WWDC is just a couple of months by . Unless there ’s a striking break from tradition , Apple will preview its new operating system — iOS 16 , iPadOS 16 , macOS 13 , tvOS 16 , and watchOS 9 — while highlighting all the expectant feature and design change they bring during the keynote event on June 6 at 10 am PT . While those of us who follow Apple nearly always get excited about young computer hardware , these major operating system updates are a big deal — the digital lives of over a billion people can change dramatically by what Apple opt to do with its software .
As we do every twelvemonth , we ’re buy the farm to spotlight some of the areas we go for to see Apple destination in its next bad yearly update . ( See ouriOS 15 wishlist from last year . ) It ’s not as if Apple seduce its decisions based on what we say , or would have time to implement these features before its big developer league , but the discussions that brew from these suggestion are a productive part of improving the equipment that so profoundly influence our aliveness . With that in judgment , here are some of our top desire for iOS 16 .
We work through all thefeatures said to be coming in iOS 16 in a separate article .
Interactive widgets
With iOS 14 , Apple completely overhauled gizmo . They look great , palpate more standardized , and can now appear on your home screen , fuse in with app picture .
But they lost something significant at the same meter : interactivity . Widgets can visually update with new info , but if you intercept on it , you open up the link up app . go is the ability to beg a button or slider on a thingmabob and actuallydo something .
This is especially frustrating in the casing of apps like Apple Music , whose controls work on in good order from the widget on Android and do n’t do anything but open up up the app on iOS .
apparently , some safeguard ask to be in place . The framework for interactive contraption will have to make certain you do n’t do something like turn off your dwelling house alarm with an inadvertent tap . But there ’s plenty of way for widgets with simple controls to do useful thing without jump into apps all the time .
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Always-on display
We ’re croak to keep asking for this until Apple relents . There ’s no understanding that every iPhone with an OLED display ( which is multiple models over the last several year ) could n’t have some useful information expose at all times . Android phones have had them forever .
At least , it should be an pick . Users who are specially concerned about barrage life or burn - in could disenable it , though a smartly - contrive always - on presentation would n’t impart much risk of either . Just involve Apple , who implemented an always - on display on Apple Watch , maybe its most battery - tender gimmick .
I just desire to be able to see the clip , date , and weather , and get some sentiency of whatimportantnotifications are waiting for me by glancing over at the phone at my desk without even picking it up . That ’s not too much to ask for in 2022 .
EverythingApplePro
Lock screen improvements
With iOS 15 , Apple tried to combat notification overburden on the lock screen door by condense them into a “ scheduled sum-up . ” combine with the newFocus modesthat hide notification during certain activities , the finish is to help keep you from pose overwhelmed by attention - seeking apps so often .
It ’s a nice idea , but it ’s almost worthless because itrequires too much work to mark up . Everything is opt - in , and users have to decide which apps belong in the summary , what their focus modal value should be and how they should represent , and so on . We’vealwaysbeen able to make do our telling , but everyone just uses the defaults for everything .
I ’d wish to see Apple take a different approach to cleanse up the ringlet screen door . Let user pull down the notice shade if they want to see notifications , and give the lock covert a simple-minded notificationcount(tapping on it would also get to the notification shade ) . Free up all that blank space for other useful data like the atmospheric condition , electric battery floor for connected gimmick ( your Apple Watch is below 20 % ! ) , or other simple info icons .
There are lot of potential ways to make the whorl screen more useful , but the bare clock and notification list feel a scrap like a relic of the past . Notifications have become arm in an escalating battle for our attention , and I want Apple to give me a bulletproof vest .
Oh , and it would n’t be a bad theme to give us the option to change the torch and camera crosscut to a curated list of other functions .
App Library redesign
The App Library is a great mind . Introduced in iOS 14 , it allow you polish off your less - used apps from your various home projection screen without require to physically remove them from your iPhone . But it ’s sort of an unintuitive flock . It ’s organized into rigid automatically managed folder by software type , and it does n’t always put apps into the group you think it should .
speculative , the folders are expose as large four - icon “ space ” where three apps are icons ( without label ) that start the app when bug , but the fourth spot shows up to four other apps as tiny icons , and opens the folder when tapped . None of this is light from the design .
Frankly , a childlike alphabetical lean , similar to what you get when tapping the search bar at the top of the App Library , would be a better view . At least give us the alternative to make an alphabetical list the nonremittal eyeshot , as was done on Apple Watch .
Beyond that , the entire auto - folder schema needs rethink . It go and shift , which hold sinew memory about where thing are . It ’s get no labels . And it ’s not clear what will open an app and what will expand the pamphlet . The App Library tries so hard to be simple that it becomes perplexing .
HomeKit overhaul / new Home app
The Home app has sort of an antiquated face and lacks any sense of entropy hierarchy . The quick info and controls at the top are automatically chosen and ca n’t be edited , and every equipment , regardless of type , is represented by an very square .
It ’s not immediately clear , without experimentation , what happens when you tap on one of these square and what you get when you long - imperativeness on it .
The Home app needs a rethinking , with different control condition type for different sort of devices . A bare plug should n’t be represented and controlled the same means as your bright lighting , which should n’t be the same as a thermostat , which should n’t be the same as your HomePod .
And while it ’s not an iOS 16 thing in especial , Apple need to make a much enceinte push with manufacturer to total HomeKit support , even instantly pay them to do so if necessary . There arefartoo many smart menage devices that only support Alexa or Google Assistant but are n’t compatible with HomeKit . Even if Apple win over everynewsmart home gadget to support HomeKit , it would take several yr for the playing field to rase out .
More default app options
you could arrange a default electronic mail app or entanglement web browser on iPhone , and have been able to since iOS 14 . That ’s a good start , but it ’s just that , a start .
We should be able-bodied to specify default music and podcast apps , so when we ask Siri to play something we do n’t have to specify the app name every time ( or hope that it ’ll think ) . The same blend with messaging — let message apps have a framework to assort their user IDs with our system contacts so when I say “ Hey Siri , message mom ” it get it on to practice WhatsApp or whatever rather of Messages , if I have made the conclusion to modify my nonremittal .
Apple could do more to provide default app options beyond just WWW browser app and email apps while staying aside from those that could compromise security . Calendar , Maps , and Weather are all good candidates .
Sideloading (ha!)
The debate over Apple ’s App Store policies has been expire on for class , and it ’s not going to end any sentence before long .
On the Mac , Apple uses Gatekeeper and credentials sign language to insure apps do n’t contain malicious computer code . Developers submit apps to Apple to benotarized , and then they can be distributed on the web in whatever manner the developer want .
Something like this could forge on iOS , too . Users would have to choose into installing apps from outside the app computer storage , and would get appropriate warning , of class . And apps would probably have to jump through more expert hurdling to be notarized than they do on the Mac — ensure they habituate the proper frameworks for things like location access and such to ensure your iPhone privateness setting are n’t compromised .
In other words , Apple should notarise and allow the instalment of any iPhone app that meets its technical , safety , and security measures rules , but keep that disjoined from thecontentrules that delimit App Store dispersion .
Of of course , none of this will ever go on until our Torah demand it , so of course , there ’s zero hazard that Apple will allow any form of sideloading , even with restrictive notarization requirements , in iOS 16 . But this is a wishlist , nota likely - to - go on list .
Siri improvements (again!)
To be mediocre , Apple made some really overnice improvements to Siri in iOS 15 . It finally have offline processing , which hasten things up a lot and ameliorate seclusion . It also got a bit voguish and more true and is a luck better about understanding what is on the screen and reacting to it .
But it ’s still gotsofar to go . Not a day goes by that I do n’t necessitate my Google Assistant something to which I get a beneficial answer , and then — just out of curiosity — I take Siri as well . Siri fails far too often .
Siri ’s unquestionably getting better , it ’s just not getting better fast enough .
2FA app integration
When you ’re signing in to an app or a website and you get sent atwo - constituent authentication(2FA ) code via text subject matter , it populates the keyboard suggestion bar with the code . Just exploit it to automatically typecast the codification into your app / website , and away you go !
It ’s a magnificent lineament , one that saves time from hopping back and forth between the Messages app and trying to recall a cosmic string of bit . But it ’s special to SMS - based codes , and that ’s not always the most secure option . SIM - jacking , number rerouting services , and other blast can compromise your SMS - based text messages .
I ’d make out for Apple to provide a framework for one - fourth dimension - watchword code genesis apps such asAuthy , Google Authenticator , Step Two , and others so they can firmly populate that same spot on the keyboard suggestions block off when an app or site requests a computer code .
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Battery percentage in the status bar
It ’s the smallest thing . When we got Face ID , we lost a big chunk of the condition bar , and Apple took off our power to see our shelling share . Sure , you could see it when you swipe down on Control Center , but who wants to dothat ?
I know it ’s crowded up there with the TrueDepth faculty , but there ’s got to be a dim-witted fashion to countenance us see our battery percentage again , specially with rumors that the mountain pass is run away with the iPhone 14 Pro .
Call screening
Here’sone last item from a reader : On Pixel phone , Google Assistant can be used to screen nameless phone call and retrieve out who ’s calling before you pick up or station it to voicemail . With the raise in robocalls , it ’s a fantastic feature and it would a nifty if Apple could get Siri to do the same .
Apple offer a feature film in iOS 15 that lets you silence unknown numbers , but there are plenty of time when we miss actual calls instead . With Siri and a Call Screen - like feature , we would n’t have to care about that any longer .
