The MacRumors Show: macOS 14 Wishlist – What Do We Want to See?

[MacRumors]

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss some of the top features and changes we would like to see in the next major update to macOS.

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Apple is expected to unveil macOS 14 at WWDC in June this year, but little is known about what enhancements and new features the company will debut with the update. Last year, macOS Ventura introduced Stage Manager, Continuity Camera, FaceTime Handoff, undo send and improved search in Mail, the Weather and Clock app on the Mac for the first time, Shared Tab groups in Safari, and more. We talk through some of the areas where we feel Apple could bring useful changes to the Mac this year, with particular attention to Safari, Mail, Apple Music, notifications, widgets, app organization, and Spotlight.

We also discuss some of the latest news and rumors, including the apparent delay of Apple's 27-inch monitor with mini-LED and ProMotion, scrapping of the iPhone 15 Pro's solid state buttons, likely launch of the 15-inch MacBook Air at WWDC, and alleged iOS 17 feature leaks.

Listen to The MacRumors Show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castro, Google Podcasts, or your preferred podcasts app. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your podcast player. Watch a video version of the show on the MacRumors YouTube channel.

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If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up for our discussion about the design of Apple's upcoming mixed-reality headset with professional product designer Marcus Kane.

Subscribe to The MacRumors Show for more episodes, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by exciting guests like Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Andru Edwards, Tyler Stalman, Jon Prosser, Sam Kohl, Quinn Nelson, John Gruber, Federico Viticci,

Article Link: The MacRumors Show: macOS 14 Wishlist – What Do We Want to See?

 

[vegetassj4]

Wish #1: Fewer Bugs/Better QC

But until Tim Cook turns blue, I guess we won't get this one.

 

[blazerunner]

The ability to hit the green button and have windows maximize without hiding the dock or file menu. You know, maximize the RIGHT way. Not this full screen crap. Make it an OPTION.

 

[greenbreadmmm]

I would like the ability to airplay to more than 1 HomePod (using apps other than music)

I would like the ability to put some HomeKit items in the menu bar up top such as inside temp or what have you.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I want Apple to improve on bettering 🔋battery life on macOS, instead of relying on the hardware they need to tweak it via software updates to improve efficiency in battery life.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Can we also address the Memory leaks? Sometimes it's a struggle for Mac to keep up with the applications and system overload. Forcing you to reboot periodically.

 

[jakeowens]

I want to be able to have whatever app I click on the latest to be in the forefront and stay that way (right now I click on an app that takes a long time to load, click on another app to do something else like type a message to someone, but in the middle of me typing, the first app pops up so half my typing ends up in the wrong app and I have to click back to the other app and type it again)

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

How about new Dynamic Island wallpapers for Mac OS? The ones that we have currently are starting to look old. Bring this back. 👇

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/trio-of-friends-create-missing-macos-wallpaper-of-monterey-landscape.2321367/

Trio of Friends Make Challenging Hike Across Catalina Island to Recreate the macOS Catalina Wallpaper

A few months ago, YouTuber and photographer Andrew Levitt teamed up with his friends Jacob Phillips and Taylor Gray on a one-week road trip to try to...

www.macrumors.com

 

[madmin]

If you don't like the ASD (for price and/or features) and you have a 27" iMac that still works well, it's hard to find an upgrade path that makes financial sense.

 

[Fuzzi]

The ability to hit the green button and have windows maximize without hiding the dock or file menu. You know, maximize the RIGHT way. Not this full screen crap. Make it an OPTION.

if you want that feature right now, give BetterTouchTool a try:

 

[oofio2461]

A more stable MacOS? Come on, we can't have a stable OS anymore without Apple revamping stuff that nobody asked? (Cough, Settings Revamp, Cough.)

 

[prefuse07]

As others have said -- make macOS solid. Stop wasting time on developing new emojis and useless fluff and just iron out all of the bugs and memory leaks.

Once you've got a solid foundation, then you can start bringing the fluff and shiny so the clueless can be happy

 

[citysnaps]

A more stable MacOS? Come on, we can't have a stable OS anymore without Apple revamping stuff that nobody asked? (Cough, Settings Revamp, Cough.)

Just about all Apple apps and features are items that nobody asked for. Thank god on that.

 

[madmin]

Of course they'll change the buttons, it helps them sell more cases

 

[amaze1499]

All bugs fixed. Including iCloud services.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Haven’t watched yet but my list has:
1: bug fixes and stability improvements, of course.
2: iOS stile widgets in the Launchpad. The launch pad hasn’t been updated in 10 years, it could do with a refresh to make it more useful. If you could have widgets like the iOS home screen, not only would it create more consistency between the operating systems, but it also would work as a proper replacement for the defunct dashboard.
3: on a similar note, get the widgets out of the notification center. That’s an interface that made sense back in the iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite days, but has long since been replaced. Widgets should have their own space.
4: now that macOS has been able to relay phone calls for ages, it should have a proper phone app. I know FaceTime and contacts sorta fulfill this purpose, but a dedicated phone app would be so much easier. Literally just make a Mac version of the iPhone app with a sidebar, favorites, recents, contacts, keypad and voicemail.
5: i’m almost 100% sure they won’t budge on this, but an optional grid view for the new system settings application.
6: the ability to delete built-in applications.
7: “passwords” to become its own application. This goes for iOS and iPad OS too.
8: just like how I want them to port the phone app to macOS, I also want them to port the camera app to macOS. Especially with continuity camera now being a thing.
9: and the Watch app.
10: and the Wallet app.
11: and the Health app.
12: and the Fitness app.
13: the ability to use the Mac to set up other Apple devices. Basically the pop-ups that you get when first pairing a new set of AirPods, a new Apple TV, even a new iPhone or iPad, but on the Mac. All of these features should be equally available on the Mac. I can use my iPad to tell my brand new phone, TV box, etc what my Wi-Fi network is and all my credentials… But not my Mac? Somethings backwards about that.
14: fix the “ disk not ejected properly” warnings that pop up about once a week when my Mac randomly goes into sleep mode. Doesn’t happen every time my Mac goes into sleep mode, but every once in a while.
15: support the same list of computers Ventura does.

 

[Pecka]

No more useless features, only bug fixes and optimization.

 

[nutmac]

• Dedicated Passwords app
• Fix the System Settings mess
• Fix the Stage Manager mess, along with window management gestures
• Widgets should be part of the Launchpad and Lock Screen, and Launchpad should gain iOS style App Library
• Notification Center should use the entire right edge
• iCloud+ Backup
• iCloud Storage doubled: 5GB to 10GB, 50GB to 100GB, 200GB to 400GB, 2TB to 4TB
• iCloud Deduplication for iCloud Drive
• Bring Apple Music Classical, Health, and Wallets apps from iOS
• Finder finally remembers the window size
• New Pointers
• HomePods can be used as speakers without any latency
• Cellular data saving mode and iOS-style app-based restriction

 

[CarAnalogy]

The ability to hit the green button and have windows maximize without hiding the dock or file menu. You know, maximize the RIGHT way. Not this full screen crap. Make it an OPTION.

Double click title bar or option click green button doesn't do what you're describing? They changed the default to full screen but I think you can change it back.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Edit: for some reason I only now realized this post was about the Mac so the below is off-topic. For the Mac I just want to see them make it more of a computer and less of an iOS afterthought. Similar to iOS just improve some basic stuff like Finder. I'm actually fairly happy with the Mac, the only real issue is the poor design that is made to look like an iPad when that's not appropriate for a desktop OS. Fix notifications and at least give me the option to "land" the "floating" dock wasting my pixels.

I just want the ability to put icons on my screen where I put them and not have them auto rearrange. Grid size adjustment would be good. Would be nice to even be able to have no icons on a screen. Options for the Dock would be welcome as well. Basically give me what Android let me do ten years ago.

Also would be nice to be able to remove camera and flashlight icons from lock screen, preferably time as well.

Better support for third party keyboards and all the other little things they just tossed in over the years and kind of forgot about.

And of course the perennial dream of a better native keyboard and Siri being more useful.

 

[citysnaps]

So many people unhappy with Apple and macOS.

Yet they stick with both, year after year after year. Time to muster up some agency and take control.

 

[bmustaf]

I would like to see *NOTHING* new until quality and performance is consistent and reliable.

If "have you tried resetting, reinstalling, and toggling all these things while standing on your head" was a troubleshooting method I was interested in, or thought having to reinstall a fresh copy of my OS every 6 months was acceptable, I'd use Windows (sadly, the reality is now inverted, Windows is more reliable and performant than ever while I can't say the same for macos on even their newest, latest, greatest version and hardware).

I was hoping the "you're doing it wrong"/"you're holding it wrong" attitude would have gone away with Jobs' departure but the "user is wrong" mentality still persists in Apple's quality/design ethos and it is starting to show in quality. I should not be able to, through normal use of any reasonable platform or OS, introduce such bloat that it requires invasive maintenance of the OS/platform on a regular basis or undesirable/unintended operation.

Apple used to largely live this out and make this real (as much as is possible with technology, which is inherently imperfect, so I am not expecting flawless execution), but post-2010 or so has not been great for macos....

 

[mikas]

No more useless yearly OS updates just to drop support for older Macs. You could just update the features of the applications and services and stuff like with OS updates, and as they suite for the spesific hardware. And I am sick of the new names you can't remember and what was dropped and what was not dropped anyway.

btw. I am on windows now for various reasons, and it's because of you, sad to say. I'd like to come back. It would need a recourse out of "Apple Inc". (formerly "Apple Computer Inc.") sadly.

ps. And please don't **** up the Mac Pro 2013 firmware updates no more, thank you. I just lost one of my Mac Pro 2013 AGAIN, you broke sleep AGAIN, sorry but that was totally unacceptable and incompetent in my opinion.

 

[bmustaf]

So many people unhappy with Apple and macOS.

Yet they stick with both, year after year after year. Time muster up some agency and take control.

So, what, you can't be critical of something and still not want to see it improved or not want to undertake the (usually quite burdensome and expensive) endeavor of switching and just hope and express that you'd rather just the thing you are invested in right now would reasonably improve? Is that "control" or is that just reactionary? macos' quality has steadily eroded, but sadly, neither you or I actually "control" that beyond submitting bug reports, feedback, and "speaking with our dollar" (which, well, is arguably completely ineffective for the most part when revenues aren't actually coming from the products in question in any meaningful way except indirectly through ecosystem/walled garden lock in). Buying all new hardware, migrating all data, etc to a marginally "better" platform (if such a thing exists?) sure feels like something, but I wouldn't call it control.

Or, just because Apple is better than other options, does that somehow make its shortcomings acceptable to ignore? Perhaps worse, we all should just be quiet and pretend there are no flaws just because other options are also flawed?

The world you're living in sounds just as bad as a world just full of whiny complainers.

 

[ghanwani]

I would like to see a method to disable all kinds of tricks like temporal dithering that try and make the hardware appear better than it is but end up causing eye strain and headaches.