Last weekend we published a short wishlist of things we’d like to see in iOS 9. Some of it was fairly basic, some of it was more involved. Some wishes were new, and others have been around for years. Some things seemed like a safe bet, and others were more farfetched. But software is never done, and hey, we can dream.
Many of you had desires beyond what we asked about, and we’ve gathered some of the most interesting and frequently requested features here. Like our original list, your requests are a mix of plausible and implausible, simple and complex. But all of them would be interesting additions that would make iOS more useful.
A Spotlight API
Spotlight in iOS is a powerful search tool, and iOS 8 made it more useful by including search results from multiple external sources. But while it can search for third-party apps and show data from within first-party apps (individual notes, calendar appointments, or Mail messages, for example), Spotlight can’t pull data from within third-party apps.
To fix this, Ars commenter chucker suggests some kind of API for Spotlight. Apple keeps third-party apps in their own little sandboxes to protect it (and to protect the OS from bad apps), but as with Extensions, a well-implemented API for Spotlight could poke a little hole in that sandbox to make iOS more useful without compromising that security.
An iCloud Drive app
iCloud Drive exposed iCloud’s file structure for the first time, something people had been asking for since iCloud rose from MobileMe’s ashes. In OS X, iCloud Drive is integrated right into the Finder, and you can use it just like you’d use Dropbox or OneDrive or Google Drive.
In iOS, it’s more limited. iCloud Drive files are only exposed through the Document Picker, something that’s launched by apps on an as-needed basis. Ars commenter Juun and several others would like a standalone iCloud Drive app for iOS. This would simplify file management, and could simplify certain workflows—one could, for example, navigate to a file and then pick one of several apps to open it in, rather than opening an individual app and then picking a file to open in it.
Bigger folders
This one falls under the general “do more with the real estate on large-screened devices” heading.
iOS 7 changed how app folders worked to good and ill effect. On the one hand, folders can now contain infinite pages of apps where iOS 6-era folders could only contain one page of apps. However, only nine of these applications could be shown per page. This was a step down on iPads in particular, which used to be able to show as many as 20 apps at once (3.5-inch iPhones could show 12, 4-inch iPhones could show 16).
Ars commenter jlewitinn would like to be able to see more apps at once again, particularly on large-screened devices like the iPhone 6 Plus and the iPad. Otherwise, these folders leave wide swaths of screen space unused, and you may need to flip through several pages of apps to find the one you want (assuming you don’t want to use Spotlight, of course).
A more versatile keyboard
Here’s another good way to use extra screen space: add more stuff to the iOS keyboard, especially on the iPad. You’d need to be careful not to overcrowd it, but as Ars reader pitmonster points out Apple has already made room for back, forward, and undo buttons among others on the landscape keyboards for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
Ars commenter Vacpower’s requests are in a similar vein. Buttons for basic formatting functions like copying and pasting would save time compared to the long presses that are currently required to bring those menus up. And the iPad could afford to pick up some OS X-like system-wide keyboard shortcuts, too, to make navigating through the OS easier when you’ve paired your tablet with a physical keyboard.
More intelligent Do Not Disturb
The current Do Not Disturb feature can be toggled manually through the Settings app or the Control Center, or you can set a schedule for it if you don’t want to be disturbed doing working or sleeping hours.
Commenters flyingember, svgpithon, and others want more flexibility. Scheduled “Quiet Hours” are a good start, but you can’t specify more than one time. Apple has already implemented location-based Reminders, but why not location-based Do Not Disturb modes? And, of course, the ability to create slightly different settings for every one of those Do Not Disturb profiles would be great.
Kid Mode
If you’re a parent, you’ve probably handed your smartphone or tablet to your kid to keep them entertained for a bit. It’s a totally normal thing to do. But Ars reader DwightJ would like some kind of “Kid mode” to keep a child who wants to play a game from viewing and deleting a bunch of e-mail or calendar appointments. iOS already has fairly good parental controls, but they’re mostly targeted toward families where the kids have their own devices—that’s not always the reality.
The implementation here could be far simpler than a full-blown multi-user implementation, though that’s also something that many of you would like in iOS. Let parents configure a special home screen that just shows a subset of apps, and allow that view to be toggled on and off with a special passcode or a particular TouchID fingerprint. You could even make it so that the child’s fingerprint unlocks the device into this Kid Mode, if you wanted.
Listing image by Andrew Cunningham
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