Apple gave us an official date for this 12 months’s 2024 the place the subsequent main model of the iPhone’s software program, probably referred to as iOS 18, will debut. We now have a couple of concepts for options and fixes that Apple ought to embrace in its subsequent main replace to the iPhone.
For seven months, most of us have lived with iOS 17. There have been excessive factors just like the introduction of StandBy Mode, Test In and iMessage stickers. And there have been low factors like the entire overheating software program bug that hit iPhones working iOS 17, which has since been resolved. For months we have Journal-ed, NameDrop-ed and casually sworn in Messages with out the worry of being Autocorrect-ed.
So what’s subsequent for the iPhone? What is going to my iPhone be like this fall? Now that the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional is out will it change issues?
I don’t know.
Certain there are rumors about iOS 18 and the way it’ll be a large deal, perhaps even a much bigger deal than the iPhone 16. And yeah, Apple, like different telephone makers, will probably flex its hype muscle mass and attempt to impress us with some AI magic.
Overlook all that. As an alternative of us making an attempt to guess what Apple will do subsequent to our iPhones, I assumed I would assemble a few of CNET’s finest iOS-ers and iPhone-nitians to inform Apple what we would like in iOS 18.
— Patrick Holland
Extra multitasking for the iPhone Professional Max
The Dynamic Island is a superb begin, however I want Apple would discover extra methods to reap the benefits of the Professional Max’s giant display specifically. As I’ve written previously, I would like to see a model of Apple’s Slide Over characteristic optimized for its larger-size iPhone.
Slide Over enables you to view a second app in a floating panel alongside the facet of the display. This feels extra helpful on a smartphone-size display in contrast with break up view. If Slide Over had been out there on the iPhone Professional Max, you’d have the ability to dedicate many of the display to a single app, whereas checking one other. I might see this being helpful for looking by my e-mail inbox whereas protecting an eye fixed out for brand new Slack messages, for instance.
— Lisa Eadicicco
Let the Motion button assist a number of shortcuts
One of many new options on the iPhone 15 Professional and 15 Professional Max is the Motion button, which changed the silent/ring slider button discovered on each prior iPhone mannequin because it debuted in 2007. In its present setup, I can set the Motion button to set off one shortcut at a time. By default, it does precisely the identical factor because the mute slider did earlier than it: it could possibly toggle between turning on the ringer and placing your iPhone into silent mode. There are a variety of different choices for it like having the ability to use it to open the Digital camera app and take a photograph. You may even have it run a selected shortcut/automation within the Shortcuts app. Maybe my favourite use is somebody who makes use of their location to vary what the Motion button does like flip it into an order now set off for a Starbucks latte.
The Motion button works with a single lengthy press, it doesn’t matter what you select for the button to do. Presently, you both want to vary what the Motion button does to get extra use out of it or make some elaborate automations within the Shortcuts app.
However I really feel there may be much more that the Motion button might do if Apple would let it assist a number of enter clicks. Like, I might nonetheless have it’s a toggle for ringer/silent mode with a single lengthy press, however do one thing else (like activate/off the flashlight) with a double-long press. I believe this is able to add a lot performance to the button and consequently open it as much as much more individuals taking extra benefit of it.
— Patrick Holland
Extra StandBy Mode capabilities please
StandBy Mode was certainly one of my favourite new options Apple launched with iOS 17. I take advantage of the characteristic on my work desk every day, and it is good having easy accessibility to the climate, time and podcasts. However I would like Apple to develop this characteristic extra.
For starters, I would like Messages and Mail to reap the benefits of StandBy Mode. Proper now, in case your iPhone will get a textual content whereas it is in StandBy Mode, you get a notification, and in case you faucet the notification in time, you see a preview of the message. In any other case, you need to take away your iPhone from StandBy Mode to learn the complete message and reply.
It could be nice if Apple developed a StandBy Mode widget for Messages that allows you to see full messages and reply to them with out exiting StandBy Mode. It could even be good if there was a Mail widget for StandBy Mode that allows you to learn emails (like newsletters) and exhibits you new messages. That manner you may keep watch over your inbox and know if it is advisable reply to an e-mail instantly or in case your newest e-mail is simply spam.
— Zach McAuliffe
Make Siri extra succesful
As a working mother, I nearly all the time have a protracted to-do checklist, and a better Siri would really assist make my life simpler. Proper now, I flip to Siri for assist with fundamental duties equivalent to setting an alarm, making a reminder or checking the climate. However with rumors of giant language mannequin integration in Siri, I discover myself envisioning a future through which an iPhone can get extra complicated duties achieved. Issues like reminding me to purchase blueberries once I’m close to a grocery store or find close by eating places in Hong Kong which are each kid-friendly and dog-friendly.
Fortunate for me, this does not appear to be far-fetched. Giant language fashions mustn’t solely permit Siri to know extra complicated and nuanced questions, but additionally allow it to reply these questions extra precisely.
— Sareena Dayaram
Detect language in Messages and translate, por favor
Bilingual households might share my concern of Siri needing to do a greater job of routinely detecting which language is being spoken. As a result of proper now the iPhone will spit out gibberish, turning Spanish dictation into English, or English into Spanish, in case you neglect to change your keyboard.
If a voice mail message is left in Spanish, the system cannot acknowledge that it is not English and tries to offer an English preview that appears like nonsense. Perhaps these rumored AI smarts might help Siri know what language is being spoken.
My Español no es bueno, so it could be useful if my iPhone supplied an English translation of textual content or voice messages despatched to me in Spanish. The Duolingo hen could be mad at me for not needing to follow my Spanish classes anymore, however Duo is all the time mad at me anyway.
— Bridget Carey
Test-in for group chats
One among my favourite iOS 17 options is Test In, which helps you to share with a good friend or member of the family that you just’re heading to a selected location (like perhaps coming residence from a late dinner). Your good friend or member of the family will get a ping letting them know you are on the transfer and when you ought to be residence. They get notified when you make it to your vacation spot or in case you make an surprising cease alongside the best way. If one thing occurs to you and you aren’t getting residence, your good friend receives a message that additionally contains knowledge like your final location and battery degree in your iPhone.
I would like iOS 18 to let me ship a Test-In to a bunch of individuals, not only a single particular person. Proper now, having the ability to begin a Test In with only one particular person is nice, however there are a lot of instances I wish to share a Test In with extra relations or a bunch of pals all on the similar time.
— Patrick Holland
Schedule texts in Messages
Having the ability to schedule texts in Messages could be an enormous plus. Texting family and friends in numerous time zones is all the time a recreation of math as a result of I do not wish to textual content them when they’re nonetheless sleeping. Yeah, I may be texting them at 8 a.m. ET, however they’re nonetheless asleep because it’s 5 a.m. PT for them. I additionally used to work third shift, and there have been instances once I’d wish to textual content a good friend and ask them a query or simply to speak. However alas, who needs to be awoken to a textual content message at 5 a.m.? Only a few individuals, as I got here to seek out out.
Scheduling texts to ship in Messages would assist alleviate these points. Different messaging apps already allow you to schedule messages to ship later, together with Android, so it is time for Apple to stand up to hurry with others. Some individuals may say that there is a Shortcut you may allow in your iPhone to ship messages at a later time, however I would argue that if you need to use a workaround to get one thing to work, it is not really working. Apple ought to take a cue from Android and let individuals schedule messages to ship at a later time. Individuals who dwell in numerous time zones than their family and friends or work bizarre shifts will thanks.
— Zach McAuliffe
Add a professional digicam app
It is time for Apple to revisit the iPhone’s Digital camera app. For years, it was the gold commonplace of simplicity, providing a “see what you get” preview for pictures, movies and results with minimal, easy-to-navigate controls and modes. However as Apple has added extra performance, particularly for ProRaw pictures, ProRes video recording and spatial movies, the Digital camera app has began to really feel cramped. It tries to stay a one-size-fits-all app on the expense of higher-end options like guide digicam controls.
I would like Apple to make a separate professional digicam app, alongside the traces of the way it created a standalone app for classical music. Apple Music Classical tackles the particular problem of categorizing, trying to find, and discovering classical music, one thing the default Apple Music app is not geared towards. Equally, the professional digicam app may very well be a spot for artistic varieties to entry digicam controls, settings and options past these within the fundamental digicam app. Sony has been fairly profitable with this form of strategy in its Xperia 1 and 5 sequence telephones, and Samsung has a separate Knowledgeable Uncooked app to enrich its foremost one.
Now it is Apple’s flip.
— Patrick Holland
I Took 600+ Photographs With the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max. Take a look at My Favorites
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