iOS 16 seemed to be all about personalization, bringing a more customized user experience and collaboration. Apple introduced new features like the customizable Lock Screen, which brought new widgets. They also brought Live Activities and iMessage enhancements like undo send and editing an already sent message. Freeform, the new collaboration app, was introduced as well as a new digital whiteboard to collaborate in real time with other colleagues or students in your class. Even though these were great additions, there are still some features that we want to see in iOS 17 to further improve our iPhone experience. Here is our iOS 17 wishlist!
Features still missing from iOS 16
Before we get started, there are a few features that Apple has mentioned for iOS 16 that are still not available. Apple spoke about bolstering its finance features by introducing a competitor to companies like AfterPay. Allowing Apple cardholders to purchase a product now and then allow them to pay in installments without a credit hit or interest. They also spoke about a new high-yield savings account that would allow customers to open a savings account with higher-than-average interest rates. Lastly, there were rumors about a dedicated music app for classical music that still has not been released. Now that we have this out of the way, let’s get into what we expect and what we want from iOS 17.
iOS 17 expectations
There have been many rumors that iOS 17 is going to be a year of refinement for Apple and its iPhones. Most of the R&D and innovation money seems to be going to Apple’s new VR/AR headset that should be released this year, meaning that there will not be a huge overhaul when it comes to iOS 17 updates. Instead, it should be all about bug fixes, experience enhancements, and most importantly, battery life improvements. Even though there might not be a huge change from iOS 16 to iOS 17, there are still some features that we should expect to see.
Further customizations to Lock Screen
Parker Ortolani put together some ideas of what Apple could do with the Lock Screen in iOS 17. We expect Apple to double down on the Lock Screen customization by adding more fonts, more colors to the font, and more widget variations. There is also a chance we see an expansion to the number of Lock Screen widgets that can be used by adding a second row. There could even be a new larger-sized Lock Screen widget that could take up an entire row. I can see apple giving us a fitness complication with similar information to the Apple Watch fitness complication.
New customizations & additions to the Home Screen
Apple has always been extremely restrictive when it comes to customizing your actual Home Screen. They added widgets back in iOS 14, which added a new way of viewing your iPhone but still did not change much, fundamentally. Apple continues to only allow us to use their app grid – you cannot have floating apps outside of that grid, and the physics of how it works makes it all start on that top left corner.
I can see Apple loosening the reigns a bit with the Home Screen; they could allow us to bring over those new Lock Screen complications onto the Home Screen itself. The addition of widgets that can be interacted with like a to-do list or grocery list would be easy to implement. One more addition that could come is bringing Live Activities over to the Home Screen in a carousel format. Similar to a widget stack, but instead it gives you a look into the information Live Activities provides.
Clipboard Manager
This new feature might need to be in the wishlist category, but I do think Apple could bring us a clipboard manager. Right now the cut/copy/paste functions on iOS are very bare bones. They do what they are supposed to, but if I need to copy a second piece of text or paste something from yesterday, that’s impossible. If Apple can figure out a way to copy something from my iPad Pro and paste it onto my MacBook Air, they should be able to give us a native clipboard manager!
iOS 17 wishlist
Let’s get into the juicier parts of what we would like to see from iOS 17. Some of these are a bit farfetched, but others could make sense.
Sharing custom Lock Screens & Home Screens
iOS 15 brought the ability to somewhat customize your Home Screen app icons by using shortcuts as a workaround. While it is a tedious process to fully customize your app icons, Apple could capitalize on this in two ways.
Firstly, make it easy to change your app icon theme. Allow users or even Apple to create downloadable themes that can be easily turned on without needing to use a workaround. Kevin Kall put together a great concept that allows you to have icon packs you can choose from. Simply select the theme you want and then the springboard resets with the new theme installed.
Secondly, Apple could allow you to easily share your creations via airdrop, iMessage, or even through a marketplace they create. This would allow customers to easily change their icons as well as create a new way for both Apple and creators to generate additional revenue by selling themed icon packs.
Split view for iPhone
With iPhone displays getting larger and larger, we are now at a point where we could fit two apps into one screen. It would work with both landscape and portrait orientations. There is enough RAM, CPU, and screen real estate to get this done. I would love to be able to scroll through Twitter while watching something on YouTube (without PiP) or maybe have a PDF open and my notes app open to copy some text over or even have maps open alongside a second app. There are multiple use cases that make sense, so having a split view would be a great addition to iOS 17.
New Pro Mode for Camera app
One of the last things I would welcome is a Pro Mode built into the iPhone Camera app. More and more people are using their iPhone cameras as their main camera. Whether it’s for videography or photography, the iPhone spouts out extremely high-quality images that are good enough to be used in professional settings. Apple is aware of their cameras and how many people use them, so why not include a new Pro Mode to allow us to get even more granular with our tool? I would love to see this come into action, but I think Apple believes their Auto mode is good enough for 99% of users, so I can see them holding off on this.
More wishlist items
Be sure to watch out our video on what we think iOS 17 will bring. We talk about a few more wishlist items, as well as some other features that we think will be surefire add-ons to iOS 17.
Wrap-up
These are some of the features that we are expecting from iOS 17, as well as some wishlist items. I believe Apple is going to focus on optimizing the experience overall. Getting rid of bugs, improving the software, and increasing battery life are at the forefront of Apple’s mind. So even though we should get some new features, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it was a slow and simple release for iOS 17.
What do you think? What are some features you expect or hope Apple will bring to iOS 17? Will it be a big overhaul, or do you agree that it will stay relatively tame this year? Let’s discuss in the comments!
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