iOS 12 wishlist

[BiGG DIESEL]

• What is iOS 12? Apple's next big iPhone and iPad software update
• When is it out? Likely a June announcement and beta, September launch
• How much will it cost? Nothing. iOS 12 will remain free.

While nothing is known about iOS 12 yet we have a clear idea of some of the things we want to see, such as the following.

1. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles that work properly.

Control Center has been improved for iOS 11, but one thing we’re not such fans of is the fact that you can’t actually turn off WiFi or Bluetooth from it.

Currently to do that you have to head to the main Settings screen, so in iOS 12 we’d like there to at least be an option to have proper ‘off’ toggles in Control Center - perhaps with a harder 3D Touch?

2. Camera controls in the camera app

3. More powerful Files

Files promised to be a file explorer and manager for iOS, bringing it closer to a desktop experience, or at least to Android levels of control. But in reality, the first time you open Files you probably won’t see much of anything.

For iOS 12 we’d like to see it turned into a proper file manager.

4. More Control Center customization

With iOS 11 Apple has let you pick what you see in Control Center, but its selection isn’t comprehensive.

We’d love the power to add any setting or app shortcut we want, and also to remove the likes of music controls and screen mirroring, which currently you can’t.

5. Wish list returned to the App Store

The App Store has been overhauled as part of iOS 11, and for the most part it’s for the better, but one feature has been killed off in the process, namely wish lists.

Previously, if you saw an app or game you liked the look of but didn’t want to buy it then and there (perhaps because the price was high or you were using cellular data) you could add it to your wish list so you wouldn’t forget about it.

You can’t do that anymore, and nor can you see your old wish list, so good luck remembering anything you’ve added. It was a handy feature and we’d like to see it – along with everything we added to it – returned in iOS 12.

 

[Wildkraut]

I’ll give up dreaming that my wishes becomes true. Dreaming since iOS7.

 

[TimFL1]

I hop 1 never happens. It‘s the best feature addition to ever grace an iOS changelog. People have to start to understand that wifi/bluetooth on or off has no real power impact, they only come with advantages (more reliable GPS, beacons, handoff etc).

If I had a dollar every time I got a relative saying „why is my car connection gone“ or „why is handoff broken“ due to them turning off bluetooth cause „it kills battery!!!q1oneleven“ I‘d be set for life.
But I guess turning off wifi/bluetooth is the new killing apps for battery savings.

 

[kirky29]

Huge and I mean huge improvements to the photos app. From being able to see & edit metadata to changing the grid size, order and layout etc. Ability to choose to only upload certain albums to iCloud. And an option to only upload photos via cell data and movies with WiFi.

A new home screen layout with options. Just because I feel iOS has become stale looking.

Gestures for non iPhone x phones would be nice. Altho I can understand why that probably won't happen.

Allow things like Facebook chat heads and combined messaging apps.

Just make iOS a little fun again for those of us who have been loyal since the begging!

 

[lexvo]

1) dark mode
2) better sorting of search results in the Notes app (since iOS 11 the search results are in a kind of random order)
3) a better Files app

 

[boston04and07]

I posted this in another similar thread, but why not?

- Mouse support on the iPad
- The missing iPhone apps to finally come to the iPad...ie Weather, Calculator, Health and Activity now that that stuff is synced in iCloud anyway (ie give the user the choice to sync it to the iPad too), and a dedicated Phone app with access to voicemails for the iPad’s WiFi calling feature...much neater than having it in FaceTime
- Uses for the unused F3 and F4 keys on the magic keyboard...they should bring up the app switcher and the Home screen
- Do Not Disturb bypass for user selected apps...I’d like my Red Cross Emergency app to still notify me when DND is on, for example
- Add severe weather alerts and a Doppler radar view to the Weather app
- Ability to order prints and create photo books in the Photos app like you can on the Mac
- Synced Clock apps...ie when I start a timer on one device, have the alert pushed through to all my devices
- More local radio stations in Apple Music
- Ability to redownload only selected files from iCloud backups, like Time Machine...I never again want to have to restore an entire device to recover one crucial file...
- Add other iOS devices to the Airplay 2 “now playing” control center widget...like, if my iPhone is playing something, I’d like it to show up with my Apple TV devices on my iPad, for example...

 

[Kalloud]

*Improved notifications!
Just try a recent android phone!
*Remove the HUGE TITLES from stock apps.
*Improved speed and stability.

 

[Small White Car]

I hop 1 never happens.

Oh I like the new default too, but how great would it be to leave that as the default but also have force-touch pop up a 3-button choice:

1- Wifi ON
2- Wifi OFF
3- Wifi OFF for 1 hour

So, of course, choice #3 is the same as simply tapping the button, but this accomplishes two things: First, it gives power users what they want. A choice. And secondly, it's a nice little bit of training for any average person who tries it. Now they get a good idea about why their light tap behaves the way it does. Just seeing the choices clues them in as to what's been happening.

 

[Feenician]

I’d just like Workflow/Automator to be embedded and really powerful, by virtue of exposing the framework to 3rd party devs.

That and a bit of spit and polish i.e. no stutters or visual glitches and no input blocking. Some people rightly say these doesn’t matter all that much, that we adapt and so on, and I think that’s true. But, somewhere in the base of your brain, there’s a difference about how you feel about something that feels “perfect” and predictable/reliable.

 

[TimFL1]

Oh I like the new default too, but how great would it be to leave that as the default but also have force-touch pop up a 3-button choice:

1- Wifi ON
2- Wifi OFF
3- Wifi OFF for 1 hour

So, of course, choice #3 is the same as simply tapping the button, but this accomplishes two things: First, it gives power users what they want. A choice. And secondly, it's a nice little bit of training for any average person who tries it. Now they get a good idea about why their light tap behaves the way it does. Just seeing the choices clues them in as to what's been happening.

I‘m all for giving choices but you can‘t argue that turning off wifi or bluetooth is beyond pointless nowadays.

 

[jonobin]

Bug fixes, a little redesign(remove all this crappy big titles), speed improvement and maybe a dark mode

 

[BiGG DIESEL]

Bug fixes, a little redesign(remove all this crappy big titles), speed improvement and maybe a dark mode

Of course iOS 12 will be focused on bug fixes and performance improvements.

 

[TwoBytes]

PIP for youtube / split screen

 

[TimFL1]

Alright I'm bored so I'll post my usual big list of "dreams that may never happen" for future iOS releases. Pick any of them (at least one) and I'm a happy man. No particular order, trying to group them for easier readability:

- Performance/stability enhancements (think iOS9)
-> Fix AirPod ear detection bug (the ear detection breaks a lot here after long use)
-> The music widget still bugs out occasionally
- Service Workers / Push Notifications for Safari (I think this could happen soon)
- Allow us to specify background app refresh data on an per-app basis (afaik china has this? Allows you to specify whether an app is turned off, can use mobile or wifi data etc)
- Give us a way to lock various parts of the OS via biometric authentication: photo albums (hidden/deleted?), app launch approval, app folders and so on
- Animoji API so devs can release their own mascots as animoji (think Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse)
- Allow us to create smart playlists in the music app, this is currently only possible via iTunes
- Use the Workflow team to create iOS Profiles: toggle on/off parts of the system or automate stuff based on GPS location etc (e.g. silence non-work mails while at work).
- Voicemail for FaceTime
- Roll out services like Apple News (widget works here already) or Apple Pay in more countries. It only needs one outlet or bank to adopt it and the rest will follow suit.
- Apple Music handoff between iOS and macOS/Windows (iTunes)
- Allow us to re-order contact details (I sometimes get a new phone number but have to keep the old one, cut/paste galore instead of allowing me to move a new number up a few slots)
- Add multi-user support to the iPad (I want to use it as a household device)
- Multi-lingual query support (so I can ask Siri to play me non-german songs)
- Really anything that allows Siri to be smarter, could even allow opt-in for less privacy-style feature sets if it means we get a smarter Siri
- Dark mode API, allow devs to opt into it with the addition of an API that allows them to specify a dark theme for their apps (think auto-toggling on the dark theme in twitter via said API). Should, of course, bring dark themes for the stock apps.
- Automatically fade out the home bar on the X or at least give the option to hide it.
- Allow us to specify what info (and how) we see in the status bar. Pre-X devices have no issue there but the X has less space to show status icons. Apple should offer an interface similar to the control center one where we can specify what info we want to see (some may want to have the GPS icon permanently hidden, some want battery percentage instead of an icon, some may not want to see the wifi or cellular icon but get a quick glance on whether AirPods are connected or an alarm is set).
- Add more live and dynamic wallpapers or release APIs so devs can create them and offer them via a wallpaper store (or their apps).
- Add the mobile data usage indicator on the X, it was in the leaked FWs but never made it to the official release (a sliding dot above the top right status bar). I'd like to know when background stuff uses my data (example: I somehow had the movie IT download without my approval, cost me 3GB+ of data).
- Venture away from fullscreen alerts. There is no reason a call should lock me out of using my phone, turn it into an overlay we can swipe away to mute.
- CallKit for voice calls. Apps like WhatsApp resort to continuous push notifications to simulate a video call. There's no reason Apple can't just offer the FaceTime video call UI via CallKit to give devs a way of making video calls fancier.
- Allow us to group notifications, offer APIs so devs can create grouped notifications that expand via 3DTouch (think "You have 5 unread messages from MacRumor User 123.").
- Allow X users to change the 2 haptic buttons on the lock screen. Why is there swipe left to open the camera AND a camera button... ?

There are more things I'd love to see (like tvOS or HomePod changes): tighter integration for the HomePod ("Hey Siri play movie XYZ on the living room ATV", "Hey Siri call XYZ via my iPhone") but it's too early to talk about the HomePod (not out here yet and too early to tell what features they have planned).

 

[jonobin]

Of course iOS 12 will be focused on bug fixes and performance improvements.

I'm curious how they are going to handle older devices, it's too much easy to just focus on the performance of the latest and greatest

 

[FeliApple]

I just hope that App compatibility doesn't drop too much for iOS 9. Still there on my 9.7 Pro, have no intention ever to update, and so far, app compatibility is good.

 

[IGI2]

1. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles that work properly.

Control Center has been improved for iOS 11, but one thing we’re not such fans of is the fact that you can’t actually turn off WiFi or Bluetooth from it.

Currently to do that you have to head to the main Settings screen, so in iOS 12 we’d like there to at least be an option to have proper ‘off’ toggles in Control Center - perhaps with a harder 3D Touch?

Your idea points are valid but I cannot agree with the first one.

Energy efficiency is great with those modules and they have more advantages than disadvantages.

It's like an option to have 4 milion color display instead of 16 millions of colors or like having an option to have 1280x720 instead of 1920x1080 in iPhones Plus.

Yes, it would help save you energy but that's not the point!

BT and Wi-Fi helps you get GPS fix quicker, it allows you to SAVE energy actually, because less accurate apps doesn't receive location from GPS module but from the database in which your router has a saved location.
[doublepost=1518968717][/doublepost]

- CallKit for voice calls. Apps like WhatsApp resort to continuous push notifications to simulate a video call. There's no reason Apple can't just offer the FaceTime video call UI via CallKit to give devs a way of making video calls fancier.

I think you're a victim of some kind of a bug.

I do have FaceTime-like screen when I have video conversation via Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.
[doublepost=1518968765][/doublepost]

- Voicemail for FaceTime
- Roll out services like Apple News (widget works here already) or Apple Pay in more countries. It only needs one outlet or bank to adopt it and the rest will follow suit.
- Apple Music handoff between iOS and macOS/Windows (iTunes)

Those are delicious ideas!
[doublepost=1518968816][/doublepost]

- Multi-lingual query support (so I can ask Siri to play me non-german songs)

I don't understand it either, since query is processed in the Cloud, it could check matches against other languages when you add "song" in your native language or "Movie".
[doublepost=1518968850][/doublepost]

- Really anything that allows Siri to be smarter, could even allow opt-in for less privacy-style feature sets if it means we get a smarter Siri

As the last news show, it is very needed!
[doublepost=1518968953][/doublepost]

There are more things I'd love to see (like tvOS or HomePod changes):

A simple, Play "music query here" on my Apple TV should be added longe time ago.

Google devices with Chromecast can do that very well. (to Google Home): Hey Google, play Eminem on my Chromecast.

 

[kiranmk2]

“Recently deleted” folder for iMessage. Nothing worse than the bug that deletes the whole thread rather than only selected messages followed by many hours restoring from backup and resyncing...

 

[boston04and07]

“Recently deleted” folder for iMessage. Nothing worse than the bug that deletes the whole thread rather than only selected messages followed by many hours restoring from backup and resyncing...

This!! I meant to add something like this to my list. Love the icloud integration in messages but I’m always afraid of deleting a whole thread by swiping the wrong way.

 

[Altis]

Just fix input blocking for once and for all. It's awful yet Apple doesn't seem to give a hoot.

 

[TimFL1]

...
I think you're a victim of some kind of a bug.

I do have FaceTime-like screen when I have video conversation via Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.

...

I mean the part before the video call is live. When your phone is ringing it only simulates that via a continuous push notification „User xyz is video calling.“. FaceTime has this neat caller screen with the front camera active so you can fix your hair or makeup. Are you telling me you get a caller screen for 3rd party app video calls? I‘m only getting the push notification ever since they introduced CallKit (on all phones I had and all phones my friends have).

 

[IGI2]

Are you telling me you get a caller screen for 3rd party app video calls?

I've seen it one year ago a bit more often, but it is still quite visible, it depends on how do you restore and allow the app for everything but even Alexa has this calling screen:


WhatsApp and Messenger have similar slightly better screens.

Since it's Alexa it's home, but with Messenger it's name and surname of that person.

 

[TimFL1]

I've seen it one year ago a bit more often, but it is still quite visible, it depends on how do you restore and allow the app for everything but even Alexa has this calling screen:
View attachment 751758

WhatsApp and Messenger have similar slightly better screens.

Since it's Alexa it's home, but with Messenger it's name and surname of that person.

Yes that is CallKit. It does, however, only work for voice calls afaik. At least on WhatsApp and co. it only shows up for voice calls while resorting to notification spam for video calls.

 

[IGI2]

Yes that is CallKit. It does, however, only work for voice calls afaik. At least on WhatsApp and co. it only shows up for voice calls while resorting to notification spam for video calls.

Oh, so what's why it has been so inconsistent for me. Okay, so now I understand.

So yes, it would be nice if videocalls received FaceTime-like connection (updated CallKit).

 

[JessePinkman]

better privacy no kidding stop messing my keychains apple!...