X

iOS 13 wishlist

iOS 13 on the horizon, so let's look at some weirdnesses and oddities within the operating system that Apple seriously needs to get around to fixing.
By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer
What's the deal with this floating volume display?
1 of 7 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

What's the deal with this floating volume display?

This is how Apple displays the volume level in iOS. It's super-clunky, looks outdated, and feels like it takes over the display entirely. There's no reason for this to sit over everything on the display.

2019-04-01-20-08-34.jpg
2 of 7 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

iCloud notifications

Having to triage notifications on one iOS device is bad enough without having to do it on every device you own, including any Macs. We need a way to sync notifications to iCloud so they only need dealing with on one device.

Same with this...
3 of 7 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Same with this...

Isn't there anywhere better that this could be displayed? These floating tiles date back to the earliest incarnations of iOS and not only look terrible but also get in the way of what you're doing.

Active icons vs. static icons
4 of 7 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Why are active icons restricted to Apple apps?

Here are three icons. The Google Calendar icon is permanently stuck showing the 31st of whenever (this is an app I use all the time, and this annoys me), while Apple uses active icons for its apps that shows useful information (the icon for Calendar shows today's day and date, while the Clock icon shows the current time down to the second).

While I'm a little nervous about what some developers might do with the power to make icons active (developers can come up with really annoying things at times), having the option to have active icons (and the ability to make then static) would be an awesome iOS feature.

006.jpg
5 of 7 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Why no Bluetooth icon?

In iOS Apple dumped the Bluetooth icon from the top of the screen (presumably to make space for the notch on newer handsets). But for those of us who switch Bluetooth off and on regularly it was a handy reminder of whether it was on or off.

I suppose that this feature is in the Control Center panel, so all is not lost, but it's still an odd thing to choose to remove. If the camera notch is a permanent fixture then perhaps Apple needs to reconsider where this information is made available.

Why is the Phone app a full-screen abomination?
6 of 7 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Why is the Phone app a full-screen abomination?

I can sort of understand it when making a call (although I'm surprised Apple hasn't come up with something that works better), but having a full-screen app jump up into the middle of whatever you are doing when you receive a call is just plain antisocial.

Apple, please make incoming phone calls -- and FaceTime calls -- a notification that is subtle and easy to dismiss in iOS 13.

005.jpg
7 of 7 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

More UI oddities

Two things about the Home screen surprise me:

- The dock is fixed to four icons. Why not allow more icons and add the option to scroll?

- This horizontal scrolling paradigm for icon screens feels outdated. I'm unclear why I can't position icons where I want them (as opposed to having them grouped at the top of the screen), and to be honest I'd much prefer an update that made folders easier to use and a switch to continuous vertical scrolling rather than this page-by-page paradigm.

Tweaking this in iOS 13 would go a long way to making the iPhone and iPad more usable.

Related Galleries

Holiday wallpaper for your phone: Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, and winter scenes
Holiday lights in Central Park background

Related Galleries

Holiday wallpaper for your phone: Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, and winter scenes

21 Photos
Winter backgrounds for your next virtual meeting
Wooden lodge in pine forest with heavy snow reflection on Lake O'hara at Yoho national park

Related Galleries

Winter backgrounds for your next virtual meeting

21 Photos
Holiday backgrounds for Zoom: Christmas cheer, New Year's Eve, Hanukkah and winter scenes
3D Rendering Christmas interior

Related Galleries

Holiday backgrounds for Zoom: Christmas cheer, New Year's Eve, Hanukkah and winter scenes

21 Photos
Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6: Electric vehicle extravaganza
img-8825

Related Galleries

Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6: Electric vehicle extravaganza

26 Photos
A weekend with Google's Chrome OS Flex
img-9792-2

Related Galleries

A weekend with Google's Chrome OS Flex

22 Photos
Cybersecurity flaws, customer experiences, smartphone losses, and more: ZDNet's research roundup
shutterstock-1024665187.jpg

Related Galleries

Cybersecurity flaws, customer experiences, smartphone losses, and more: ZDNet's research roundup

8 Photos
Inside a fake $20 '16TB external M.2 SSD'
Full of promises!

Related Galleries

Inside a fake $20 '16TB external M.2 SSD'

8 Photos