It’s about a week from now when Apple will take the stage at WWDC 2018, to showcase what they have in store for their software updates and perhaps even some hardware updates.

Every year, Apple announces new versions of its iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS operating systems that run its iPhone, iPad, Macs, Apple Watch and Apple TV product lines, at its Worldwide Developers Conference. They also, sometimes, announce some new hardware updates as they’ve done with Macs and iPads in the past.

Anyways, there is always so much hype surrounding the event as it hints to the future Apple is leading its users. Even I watch the event every year as I love to watch the iOS updates especially.

Since iOS and iPhones are the most popular and also most valuable to Apple as a company, most users keep their eyes peeled for any new versions and improvements. In light of the imminent release, I thought I would talk about some of the features that I wish would make their way to iOS 12.

Dark Mode & Other UI Changes

UI is king when it comes to software, as far as the consumers are concerned, that is. And iOS has always had some really great UI elements with awesome animations, gestures and visual elements.

But in the past years, it seems like iOS has been lacking in this area. Things like Dark Mode, that users have been demanding for years have been ignored and overall it seems like the OS is not designed as well as it used to be.

The volume indicator for example is a nuisance and needs to be redesigned, the stock apps could use a lot of love, especially the Music app which feels just clunky to me. Even the app icons could use some redesign.

There are also lots of wasted space in the iPhone X especially which could be put to better use. I hate these wasted spaces so much that I had even sent an email to Tim Cook about it! Here’s hoping he read it.

Notifications Overhaul

Notifications are one of the most important elements of any smart device today and they are a mess on iOS at the moment and almost everyone has been asking for improvements.

The problem is that notifications are not grouped by app and you have to go through a really long list of notifications on your lock screen or notifications centre if you happen to use many apps and services which can be a real inconvenience.

They need to be grouped by apps and there need to be way more customisation features. Google has done a brilliant job with its notifications in its Android OS over the years and I think Apple could learn a few things there.

Improved Siri

Siri is Apple’s virtual assistant that has been gradually improving over the years and is present on more devices than ever with iPhones, Macs, HomePods, Apple Watch and even Apple Tv, but if you compare it to its competitors like Alexa or Google Assistant, it lags behind.

This one is a little bit tricky. The reason why Siri cannot do many of the things that its competitors can’t is because of Apple’s privacy policies. It just doesn’t collect enough data on its users to be able to use that to provide better Siri experience.

But Apple can still develop a more natural sounding Siri with features that do not require it to collect the said data. It can empower Siri to do even more with Apps and services.

Also, being able to use Siri offline would be a big wish come true for things like controlling settings and what not. Right now you need an active internet connection for Siri to work.

Major Clean-up

With any software, bugs are expected. That’s just the way it is. But iOS has always been marketed as something that “just works” and that was true quite a bit in the days of past.

In the recent years however, the quality of iOS has gone down to a level where it is glaringly noticeable and in many cases, plain frustrating. iOS 11, the latest version has been in the news constantly about the plethora of bugs that it contains.

iOS needs a major clean up where Apple focuses on performance improvements, bug fixes, and general fix up here and there so that iOS can finally start acting like the iOS it once was in regards to performance.

If rumours are true, Apple is going to be doing just that. It is putting new features on hold for next year and is aiming at squashing those bugs in iOS 12 which would be very welcome too!