Dream big: An expert’s iOS 18 wishlist for Apple’s WWDC 2024

Apple has announced this year, 2024, as the official date for the debut of the next major version of its iPhone software, likely called iOS 18. We have some ideas about features and fixes that Apple should include in the next major update to the iPhone.

For seven months now, most of us have been using iOS 17.Deploying standby mode, checking in, and iMessage stickers. There were also some hiccups, including a software overheating bug that hit iPhones running iOS 17, which have now been resolved. For months, we’ve been journaling, creating NameDrops, and casually swearing off messages without fear of being autocorrected.

read more: The best iPhone to buy in 2024

So what’s next for the iPhone? What will happen to my iPhone this fall? Will the arrival of Apple Vision Pro change things?

I don’t know.

Sure, there are rumors about iOS 18 and what it will be like. big dealIt’s probably a bigger purchase than the iPhone 16. And yes, Apple, like other phone manufacturers, will flex its hype muscles and try to impress us with the magic of AI.

Forget all that. Instead of us trying to guess what Apple is going to do next with the iPhone, we’ve gathered together some of CNET’s finest iOS guys and iPhone guys to tell us what we want with iOS 18. I decided to tell Apple about this.
— Patrick Holland

Improved multitasking capabilities for iPhone Pro Max

of dynamic island This is a great start, but I wish Apple had found more ways to take advantage of the Pro Max’s large screen in particular. As I’ve written before, I’d love to see Apple’s version. slide over Optimized functions for large iPhone.

Slide Over allows you to display a second app in a floating panel on the side of your screen. It feels more convenient than split display on a smartphone-sized screen. With Slide Over available on iPhone Pro Max, you can dedicate most of your screen to one app while checking another. I found this useful for, for example, browsing my email inbox while monitoring new guy Slack messages.

— Lisa Airdichko

Allow action buttons to support multiple shortcuts

One of the new features on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max is an action button that replaces the Do Not Disturb/Ring slider button that has been on every previous iPhone model since its debut in 2007. The current settings allow you to configure action buttons. At a time he triggers one shortcut. By default, it does exactly the same thing as the previous mute slider, allowing you to toggle between turning on your ringtone and putting your iPhone on silent mode. There are many other options, such as opening the camera app and using it to take photos. You can also have the Shortcuts app run specific shortcuts/automations. Probably my favorite use is someone using location to change the behavior of an action button and turning it into a trigger to start ordering a Starbucks latte.
Action buttons work with a single long press, regardless of what the button does. Currently, to get more out of action buttons, you need to change their behavior or do complex automation in the Shortcuts app.
But I think there’s a lot more you can do with action buttons if Apple supports multiple input clicks. For example, a single long press can toggle ringtone/do not disturb mode, while a double press can perform other actions, such as turning the flashlight on or off. I think this adds a tremendous amount of functionality to the button and makes it available to even more people as a result.

— Patrick Holland

Please add more standby mode features

Standby mode is one of my favorite new features that Apple introduced in iOS 17. I use this feature every day at my work desk, and it’s nice to have easy access to the weather, time, and podcasts. However, I would like Apple to develop this feature more.

First, I want Messages and Email to take advantage of standby mode. Currently, you’ll see a notification when your iPhone receives a text while it’s on standby, and a well-timed tap on the notification will show you a preview of the message. Otherwise, you will need to take your iPhone out of standby mode to read and respond to the entire message.

It would be great if Apple developed a standby mode widget for Messages so you could view and respond to the entire message without exiting standby mode. It would also be nice to have an email widget for standby mode, where you can read emails (such as newsletters) and view new messages. That way, you can keep an eye on your inbox and know if you need to respond to an email right away or if your latest email is just spam.

–Zach McAuliffe

Do more with Siri

As a working mom, I often have a long to-do list, and a smarter Siri would really make my life easier. I now rely on Siri for basic tasks like setting alarms, creating reminders, and checking the weather. However, there are rumors as follows. Large-scale language model integration in Siri, I found myself envisioning a future where I could perform more complex tasks on my iPhone. Things like reminding yourself to buy blueberries when you’re near the supermarket or finding nearby restaurants in Hong Kong that are kid- and dog-friendly.

Fortunately, this doesn’t seem outlandish. A larger language model allows Siri to not only understand more complex and nuanced questions, but also to answer those questions more accurately.

— Sarina Dayaram

Detect and translate the language in your messages to express your kindness

Bilingual households may share my problem: Siri’s ability to automatically detect which language is being spoken needs to be improved. Because right now, if you forget to switch keyboards, your iPhone will spew gibberish and convert your Spanish dictation to English, or English to Spanish.

If a voice mail message is left in Spanish, the system doesn’t know that it’s not in English and tries to display an English preview that looks like nonsense. Perhaps these rumored AI smarts could help Siri recognize the language being spoken.

I’m not good at Spanish, so it would be helpful if my iPhone offered English translations for text or voice messages sent in Spanish. The Duolingo bird will be mad at me for not having to practice his Spanish lessons anymore, but he Duolingo is always mad at me anyway.

— Bridget Carey

Check in to group chat

One of my favorite iOS 17 features is check-inallows you to share with friends and family that you’re headed to a specific location, such as coming home from a late dinner. Your friends and family will receive a ping letting them know you’re on the go and when to return home. Get notified when you arrive at your destination or make any unexpected stops along the way. If something happens to you and you don’t return home, your friend will receive a message that also includes data such as your last location and your iPhone’s battery level.
In iOS 18, we want you to be able to send check-ins to multiple people instead of just one. For now, it’s great to be able to initiate a check-in with just one person, but you often want to share a check-in with a larger group of family or friends at the same time.

— Patrick Holland

Schedule text in messages

Being able to schedule texts in Messages is a huge benefit. Sending text messages to friends and family in different time zones is always a math game. Because you don’t want to text them when they’re still asleep. Well, I might be texting them at 8am Eastern time, but for them it’s 5am Pacific time, so they’re still asleep. I also used to have a boyfriend who worked 3rd shift and I would text him to a friend to ask him a question or just talk. But alas, who wants to be woken up by a text message at 5am? When I looked into it, there were very few people.

Scheduling texts to be sent in Messages can help alleviate these issues. Other messaging apps, including Android, now allow you to schedule messages to be sent at a later time, and it’s time for Apple to follow suit. Some people may say yes. shortcut You can also enable sending messages on your iPhone later, but I would argue that if you have to use a workaround to get something to work, it’s not really working. Apple should take a cue from Android and allow users to schedule messages to be sent at a later time. People who live in different time zones with friends and family or work odd shifts will appreciate you.

–Zach McAuliffe

Add professional camera app

It’s time for Apple to reconsider the iPhone’s camera app. For years, it was the gold standard of simplicity, offering “see what you get” previews of photos, videos, and effects with minimal, easy-to-navigate controls and modes. But the camera app started to feel cramped, especially as Apple added features like his ProRaw photos, ProRes video recording, and spatial video. It tries to remain a one-size-fits-all app at the expense of high-end features like manual camera control.

I wish Apple would create another professional camera app, similar to how they created a standalone app for classical music. Apple Music Classical takes on the special challenges of categorizing, searching, and discovering classical music that the default Apple Music app doesn’t address. Similarly, the pro camera app could be a place where creative types can access camera controls, settings, and features beyond the basic camera app. Sony has been very successful with this kind of approach with his Xperia 1 and 5 series phones, and Samsung has a separate Expert Raw app to complement the main one.

Now it’s Apple’s turn.

— Patrick Holland