Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iOS 27 Wishlist

iPadOS 27:

  • Some improvements to extended display support such as clamshell mode (I don’t really care about this, but others do, so I’m including it), Control Center displayed on extended display when clicked on the extended display, and ability to save customized wallpaper and widget configurations for extended displays.
  • Improved Apple Intelligence features with deeper system integration and more Siri Shortcuts actions and automations.
  • Multiple user accounts/ guest mode. I also don’t personally care much about this, but it’s an often requested feature, and could be useful for those who wish to provide curated access to their devices for children and such with a combo of age appropriate apps and restrictions.
  • Manual eject option for external storage drives in Files. This would give some users greater peace of mind when disconnecting storage drives from the iPad. And it could also potentially allow for dynamic caching between the drive and the computer to enhance performance.
  • Continued enhancements and iteration for the Liquid Glass UI, perhaps with additional theming options.
  • Automatic or manual controller mapping for games that don’t currently support controllers. Essentially either automatically mapping on-screen controls to physical gamepads, and/or providing a manual system for users to map such controls. This would be a big improvement for gaming with an extend display.
  • Better keyboard shortcut customization for the system and for third-party app functions. Since the new Siri will likely be able to access individual features within apps at some point, this could be tied to that functionality, providing full keyboard shortcut customization for triggering app functions. But aside from that, just a unified system for customization of app keyboard shortcuts that apps could tap into would be good. 👍🏻
  • Font Book app. Or at least the functionality of Font Book within the Settings app. Good alternatives like iFont do exist, but a better first-party font installation system that allows simple downloading of fonts from the web would be better. And also Font Book’s font categorization and organization functionality would be great for creatives using the iPad. 👍🏻
  • Enhanced Spotlight features including system clipboard. But DO NOT replace App Library with the Spotlight Apps page from macOS, that would be a major regression.
  • Instead, provide more manual customization options for App Library, with different views for it that can be set as default, and bring that new App Library system to macOS 27 as well to REPLACE the dumb Spotlight Apps page where a search bar isn’t easily identifiable as a search bar, and categories are basically useless because none of the apps in the categories are visible without opening them, so they’re a guessing game…
  • Sidecar and Universal Control type features between iPads. Use one iPad as a second display for another iPad. And allow users to use the cursor on their iPad Magic Keyboard Case to adjust something on their nearby iPhone as well, such as music playback and such.
  • AirPlay Receiver that works between iPhone and iPad. So a user could AirPlay from an iPhone to an iPad’s larger display.
  • iPhone Mirroring.
  • Continuity Camera between iPhone and iPad.
  • Greater unification of the app ecosystem (not really an iPadOS 27 item in particular, but a broader developer facing initiative).
  • Added permissions in Privacy & Security settings to allow third-party apps access to on-screen content, like the Screen & System Audio Recording permission on macOS.
  • Possibly support for alternative browser engines if it can be done while still maintaining security and privacy.

iOS 27:

  • Better App Dock like on iPadOS, with ability to swipe it up when in app, use it when in the App Switcher, and pin the App Library to it.
  • Spotlight enhancements with system clipboard and such.
  • Siri and Apple Intelligence enhancements.
  • Potentially vertical Split View apps.
  • Continued enhancements and improvements for Liquid Glass UI, with additional theming options possibly.
  • Customization options for App Library.
  • Added permissions in Security & Privacy for third-party apps to access Screen & System Audio Recording.

And there you have it, that’s my list for iPadOS and iOS 27! This list may change, but that’s my wishlist for now. 👍🏻
 
  • Like
Reactions: xxFoxtail and HouseLannister
klasma said:
Notifications overhaul. Notifications history. Allow dismissing notifications when they pop up as banners while using the phone.
Click to expand...
Just to clarify, notification banners can already be dismissed while using the phone. You just swipe it upward. I hope that is helpful for you. 🙂👍🏻
 
Tar Sniffer said:
iOS 27
  • Dynamic wallpapers like in Mac OS
  • Changes to the Stocks App. I would love for it to include new tabs that show global currencies, crypto rates, a currency convertor and a way to view my portfolio.
  • Allow old iPhone wallpapers to be downloaded like on the Mac. It would be even better if they were updated to be dynamic.
  • A more detailed transaction history in the Wallet App, similar to Apple Card.
  • A new icon set - Coloured glyphs on a liquid glass background
  • Better understanding of active subscriptions using Apple intelligence.
  • App Library overall or removal
  • Automated Memoji for contact images based on photos
  • Removal of the white lines around icons or at least an option to disable.
  • Bring back the classic Photos app layout

CarPlay
  • Custom wallpaper
  • Widgets on the homescreen
  • Apple Maps favourites that we can manually input and quickly access (4-5 options)
Click to expand...
I like several of the ideas here. 🙂👍🏻 Though I would prefer App Library plus some customization options over its complete removal. I like the App Library a lot more than the Apps page they just added to macOS 26. 👍🏻

But yeah, colored glyphs on a Liquid Glass background as an icon set would look awesome! 👍🏻
 
ProbablyDylan said:
This only kicks them to the notification center. It does not fully dismiss the notification.
Click to expand...
Ok, but isn’t the point to just get them off the screen? What’s the difference between “dismissing” them, and swiping them off the display where they’re no longer in the way?
 
Kal Madda said:
Ok, but isn’t the point to just get them off the screen? What’s the difference between “dismissing” them, and swiping them off the display where they’re no longer in the way?
Click to expand...
It's just a way to be tidy so you don't have to look at it twice when you go to your notification center. Dismiss it as read because you are acknowledging you are done with it. Let's you use your notification center as a To Do list. Don't need it cluttered up with things you have already read.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kal Madda
ProbablyDylan said:
I don't want to see it twice. A good compromise would be swiping up to send it to the notification center for later, or swipe it to the left to permanently dismiss.
Click to expand...
Ok, that makes more sense, I guess I just don’t use notifications that way. 🤷🏼‍♂️👍🏻
 
The one thing and the one thing Apple MUST do for OS 27 is the ability since iOS 7-10 is fully turning off WiFi/BT via control centre NOT via settings. Enough is enough
 
indefinite said:
A local, native Terminal app for iOS (or at least iPadOS) would be great.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t hold my breath. I don’t think a native Terminal makes any sense for modern OSes. Apple practically invented GUI to move away from command line decades ago on the Mac. I don’t think they’re going to add it to a modern platform that never had it in the first place. And especially not with AI replacing the need for command line, with users able to ask their computers to complete tasks with natural language, no scripting required. 🙂👍🏻
 
Ability to schedule jobs at a later time and on a repeating basis. Adding it to individual apps just touching the surface,
 
I was thinking about this earlier, an option for tinting the Liquid Glass buttons systemwide (similar to the tinted app icons) could be pretty cool. I made a mockup to demonstrate what I’m talking about on iPadOS. To be honest, I don’t know that I would really use it much, but it could still be pretty cool. I wonder if Apple may add something like that in 27 as an expansion of the “Tinted” option for Liquid Glass in Display & Brightness settings?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0430.jpeg
    IMG_0430.jpeg
    404.1 KB · Views: 53
  • Like
Reactions: xxFoxtail
Kal Madda said:
I was thinking about this earlier, an option for tinting the Liquid Glass buttons systemwide (similar to the tinted app icons) could be pretty cool. I made a mockup to demonstrate what I’m talking about on iPadOS. To be honest, I don’t know that I would really use it much, but it could still be pretty cool. I wonder if Apple may add something like that in 27 as an expansion of the “Tinted” option for Liquid Glass in Display & Brightness settings?
Click to expand...
I think tinting the glass elements could be cool, there just needs to be more colour.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kal Madda
The only things I want are:

1. Sharp icon edges without moving borders like iOS 18. iOS 26 icons still feel blurry and distracting to my eyes. An accessibility setting for this is fine.
2. Swap the hastily cobbled together tinted glass setting to frosted (blurred) glass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kal Madda
Brettka7 said:
The only things I want are:

1. Sharp icon edges without moving borders like iOS 18. iOS 26 icons still feel blurry and distracting to my eyes. An accessibility setting for this is fine.
2. Swap the hastily cobbled together tinted glass setting to frosted (blurred) glass.
Click to expand...
As long as they’re options I can keep disabled, I’d be ok with that. I’d be mad if that’s was taken away from me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kal Madda
I'm gonna try to make my wishlist for the first time (AND I'm gonna actually be realistic with this and not say "Liquid Glass removed!!! macOS on iPad!!!")
  • Much much much better Apple Music integration with third party devices. I want to be able to use AutoMix and Spatial Audio on my PS5 while gaming. I have had to resort to using a headset which can take in a USB connection and a Bluetooth connection at the same time but the audio quality is just average compared to the audio quality of natively listening to a song on PS5.
  • Better performance. I know that this has been leaked and everything with iOS 27 being a Snow Leopard update but I cannot stress this enough: My iPhone 16 (quite new and iOS 26 was probably designed with it in mind) lags when I go to enter something into the search bar. I myself am an iOS 26 and Liquid Glass glazer but my god they need to pull off some black magic to give us good performance for once
    AirPlay to game consoles. This is not a realistic idea and they would probably have to sell their souls to be able to connect to the witchcraft that is the PS5 but I would especially love to have Netflix in Picture in Picture while playing Fortnite.
  • The new Siri to be something fresh and not just another text only AI chatbot. Every single "AI feature" I have seen except for a few such as Apple Intelligence is literally just a copy and paste of ChatGPT. I want something new and fresh that will be useful such as giving it up to date knowledge on Apple products (any time you ask something about iOS 26 to an LLM it says that iOS 26 does not exist), giving it useful capabilities such as controlling your system (not like the control across apps shown at WWDC 24 but something agentic like Claude Cowork), and while this may be a bit of a stretch: giving Siri it's own Mac VM in the cloud. It could have access to iCloud, essential apps such as Safari, iMessage, and other Apple apps. This is more of a safety precaution because of the previous capability I mentioned being the ability to control your system, because you probably should never give an AI agent full access to your own system, but a cloud VM would be good middle ground.
  • ACCENT COLORS!!! I want to give my phone a 'leyline green' accent color (the kind of green you can see in my profile picture) while still retaining the automatic switching between light and dark mode.
  • WWDC Liquid Glass as an option. I know I'm breaking my promise of this list being realistic but please, I will do anything to get WWDC Liquid Glass back.
  • A wishlist app. I'm being unrealistic here because there is no way in hell Apple is adding new apps to their OS that already has around 35 preinstalled apps, but I want something like Apple Invites where I can make a new wishlist (such as a wishlist for games I want to get but want to wait for a sale for or want to wait until I'm done with my current game), have rich information about products inside a wishlist (maybe a share action in the share sheet that uses some sort of AI to get information to create a good in app product page), and be able to share those wishlists with others.
Yeah I broke my promise of being realistic
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: 01cowherd and Luftkopf
A small thing, but when calling up the Keypad on the Phone app, as you start typing in a phone number it'll add a bar with suggested auto-completes (numbers you've dialed before or possibly from your Contacts). But, that bar covers up half the top row of digits, with no way to dismiss it! This is on an iPhone SE, the larger phones may not have this issue; but, c'mon, Apple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kal Madda
Every couple years we get a new app and I would like Apple to finally make an RSS app. It would certainly have some AI-powered suggestions/curation, but I want it to also be possible to work like a good old fashioned Google Reader-like.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kal Madda
Reverend Benny said:
External monitor support for iOS, stage manager style implementation (Samsung DeX-ish/MS Continuum style).
Click to expand...
Apart from having an iPhone Air that doesn’t do any kind of display out through the USB port, I’d like to have this as well. It would be nice to just dock my iPhone at my work desk instead of bringing my iPad or MacBook with me. I do already occasionally just use it with a Bluetooth keyboard, though a larger screen is a must sometimes.
 
Why we need a per-app grayscale setting in iOS.

Viewing apps in color makes them more addictive, particularly social media apps. Changing your whole phone to grayscale can help, but most people need certain work and personal apps in color. There is currently only a tedious workaround. You can technically set up per-app grayscale today using iOS Shortcuts automations, but it's very tedious and doesn't work well.

​

 
  • Like
Reactions: UpsideDownEclair, Kal Madda and AdamInKent
Features I've wanted (and some I've seen implemented) beginning 2020:

What does Android have (or can do) that Apple hasn’t implemented yet?



• File management

• USB file transfer

• USB-C support

• PC file transfer

• Wireless file transfer (Wi-Fi Aware)

• App sideloading (globally)

• 3rd party app stores (globally)

• Default app selection

• Picture-in-picture for iPhones

• Split Screen for iPhones

• Improved app multitasking

• Improved background app management

• Mouse support

• Flexible home screen layout & widgets

• 3rd party dynamic wallpapers for home screen and lock screen

• 3rd party apps in Control Center

• App overlay (app drawn over another app)

• Better support for legacy apps

• AlarmKit API for 3rd party clock apps to use alarms

• ToneKit API for 3rd party apps to use custom ringtones & custom notification sounds per app

• PlaylistKit API for creating playlists and smart playlists (no more iTunes)

• Import tones from Files app (“Save Tone”, “Save 2 Tones”, “Save 3 Tones”)

• Improved default app selector

• A “rotate screen to landscape” icon pop-up when rotating the screen while iPhone is locked in portrait mode

• Improved background process management

• Support for 3rd party AI assistants (e.g., Google and Alexa)

• Textured backgrounds for Notes app

• Game emulators

• JIT provisioning for special apps (game emulators, virtualization apps)

• Torrent clients

• Super apps (e.g., virtualization apps)
 
  • Like
Reactions: HouseLannister and Kal Madda
terrence1019 said:
• App sideloading (globally)

• 3rd party app stores (globally)
Click to expand...
Let's add 3rd party watch notification support (globally). I am hoping it is working for those EU beta testers. I am a weirdo who wants to use a Pixel Watch with an iPhone. I like the round design better and I like the watch faces better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back