WWDC 2024: Things I’d Like To See

The Internet is filled with wish lists of things Apple fans would like to see announced next week at WWDC. New things. New capabilities. New all round. The majority of those wishes are the same and focus ahead. Nothing wrong with that. We’re always advancing. Or so we’re told.

Perhaps I’m stuck in the past, but I’d rather see Apple devote time to correcting some longstanding issues that bug me. Many of these issues are part of the glue that holds Apple’s ecosystem together, or what Apple calls iCloud and I call the unnamed operating system, iCloudOS. So, I’ve compiled a list of things I’d like Apple to fix, repair, or at least pay some real attention to.

Chances are better than good that you won’t hear much about any of this next week or in the weeks that follow. Many of these issues have existed for a few years now and seem to be such a low priority that Apple must be content to let them exist. Quite a bit of this could be considered small in comparison to the bigger challenges brought on by adding new features that bring new complexity. But one of the reasons so many prefer Apple’s way of doing things is the attention to detail in both design and practical matters. When it’s good it’s great and often magical. When Apple loses focus and doesn’t pay attention it can be like watching a magician pull a dead rabbit out of a hat.

For me these issues are rough enough and present enough inconsistency to diminish that attention to detail. The longer they are ignored or put off the more they point to glaring weaknesses in Apple’s process and I think we get farther away from that “magical” or “it just works” lore.

It’s apparent that not enough others feel the same or have the same experiences to pressure Apple into devoting the resources necessary to address these annoyances. That’s not a surprise. New always takes precedence in a market driven by delivering something new each year. And AI is the big new thing this year and Apple has assigned all hands on deck to ready what most expect to be the newly christened Apple Intelligence ship to sail.

Yes, we’ll hear quite a bit about AI. I’m also sure we’ll hear about things like emoji, flashy Messages and other novelties that show well in demos. Many of those I consider trivial or “meh” features that will be forgotten shortly after all of the reviews are written. Though the money I spend on Apple products is a small drop in Apple’s buckets of cash, I’d much rather see it spent putting resources into fixes for these annoyances. The list below certainly isn’t a complete one, but these are the things I’d love to see Apple address.

 

iCloudOS

When it works, iCloud is the glue that keeps the ecosystem working well. When it doesn’t things can mess up pretty quickly. You can read all about my iCloud Migraines here, here, here, here, and here. In my opinion, Apple needs to address the infrastructure problems in iCloud before it keeps adding new features and services that rely on it. Otherwise it’s just turning into a similar cobbled together mess much like iTunes became.

Give us a Sync Now button. I’m not sure if Apple doesn’t trust its users or its capability to do this reliably. Either way I’d like to be able to at least reasonably predict or control when I sync data. When I see a message telling me syncing is paused in Photos to optimize system performance it makes me wonder if the optimization is for my benefit or Apple’s.

Apple Music

Speaking of music, Apple Music needs a severe overhaul on all platforms. It’s ungainly and it chooses to be so at the most inopportune times, like when you just want to relax with a little music. I’m also hopeful Apple Music will quit feeding me songs that are not in my library or that I haven’t ever listened to at random times. Perhaps Apple Intelligence will be able to address this. For a company that loves music so much this is a puzzler.

Notifications

I doubt there’s a perfect Notification system that doesn’t require major work by the user. That said, this shouldn’t stop Apple from releasing one that gives us an easier time at granular control.

I’d also love to be able to direct Notifications to the device of my choosing at any given point. As examples, there are times I would prefer to see them only on my Apple Watch or only on my Mac. Instead I often just declare Notification bankruptcy and turn them off. That’s not optimal.  The claims that Focus and Focus filters can solve this have not worked in my case and believe me I’ve tried. More on Focus later.

On the Mac, catch up to iOS and give us a Clear All Notifications button.

If I’m typing on an iPhone, delay sending a Notification until I’m done typing.

Reminder Notifications for Shared Reminders

This is a real annoyance for me. Shared Reminder notifications will remain on my Mac long after I’ve checked off or completed the Reminder on another device. I spoke more about that in this post.

Focus

I’ve given up on setting a Focus for different activities. I don’t share the ones I do use between devices, (Do Not Disturb and Sleep on my iPhone). They just don’t work the way I understand they are supposed to work or need them to. What’s worse is that while I don’t and have never set up Focus on my iMac, it will mysteriously, on its own, trigger a Sleep Focus in the middle of some days. I don’t understand this at all and the randomness of it is puzzling.

Apple Mail

Bring Mail on iOS into feature parity with the macOS version. As one example, it seems silly that Smart Mailboxes aren’t available on iOS/iPadOS.

Widgets

Widgets sometimes seem to have a life of their own. If I put one on a Mac or iOS screen leave it where I put it. Also, don’t remove it randomly. Also, make it easier to change the sizes of Widgets on iOS and iPadOS like you can on macOS.

Permissions

When I install a macOS update there needs to be some way to preserve any Permissions I’ve previously set.

Mac App Store

This has to be the buggiest piece of software Apple produces. It sometimes works, sometimes not. It’s often slower than molasses. Frequently when I check for updates for apps that reside on both of my Macs, an update will be available on one but not the other.

Require developers to list more in a description than “Bug fixes and improvements.” This holds true for the iOS App Store as well.

Air Tags and Airpods

If it’s necessary to push firmware updates for these devices, provide us with a log of any changes and also a way to install the update. The behind the scenes approach feels like pushing a song to our music collections.

Apple Watch Stand Feature

Here’s an annoying niggle. If you use the Stand feature in Apple Fitness you know how that works to complete your Stand Ring. Well kinda. Did you know that if you quickly try to make the Apple Watch recognize that you’re standing towards the very end of an hour and then keep standing or moving as the hour turns over you can completely fill two bars almost simultaneously?

I notice this if I wake up a few minutes before an alarm set to go off on the hour goes off. My Apple Watch will give me credit for standing for two hours even though I’ve only been awake for 5 minutes or so. If I happen to snooze a bit before waking up and arming myself with the Apple Watch, I’ll have to keep moving quite a bit to get credit during that first hour.  It’s an odd little quirk that makes you wonder how the calculations are done.

Screen Time

This has never worked as designed. Jettison it or pay some attention to it.

Shortcuts

Consistency please. If this is the future of automation on the Mac it’s one currently fraught with such inconsistency that it feels stuck in the past and too often ignored. Sync issues occur between devices. Randomly both iOS and macOS forget that Shortcuts exist even though they are present and just general random misfires abound.

Bring Shortcuts automation to the Mac. I mean didn’t the future start a few years ago?

iPad

I won’t get into the iPad Pro debate here except to say quit making iPad a second class citizen by delaying features and apps after releasing them on iPhone. Journal is an example of this. The howls will be loud if Apple’s AI features don’t roll out at the same time as they do for the iPhone.

iPad Files App

Time to address a number of items here. Smart Folders, Quick Actions, and a better UI comprise a short version of a longer list.

Siri

Just fix it. If, as hinted and speculated about, this is an internal political issue over who controls what, then fix the damn political issue and get on with it. Siri has become a bad joke and that joke is now forever a part of the brand. Apple has let it languish and it’s high time for it to be fixed in an age of chat bots. Talk about willingly relinquishing a lead.

Summing Up

There’s more I could list. I’m also sure that next week we’ll hear lots about lots of new things that will push most of this further on to the back burner. I’m looking forward to all that’s new that Apple announces. Here’s hoping a few things on my list might get straightened out behind the scenes by the time we hit next year’s WWDC.

This is the third in a series of articles heading into Apple’s WWDC 2024. The first can be found here and the second here.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.