iOS 18 Rumored to 'Overhaul' Notes, Mail, Photos, and Fitness Apps

[AlmightyKang]

Nah, it's mostly pics of the kids growing up.

I have 3 kids and managed to fit their entire lives in 100 gig plus all the family photos scanned back to 1880 or so.

My father copped it a few years back and left me with a 2TB NAS full of photos. 95% of the photos in there were 15 very similar shots of the same thing. His entire collection went down to about 5 gig of that 100 gig.

YMMV but as a kid of someone who was a data hoarder I'd rather someone didn't leave me a terabyte of stuff to clean up at this point.

 

[Dark_Omen]

Mail does not need overhaul, it needs bug fixes. Please, please, please fix the bugs like rules not being executed reliably, messages in threads not loading, etc.

Mail definitely needs an overhaul.

1. Attachments shouldn't show up as full size images on the app.
2. Text is too small.
3. Changing the font is awkward.
4. There's too much white space, and not enough functionality.

 

[EugW]

I have 3 kids and managed to fit their entire lives in 100 gig plus all the family photos scanned back to 1880 or so.

My father copped it a few years back and left me with a 2TB NAS full of photos. 95% of the photos in there were 15 very similar shots of the same thing. His entire collection went down to about 5 gig of that 100 gig.

YMMV but as a kid of someone who was a data hoarder I'd rather someone didn't leave me a terabyte of stuff to clean up at this point.

It's much easier to just pick favourites instead of manually deleting everything all the time. Ain't got no time for that.

However, here's hoping that the Photos overhaul, if it happens, will correct some of the database issues. I had considered moving to Lightroom which apparently does much, much better with large multi-TB databases, but I prefer having the iCloud integration across my devices.

And anyway, I still had the same problems when I had as little as 300 GB files.

 

[ypl]

Mail does not need overhaul, it needs bug fixes. Please, please, please fix the bugs like rules not being executed reliably, messages in threads not loading, etc.

And badge counter not being updated when new message is read/deleted on other device. One of the most annoying features of iPhone for me.

 

[ypl]

I hope the Mail overhaul includes them using the Gmail API instead of IMAP for Gmail.

It's Google who is blocking the feature, not Apple, isnt' it?

 

[dampfnudel]

I was thinking the same. The same applies to the other apps. This overhaul sounds like a huge bug festival and I’m not ready for it.

This “overhaul” sounds like a good reason not to upgrade until 18.2.

 

[dampfnudel]

Will iOS 18 be the version were Mail does simple tasks like actually loading messages CONSISTENTLY? Is that too much to ask?

Yeah, it could definitely be more reliable. I hope they address that in this overhaul.

 

[ypl]

Agreed. The most annoying one in my opinion is the notification bubble telling me I have unread mail with absolutely no unread mail. I can never tell if it’s trying to download one from the mail server and hasn’t yet, or it just takes forever to update the mail I just read. Just infuriating to see a bubble saying I have 3 unread mail and absolutely nothing in the unread mail or all inboxes folders. It does eventually update, but if I just read the mail why does it take 5 min to update the notification bubble? So annoying.

THIS. It worked properly before iOS 13. Apple "fixed" it then, to make it consistent with notfications generated by Apple's apps (Calendar, Mail, Notes, etc.) - not being removed when notifications are cleared/canceled on other device. I hate this feature. All 3pty apps I know manage notifications and badge (bubble) properly even if used on more than one device.

 

[mutatore]

Any chance for Journal on Mac Os too?

 

[amaze1499]

Any rumours or news on the hardware specs? Which models will be left behind?

 

[fatTribble]

I wish Apple would clean house with their software department. They never ‘fix’ anything and just break something else with each update. Truly incredible one of the leading tech companies in the world and they can’t ever get it right. Get some new talent in there that can do the job properly.

I’ve never worked at Apple but I am a software engineer. In my experience the developers would love nothing more than to fix issues. The problem is they’re assigned to new development instead. So my guess is it’s more of a management issue rather than a lack of ability.

 

[amaze1499]

What I really would love to see is an OS and stock apps that harness the actual power of the M class chips. Take photos for instance on every machine I’ve tested that app on it was just slow all over the place.

Whatever Siri/Search is going to be, Apple will have a tough time to compete and win users back over the existing options like ChatGPT etc.

 

[satchmo]

Training load, status and readiness to the Fitness app please.

And let's unify Health and Fitness apps so it's not so bloody frustrating jumping around to find a metric.

 

[klasma]

I had previously thought one of the reasons Apple moved from iPhoto to Photos was to be better able to manage large libraries, but perhaps not.

Such changes are often just because the old codebase has become too difficult to maintain so they start over with a new one.

 

[klasma]

How can they improve a Mail app that already does everything it needs to do?

What?! The Mail app is so basic and buggy that there are probably man-centuries of useful work that could be done.

 

[tomchr9]

Where to begin? Here's a few:

• Smarter Siri? "Hey Siri, please turn off all telemetry and background AI user profiling"
• Messages: Scheduled messages similar to Android, Overhaul effects
• Notes: Private notes with FaceID lock
• Lock screen: Custom Fonts, custom font colors as in Green hours, red minutes and white seconds, ability to hide flashlight and camera, overhaul background selection (it is very awkward)
• Settings: Overhaul layout mess. Restructuring of app settings vs system settings
• Files: complete overhaul. Very clunky. Change font size, anyone?
• Clock: customizable icon and a ticking/dead second hand

Can anyone list best replacement apps for Apple stock apps or recommend a website listing alternatives?

 

[antiprotest]

I wish all this is just the tip of a huge iceberg, but it's probably about it. For now, it sounds insufficient, even depressing. I hope there's going to be much more than this.

 

[tgwaste]

These sound nice, but will they be enough? I hope so. They sound like fun and useful features. But how fun and useful?

No, It's Apple. It will be less than what you expect.

 

[tgwaste]

The Calendar is what needs an overhaul.

 

[dannys1]

Shall we just turn MacRumors into Mark Gurman's personal thought journal?

 

[Premium1]

Mail does not need overhaul, it needs bug fixes. Please, please, please fix the bugs like rules not being executed reliably, messages in threads not loading, etc.

Mail 100% needs an overhaul. It is hot garbage compared to pretty much any other email app.

 

[Premium1]

Will iOS 18 be the version were Mail does simple tasks like actually loading messages CONSISTENTLY? Is that too much to ask?

Don't get your hopes up lol.

 

[ipedro]

I love the Fitness app but it does feel like it's grown with features piled on instead of properly integrated.

A good reboot is in order. Build it around having an AI fitness trainer, putting together your workouts based on goals and adapted to performance. It's really something only Apple can do with a full ecosystem including Apple Watch integration and their own in-house Fitness+ gym and slate of trainers.

 

[PsykX]

Mail does not need overhaul, it needs bug fixes. Please, please, please fix the bugs like rules not being executed reliably, messages in threads not loading, etc.

Everything Apple does needs bug fixing.
I hope their Xcode AI will also help THEM fix their stuff.

 

[Darren.h]

put macOS on iPads. then you got a winner.