WWDC 2020 wish list

I see some wish lists for Monday’s WWDC being published so I thought I’d take a moment and jot down just a few from the top of my head. I decided to jut let my mind riff for a while to see what it would come up with.

  • Allow default app choosing on iOS – This one will be here in perpetuity I suppose. Being able to choose email, calendar, browser, RSS reader, audio player, etc. etc. seems long long long overdue.
  • Bug fixes, speed improvements, and UI consistency in macOS – I don’t have any specific bugs, or areas of macOS that I’d suggest need to be faster, but it’d be great to see Apple recognize that macOS needs tightening up at every level. Having a release that focuses solely on making everything about macOS work more reliably, faster, and with a more consistent UI throughout would harken back to the days of the original Mac on the painstaking attention to detail.
  • A complete re-think of iPadOS multi-tasking features and gestures, UI – Adding pointer support to iPad was a big deal for many (though, I still haven’t gotten it to work at all). However, multi-tasking on iPad – though it works – is undeniably bad and I’m willing to bet the vast majority of iPad owners don’t even know they can do it.
  • LOTS more iCloud storage – And features so I can leave One Drive behind in the coming years. In fact, I’d add to this the ability to transfer data to/from other cloud services (One Drive, Dropbox, Creative Cloud, etc.) without needing to download/upload. Just click a button and it happens behind the scenes in the cloud.
  • Built-in support for Electron – Apple will never ever do this. But what is a wish list without a few off the wall wishes? I’d like to see macOS have low-level support for Electron because, let’s face it, it isn’t going anywhere. By “support” I mean that it’d allow for the apps to be much faster, use far less memory, and be much smaller since Electron libraries/dependencies could be always available right on the Mac.
  • Force developers to show all apps installed that support sharing – I don’t exactly know how to word this list item. But I have an example of what I mean. Open the YouTube app, and tap a link in a description of a video. You’re given a few choices of what app to use to open the link: Chrome is one (which I don’t have installed on iOS because why would anyone ever?) and Safari probably because Apple is forcing them to. But they do not show Firefox, which I have installed and use as my primary browser on iOS. Apple should force developers to either just use the default browser (like most apps do) or show all apps they have installed that support the action.
  • More Home Screen customization options on iOS (like, being able to move icons wherever you want)
  • Always on Display on iOS (for any hardware that can support it)
  • Just buy 1Password and build it right into macOS / iOS
  • Add an option to Photos for Mac to leave all photos exactly where they are, and, when imported, file them exactly how I’d prefer (YYYY/MM/DD). Also a local backup option rather than just iCloud.
  • More comprehensive EXIF editor – Either built into Finder (which would be great) or at least into Photos
  • Podcast audio editor – Podcasts have seen a surge this year. Garage Band can be used for this, but a lighter weight app built specifically for editing podcasts would be pretty great.
  • Better window management in macOS on laptops – When I connect, disconnect my external displays (which is every day to and from work to home) every single window seems to forget where I put it. I know there are third party apps (and I’ll likely buy one soon) but this seems like macOS should have this built in.
  • Menu bar icon hiding – Just a simple button that would take all the icons in your menu bar and put them under one icon. Again, I know there are third party options but why? This seems like a no-brainer.
  • A Bluetooth innovation that would make it much more reliable – No idea what form this should take and I know Apple has their own standards for this… but somehow I’d like to see Bluetooth simply be more reliable in every way.
  • Zero game demos – This, also, will never happen. The game market is simply too lucrative not to have a slot on the keynote. However, I don’t want to see a single game demo.

I could likely come up with more but I think if I got any one of these things I’d be happy. Apple has delivered some great stuff over the last few years but overall their attention to detail has been slipping. I’d like to see that return and with it my confidence in them on the software front.