WWDC 2024 Wishlist: Top new features I want to see on iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS

Apple’s annual WWDC event will kick off on Monday, June 10th. Onstage, the Cupertino tech giant is expected to show off the latest bells and whistles for its slate of operating systems, including iOS for iPhone, iPadOS for iPad, and watchOS for Apple Watch. These are just some of the features I personally hope to see next week.

iOS 18 Wishlist

By all accounts, iOS is a very mature mobile operating system that has been molded and shaped over nearly two decades of development. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways Apple can improve, especially with AI expected to headline the keynote presentation.

1. AI-powered Spotlight – If Apple intends to go all-in on AI (even if they plan to take their time pushing it out to consumers, they may as well bake it directly into the search-powered backbone of their operating systems, Spotlight. Namely, I’d like to see Apple take some inspiration from the Arc Browseror Perplexity by turning it into an AI-powered search engine. Simply type in a query and let Spotlight use generative AI to produce a detailed response without ever having to open a webpage or search Google.

2. More instances of the same app – It’s the year 2024, and while iPad can run several instances of the same app at the same time, this neat little trick still isn’t in iPhone’s wheelhouse. The operating system and hardware are more than capable, and although Apple would rather you use an iPad for more productive activities, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to have two different Pages documents or Numbers spreadsheets open on my phone. It’s time to open up iPhone’s potential and let us unleash our apps!

3. A genuinely smarter Siri – It’s a bit of a running joke given the number of times Apple’s promised a smarter version of Siri, and while they’ve occasionally updated her voice options and added some features to keep her fresh, the digital assistant is still quite far behind the latest AI models found in OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and even Google Assistant. There are rumors spinning around that Apple’s generative AI ambitions will finally give Siri the aptitude that was promised a decade ago, and as a long-time Siri user who is occasionally disappointed by her lack of capabilities, I sure hope they’re right.

iPadOS 18 Wishlist

Users have demanded for Apple to bring macOS to the iPad more than ever this year, and you can’t really blame them. The sheer power of the M4 chip found in the latest iPad models is almost comical, given iPadOS’ current limitations. Although I don’t personally think macOS needs to merge with iPadOS or come to the tablet wholesale, there are other ways Apple can transform iPad into an even more productive device.

1. Synced device notifications – While I don’t dislike Apple’s notifications system as much as some folks on the internet, there’s still something about them that collectively irk me. Case in point, few things are more annoying than reading a notification on iPhone just to find the same notification unread and hanging out on iPad. Apple should make use of Continuity and finally end the duplicate notification debacle that plagues iPhone and iPad users by removing them from one device if they have been read on another.

2. ‌Better desktop customizability – The iPad has been on a strange trajectory since Stage Manager launched back in 2022. Still one part “big iPhone,” and another part laptop/desktop, the iPad is a device with an identity crisis. It either wants to be everything, or it doesn’t know what it is at all. Personally, I’d like to see iPad embrace the power locked behind Stage Manager by making this mode function more like its macOS counterpart. Give users the ability to use Stage Manager like a laptop, placing anything from widgets, to documents, to apps, and more directly on the home screen, and in any order or layout they choose.

3. Tabbed windows – While it would be nice for iPhone to finally get the ability to open more instances of the same app, iPad could use some optimization here, too, primarily in the form of tabbed windows. Taking another tip from the macOS playbook, app instances should be organized into easy-to-use tabs instead of the current windowed system where apps either lay on top of each other in Stage Manager mode or linger side by side via Mission Control. This would increase productivity and refine the multi-file user experience.

4. Better RAM management – This one is a bit silly, but it needs to be addressed. One of my biggest gripes that keeps me from using iPad as a true laptop replacement is its dismal RAM management. If you only work in one or two apps at a time, the experience is passable. But open a few or more apps, and switching between them becomes a chore where app content will constantly reload while multitasking. This makes it extremely difficult to hold your place within certain apps and to stay on track when trying to get any real work done. It’s time Apple uses the full extent of iPad’s built-in RAM and virtual RAM to provide a smoother, more laptop-like multitasking experience.

watchOS 11 Wishlist

Aside from watchOS’ UI revamp last year, the evolution of Apple’s wearable OS has largely stagnated, pending hardware upgrades that could finally take Watch to the next level. However, assuming we’re not getting the holy grail of non-invasive glucose tracking for diabetics or blood pressure for improved heart health, there are still some updates I would like to see for Apple Watch.

1. Always-on heart rate monitoring — Apple Watch does a lot of things well, but one area where Fitbit – and now Pixel Watch – have always put Apple to shame are their always-on heart rate tracking. Since Apple Watch hit the scene, it can only give spot-heart-rate checks once every 5-8 minutes or more, depending on the user’s activity. To provide better health metrics, Apple should emulate Pixel Watch by providing heart rate checks every several seconds, all around the clock. Of course, this would likely impact Apple Watch’s battery life, which already just barely makes it through a single day on a charge, but maybe Apple could figure out a solution. Pixel Watch already did.

2. Automatic workout tracking – Another area where Fitbit and Pixel Watch pull ahead of Apple Watch is in automatic exercise tracking. As it stands, the only way to track a workout on Apple Watch is to open the workout app and manually start a workout. Given all the data Apple collects from its wearables, it should be able to tell when users have begun to exercise and enable tracking retroactively to ensure no one ever misses a minute on their exercise rings. Come to think of it, an always-on heart rate tracking system would help make this feature even more possible.

3. Sleep apnea detection — For years, Apple has been able to monitor sleep patterns, oxygen levels, and breathing rates for users who wear their Apple Watches to bed. It only makes sense that Apple would be able to take all of this data and use it to determine whether or not a user may be having sleep apnea events while sleeping, just like (you guessed it) Fitbit and Pixel Watch.

4. Daily readiness score – As part of Fitbit’s and Pixel Watch’s Fitbit Premium plan, subscribers get a daily readiness score that estimates a person’s exercise capacity based on collected sleep quality and heart rate data. While some third-party Apple Watch apps offer similar functionality, it would be nice if Apple added this directly to Watch’s repertoire.

On to WWDC 2024

In addition to showing off the latest version of its operating systems, WWDC is rumored to revolve heavily around Apple’s foray into generative AI. As to what this will look like, it’s hard to say for sure, but Apple’s freshly finalized deal with OpenAI could offer up some hints. No new hardware is expected to be unveiled at the event.