Although Apple's next operating system won't be unveiled until early June, and it'll go through multiple changes before it's released in September - it's never too early to start daydreaming about what might be.
All of these are things I personally want that would make the OS a lot better, but I also realize quite a few are long shots. So I'm giving each wish a likelihood score on a scale of 1 to 10, with the higher the score the more likely. So with that out of the way...
iCloud Account Merging: I think this has been on everyone's list for years, at least since iCloud was announced in 2011. Many people have multiple accounts they've set up over the years and while family sharing is a kludgy workaround, it's not a full stop solution. I want to be able to access the music and apps I bought from 2006 to 2011 alongside everything I've purchased since. It shouldn't be hard. (5)
Multiple AirPlay Speaker Support: I know Apple's got a new partnership with Sonos, but why turn your back on your own built in technology? It's possible with iTunes, doing it in the Apple Music app is a no brainer. I've got 4 AirPlay capable speakers throughout my house. Being able to stream music to one, all or any combination of them in iOS should've happened years ago. (6)
Mail.app Overhaul: Why is there no share sheet in Mail? It's probably the most likely place people would want to share something from. It makes no sense. On the same front, improved gestures are now a must. Snoozing messages, grouping them by priority, etc are all necessary in 2016. Third party apps are leaving Mail in the dust. (9)
Better HealthKit Integration: Apple's done a great job of letting apps have access to the Health app, but getting anything out of it to somewhere else is next to impossible. Take a cue from Fitbit and make Health more social. Let us challenge people on step count, compare workouts with our friends. Apple's failed with almost every social networking platform they've created (Ping anyone?), this could be the first success. (5)
Apple Music Overhaul: Yikes. Where to begin? The service and catalog behind Apple Music is fantastic, the app itself is a train wreck. Much like my gripes about Health above, there's no social component at all. Spotify absolutely slays Apple in this department. You can't share playlists or make them collaborative, you can't send a track or album to anyone else, you can't see what someone else is listening to. It's a joke. You can't even bookmark playlists. Sure, you can add them to your own playlists, but that adds every track to your "My Music" section. I like to keep my actual music library pristine, I don't want random songs added to it. Right now though that's the only option to get back to a playlist later. I've come across a ton of great playlists with no real idea how I found them, and had to resort to sharing the URL of the playlist in an iMessage to myself. You should be able to save or subscribe to a playlist without it adding its tracks to your library. I've got more complaints about the Music app, but that may deserve a later post of it's own. (8)
Third Party Siri Integration: I'd love to be able to tell Siri to create a note in Evernote, or a task in OmniFocus, or play a podcast in Overcast or start a movie in Netflix. The new Apple TV Siri is a step in the right direction, but there needs to be an API for developers to take full advantage of everything Siri can do. Again, just like with Spotify in music and all the multiple third party mail apps, Amazon is killing Apple when it comes to a true digital voice assistant. (6)
Homekit Finally Starts Working: HomeKit was unveiled 2 years ago and still almost nothing works with it. The idea of a connected home is amazing, but right now very few pieces actually talk to one another, and there's no central hub for doing all of it. Multiple manufacturers with proprietary software are killing the whole premise. Once again, release a true HomeKit API so companies can make products built to work with it (similar to the "Designed For iPod/iPhone" certification badge) and then make a HomeKit app that controls everything. (7)
IFTTT Integration: Anyone who's used If This Then That knows the endless possibilities of tying services together. Apple dipped it's toe in 2 years ago, but full integration would be a godsend. Having emails automatically sent to Notes, receipts funneled into Dropbox, etc. Please make this happen. (3)
I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting, but none of these are
impossible or too outrageous. If Apple wants to continue to lead the pack when it comes to mobile innovation all of these will go a long way to making sure that happens.
I'll make a follow up post in 3 months to see how many of my thoughts were shared by Apple engineers.