Disturb improvements - Do Not Disturb functionality on the iPhone is fairly basic, and that is actually one of the features Apple's rumored to be working on for iOS 12. The ability to toggle DND on and off for specific apps would be useful, as boston04and07 points out, and being able to set schedules for different days of the week would also be useful. An option to hide notifications entirely would be a welcome change for those who want to use their devices in peace.
- Biometric locking for specific apps - Third-party apps can require you to use a fingerprint, Face ID, or a password to access sensitive data, but as MacRumors reader TimFL1 says, this isn't available for first-party apps like Photos, nor for specific parts of apps, like individual photo albums.
- iCloud notifications - If you have multiple devices and get a notification from an app like Apple News, it goes to all of your devices instead of just one, and viewing the notification on just one device doesn't clear it from all of them. If Apple implemented iCloud notifications, notifications would work more smoothly across devices, appearing on just one device and clearing on all.
iPhone X
- Always-on display for iPhone X - Some Android smartphones offer an always-on display, something that Apple could perhaps theoretically enable thanks to the OLED display on the iPhone X, which eats up less battery life. MacRumors readers would like to see an always-on display on the iPhone X for things like the time and incoming notifications, even though it's probably a long shot at this point in time.
AI
- Siri - Improvements to Siri was one of the most frequent requests, with specifics that include Spotify integration, multi-lingual query support, and, in general, just features to make Siri smarter and more like Alexa or Google Assistant.
More than anything, most of our readers are hoping that Apple is going to hunker down and focus on bug fixes and performance improvements to make existing features operate smoothly and without issues.
Apple is said to be planning to address stability and performance concerns in this update, and has gone as far as delaying planned features in favor of underlying fixes.
Do you have other features you're hoping to see in iOS 12 that didn't make our list? Let us know in the comments.
Article Link: iOS 12 Wishlist: Features MacRumors Readers Hope to See in the Next Version of iOS
My wish list:
Dark Mode: YES PLEASE!! I applaud Apple for having their Smart Invert, which works really well. I hope they force devs to include smart invert functionality in their apps going forward. They leapfrogged Android with smart invert, while Google takes their time and softens corners and makes their material design even whiter, brighter and more stark with no sign of any kind of dark mode for them.
Split screen: Would be awesome, especially with the 6.5" iPhone.
Parental controls: PLEASE take a cue from Amazon kid devices, their parental controls are off the chart in how good they are. Things like being able to limit exactly which apps can be used, time limits per apps with the ability to increase time as a reward, app monitoring, etc. My daughter has an ipad, but don't let her use it often because I'm not confident in knowing and being able to tailor what she does on it.
More customization: Would be great, not a deal breaker, but please release me from the boredom of pages and pages of grids of icons. Come on, we need something to tinker with. Even simple things like allowing empty icon spaces so I can maybe have a 2nd row of most used icons on the bottom row above the dock. Custom icons from the app store would be welcome as well. Hey it's only for fun, but I'm always amazed at how much dev time is spent on emoji's. It seems like every release the very first item they tout is "one trillion more emoji with different skin tones".
Dockbar: My dream would be to have infinidock like ability, that is a jailbreak app that allows you to have multiple docks that you can scroll through swiping left and right. I'd also love to be able to put more icons in. Even with my tired, old eyes I can still easily see 6 or more icons in the dockbar.
App store: My only wish would be to be able to access, purchase, review, etc online like I can with Google Play. It's really annoying when I want to research an app, but have to do it on my tiny phone screen. And no iTunes isn't a viable solution, in fact...
iTunes: Please get rid of this outdated hunk of junk.
Mouse support on ipad: Would be nice, and would help to finally bridge the gap between iOS and "real" operating systems. Yeah I know, Apple doesn't want to eat into their laptop sales. But with the rumors of crossover capability of apps I think even Apple realizes it's inevitable. I might even consider getting an ipad pro over a surface pro if it had mouse support and I could use it as a laptop when I wanted to. Well maybe not, I still think a tablet without a kickstand is difficult to use. I know it would also introduce another level of difficulty for devs, but sooner or later it will have to be introduced. The surface pro is making great progress, and Chrome OS laptops are more popular than ever. But really iOS apps don't need to change anything, all you are doing is changing touch input to mouse input.
Control Center: Please make more functions available right in control center, and let us go right to the setting from the toggle instead of having to open settings separately. Control Center can be awesome but needs some TLC. Let us customize what we can put on there as well.
Widgets: As a former android widget lover, I've actually converted and prefer iOS now because the widgets are compartmentalized and out of the way until I need them. They are also very uniform in style, size, color, etc unlike Android where they are very alarmingly different and often look terrible. But android widgets are MUCH more powerful, and Apple needs to really add more power to their widgets.
Always on display: Yeah, this would be awesome, except make sure there is useful info on there. In other words I want to see what notifications shows me now, including the full text of a text message, the subject of an email, etc. On Android it does me very little good to see that I have a text message, but not to have any idea what the message is. It's a big screen, use it!!
Biometric password for all apps: Hopefully I can use biometrics to login to apps, websites, etc. It already works on a lot of stuff and I love that, hopefully it becomes a requirement for devs to incorporate.
Status bar/notch: Apple can really streamline this, make the text a bit smaller and move it up a bit, or maybe consider 2 lines. Please add back the battery percentage as well. For me the notch is superior in that it saves screen real estate by incorporating the status bar, but the way Apple neutered the status bar makes that argument weak.
Let us choose 3rd party apps as default: Yeah I know this is a long shot, but let me choose my mapping app for example.
Carplay: Please let me use my mapping app, specifically Waze. I spent the money for your phone and storage, it's not like you are losing advertising dollars to my not using Apple maps, so why is it so difficult to just let me use Waze?!?!??
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How's about the ability to better manage the app icons on the screen instead of/in addition to the "auto-sort" that it currently does. Yes, this could be considered a power-user feature, but holy crap is it annoying that all my icons default to the top when I have a pages with only 6 icons on them.
That is not good heuristics. That is not good UX. And the accessibility option is a work around, not a solution.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that I wish holding onto a design for the sake of a design is a really stupid reason.
Also a sorted A-Z list of the apps on your phone outside of Settings would be nice.
That is not good heuristics. That is not good UX. And the accessibility option is a work around, not a solution.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that I wish holding onto a design for the sake of a design is a really stupid reason.
Also a sorted A-Z list of the apps on your phone outside of Settings would be nice.
Volume adjustment/mute for individual apps. I want Music and voicemail at full volume but not Words With Friends. Constantly having to fiddle with the volume switch for this is an annoyance that doesn't need to happen. No reason apps shouldn't have their own volume settings.
Ability to password/passcode lock individual apps. I love keeping Dropbox logged in on my iPad but I share the iPad with my family and sometimes friends. Would love it if my files could stay protected behind a passcode instead of having to log out and back in when I need access.
Ability to password/passcode lock individual apps. I love keeping Dropbox logged in on my iPad but I share the iPad with my family and sometimes friends. Would love it if my files could stay protected behind a passcode instead of having to log out and back in when I need access.
Add something like the old BumpTop to OSX. That was useful before Google bought it and killed it. Make use of that AR and Homekit you have ben developing and bring up some killer hardware to make use of it. Siri, only a Manhatten Project level of commitment to that piece of junk will save it.
Using your phone as a computer would be good. Plug it into a monitor and BAM, its a computer! That would be ace.
Shutting off the screen doesnt stop video audio as well. *cough* youtube *cough*
Using your phone as a computer would be good. Plug it into a monitor and BAM, its a computer! That would be ace.
Shutting off the screen doesnt stop video audio as well. *cough* youtube *cough*
iOS already has a dark mode, smart invert, and it works really well. What they need to do, and it addresses your issue, is force devs to code their apps to support it.
here is my feature list for WWDC. #1 would be a dream come true.
1 Ticker Tape (on any screen including lock screen like in iOS 5 notification center) that would display UP NEXT info like events, reminders, wake alarm, and other info like new messages, missed call, current location when traveling, package delivered, calories spared (do this for iOS, watchOS, & tvOS as well)
2 Work Hours widget
3 Wish List app for products, media, food delivery (amazon, itunes, eat24)
4 Calendar app update with weather, horoscopes, time remaining, and leather theme option
5 iTunes streaming service
•movies & tv shows
1 Ticker Tape (on any screen including lock screen like in iOS 5 notification center) that would display UP NEXT info like events, reminders, wake alarm, and other info like new messages, missed call, current location when traveling, package delivered, calories spared (do this for iOS, watchOS, & tvOS as well)
2 Work Hours widget
3 Wish List app for products, media, food delivery (amazon, itunes, eat24)
4 Calendar app update with weather, horoscopes, time remaining, and leather theme option
5 iTunes streaming service
•movies & tv shows
Allow Bedtime in Clock to override or sync scheduled Do Not Disturb.
I neither want notifications interrupting my sleep or manually set Do Not Disturb every night.
Seems like low-hanging fruit feature-wise.
I neither want notifications interrupting my sleep or manually set Do Not Disturb every night.
Seems like low-hanging fruit feature-wise.
Multiuser like on the school setup would be awesome for the family as well. My kids always fight over what model they want to use even to they have one each. A simple login that would take them to their age specific stuff would be awesome.
Yeah, because looking at LAST YEAR's list as something to do for the coming year is a bit too difficult.
What stopped Apple from looking at last year's wish list and setting some of those things as "to do's" for this past year and announce them at this year's WWDC?