Must Read: Sorry, but bringing back the Start menu won't help Windows 8

Topic: iOS

15 features Apple should include in iOS 7

Summary: With a rapid increase of iPhones and iPads at work, Apple has yet to embrace the enterprise following by catering for business-focused users. Here's what we want in iOS 7, the next iteration of Apple's mobile platform.

Zack Whittaker

By for Between the Lines |

 |  Image 4 of 16

Quick access to core system features, like wi-fi and VPN

One of the major gripes many enterprise customers have is the ability to quickly access core system features of the iOS-powered device, such as wi-fi or, even more crucially, virtual private networking (VPN). Ordinarily, these features are only two or three buttons away, but having an extra bar in the Notification Center — which is accessed with a simple swipe down from the top of the screen — would be positively received by power users.

  • Thumbnail 1
  • Thumbnail 2
  • Thumbnail 3
  • Thumbnail 4
  • Thumbnail 5
  • Thumbnail 6
  • Thumbnail 7
  • Thumbnail 8
  • Thumbnail 9
  • Thumbnail 10
  • Thumbnail 11
  • Thumbnail 12
  • Thumbnail 13
  • Thumbnail 14
  • Thumbnail 15
  • Thumbnail 16

Topics: iOS, Apple, iPhone, iPad

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Related Stories

Talkback

80 comments
Log in or register to join the discussion

  • Why limit profiles to sound or awareness to location...

    One of the few things I miss about Android was the llama app. The app allowed profiles to be created that could manage a variety of things, including Bluetooth, wifi, etc. This was alone made the pathetic battery life on my HTC Evo better. Get to the office? Turn off Bluetooth since I only use it in my car. Get away from home or the office? Turn off WiFi since I most likely won't be using it? I think it even had time of day aware capabilities, where I could set it to turn the volume down or off on alerts during my normal sleep hours. There are so many things that can be controlled by profiles, and so many variables that could be triggers for profile switches, why limit it to controlling sound and awareness of locations?
    piousmonk
    Reply Vote

  • Apple Playing Catch up

    Did anyone else notice that most of these features are already available in other platforms? The first example, BlackBerry hit the nail on the head, Apple needs to follow suite with a similar feature. Apple no longer leads the mobile market, it follows it.
    Sam14.8
    Reply 9 Votes

    • Which means that feature checklists

      don't make a successful product. So, the challenge is rather to find what specific features have the greatest draw and implement those.
      baggins_z
      Reply 1 Vote

    • Ignorant

      Give me a break sheep! I manage 50 ipads in the enterprise and I would NEVER use Android devices. Talk about playing catchup, you can't even backup/restore Android, not to mention the HUGE security risk is poses.

      Google has A LOT of catching up to do before they get anywhere near Apple in the enterprise. Being able to add widgets and change themes to your phone doesn't make it enterprise worthy!
      NWNirvana
      Reply 5 Votes

      • Edit:

        Edit: I manage iPads as well as iPhones
        NWNirvana
        Reply 2 Votes

      • can't backup android?

        You should be sacked.
        Android has better backup ability than iOS could ever dream of.
        warboat
        Reply 1 Vote

        • Sycophant

          As usual, you both don't understand the topic under discussion, nor the post you are replying to.
          No, Android does NOT have a reliable set of backup/restore functions for group control and restore.
          .DeusExMachina.
          Reply 1 Vote

          • Re: "for group control and restore."

            You're talking about a maintenance requirement of the Dimdows Registry. Android does not have, or need, the Dimdows Registry.
            ldo17
            Reply 2 Votes

          • Um, no.

            Group restore and control has NOTHING to do with the Windows registry. WTH are you talking about?!?
            .DeusExMachina.
            Reply Vote

    • Yep

      Coincidentally, the Droid RAZR line has many of these features and my company replaced all their BlackBerry smartphone with them.
      slickjim
      Reply 1 Vote

  • What can Apple rip off in iOS 7

    Redid the title of the article for you ^^
    Boothy_p
    Reply 7 Votes

    • Apple came out with the iPhone, others copied it.

      N/T
      BubbaJones_
      Reply 1 Vote

      • Palm invented the touch screen smart phone

        iPhone copied it.
        T1Oracle
        Reply 3 Votes

        • Newton

          .DeusExMachina.
          Reply Vote

          • hmm

            Newton isn't a smartphone but way to go with the lame reply
            slickjim
            Reply Vote

          • Neither was the original Palm

            So what is your point?
            .DeusExMachina.
            Reply Vote

  • So in othere words... iOS needs things already in other operating systems

    This article does a fair job of illustrating the advances of other operating systems and/or the rather stagnant setting of iOS.

    If a phone is asking for top level prices, then it should not leave a user fawning over things found in other phones.

    For the price that the iPhone sells for, people with other phones should be left wanting features in the iPhone, but that really hasn't been the case for some time.
    Emacho
    Reply 7 Votes

    • Or have been available to jailbreakers for years.

      I particularly want to mention slide number 4. I have used SBSettings on various jalibroken iDevices for years now. Even my old iPhone 3G was perfectly capable of this functionality.
      If you are not tech savvy and security conscious already, you have no business jailbreaking. That said, I have yet to have any malware issues with my jalibroken iPhone 4S on 5.1 or my old iPhone 3G on 4.2.1.
      Apple has been ripping off Jailbreakers ideas for years. In each new version they implement something else that third parties have been able to do for years; jalibroken or not.
      JustWow2000
      Reply 3 Votes

      • I love how...

        You see it as "ripping off" the jailbreak community, whereas over at android, we're pleased when Google borrows ideas because it makes the platform better for everyone. Stop being so selfish.
        maxanthony84
        Reply Vote

  • Good luck with that!

    The chances of AAPL allowing other apps as defaults instead of their own or - horror! - allowing users to delete AAPL Bloatware - I have a better chance of winning the lottery 3 weeks in a row. And as others mentioned, not sure AAPL would do so many 'me too' add-ons at one OS level - even they have some pride.
    beau parisi
    Reply 3 Votes
CNET Join | Log In | Privacy | Cookies Close