WWDC19

Like last year, in the lead up to WWDC, I’ve been thinking about what new things or updates I’d like to see in the next version of iOS. Many of these items were on my iOS 12 wish list last year but didn’t come to iOS 12, so now I’m hoping they’re coming to iOS 13.

Here’s my list in no particular order:

  • Dark mode all the things! This has been on my iOS wish list for a few years now. But this year feels like the year it’ll happen. Dark mode came to macOS last year, and this year iPad apps are coming to the Mac—which means iOS apps will need to support dark mode. It would seem strange then for iOS not to get dark mode too. In addition to a toggle in Control Center, I would love to be able to toggle dark mode automatically either by screen brightness or by daylight time (which could be scheduled like Night Shift or could use the device location’s sunrise and sunset times).
  • Speaking of Control Center: Better Control Center placement. Perhaps it could live in the multitasking app switcher UI as an app card. On iPhone, it would be to the right of the active app. And like how you can swipe the home bar indicator right as a shortcut to switch from the active app to the previously active app, perhaps swiping left on it could be a shortcut to show Control Center.
  • One more Control Center thing: Allow third-party apps to add launcher buttons.
  • Replace the incoming call screen that takes over iPhone and iPad with a less-intrusive notification banner or something similar.
  • Replace the volume display that covers what’s being watched when the volume is changed with a display in the Status Bar like Apollo and Instagram.
  • An easier way to change the apps in Slide Over and Split View (like how prior to iOS 11 there was an app picker to select an app for multitasking). The Slide Over app and one app in Split View currently have a drag indicator at the top that allows the app to slide left or right or off the screen and allows dragging down to enter or leave Split View. Perhaps if the indicator were dragged down slightly, it would keep the current enter/leave Split View action, but if it were dragged down further, it would expose another panel with a grid of recently used apps that support multitasking. And perhaps apps could be favorited for quick access.
  • Picture-In-Picture on iPhone.
  • Better ways to dismiss modal form sheets.
  • Improvements and modernizations in Mail.
  • Ability to create smart playlists in Music.
  • Bring back the network activity indicator for notch phones.
  • A keyboard shortcut to dismiss Safari View Controller (unless this already exists and I don’t know about it?).
  • Bring back the URL schemes that launched Settings submenus (for example launching into Settings > Personal Hotspot or Settings > Privacy > Location Services).
  • If not those then allow customizing the 3D Touch shortcuts for Settings.
  • On iPhone X/XS, 3D Touch shortcuts on the lock screen when navigating or on a call (curiously they disappear from the lock screen now, so to take a photo, the phone has to be unlocked).
  • Ability to restore a single app or, say, a selection of Camera Roll photos from a backup rather than having to restore the entire device. (Seriously, why is this still a thing?) Imagine in iCloud settings being able to browse the contents of iCloud backups and selectively and directly restore things from them.
  • Make Apple Watch notifications opt-in instead of opt-out.
  • An expanded Shortcuts API. With it, developers could build shortcut actions that accept input and return output. And developers could build what are effectively native Shortcuts actions that can have full access to the app’s functionality and data and can perform actions in the background (like how the Notes actions work) without a URL scheme and bouncing to the app to complete.
  • Searchable emoji keyboard.
  • Low-light camera mode.
  • When deleting an app with an active subscription, display a prompt asking whether or not to cancel the subscription.
  • Ability to have three apps in iPad Split View.
  • Drag and drop from one app to another on iPhone.
  • Spam call filtering. If my phone can display “Scam Likely” when a suspected spammer is calling, I would like the option to have those calls not actually ring my phone and instead arrive silently like notifications can now.
  • Keyboard navigation system (and API for developers) to navigate an app with an external keyboard.
  • Some kind of indication what app has keyboard focus in iPad Split View. And the ability to Command-Tab between the two apps.
  • More robust developer analytics. Since third-party analytics frameworks have repeatedly shown they cannot be trusted, they should need to be approved by Apple. And Apple should provide developers with a robust, privacy-focused framework to use instead. Either should be opt-in for the user.
  • Related, more immediate stats and sales info in App Store Connect even if they are a couple hours delayed. Like the above item, Apple should provide more robust reporting and analytics frameworks so developers aren’t pushed to using possibly questionable third-party analytics librarys.

So, just a few things on my wish list again! Hah! I’m hoping many of these won’t be on next year’s list because they’ll be part of iOS 13. We’ll find out on Monday!