Wishlist for iOS 11: ten new features we want to see in the next release iOS

This year the mobile operating system iOS officially turns ten years old. It is hard to believe that a whole decade has passed, and the system iOS has managed to remain largely unchanged in many ways. Yes, there are functions for advanced users in it, but usually they are hidden from the eyes of an ordinary user under several layers of a simplified interface. We've got a bunch of techies and power users on our IT-HERE web portal, so it's natural to expect our wishlist to include mostly professional features that we'd like to see in iOS 11.

We believe that the time has come when Apple should take seriously the aspect of the productivity of their mobile operating system and when developing a new version iOS never lose sight of it, especially when it comes to tablet computer iPad. We think that in ten years iOS it has reached maturity and an appropriate level of stability. And we also believe that the same can be said for the users of this operating system. Users now expect more from the operating system. Or more leeway, reliability, or productivity. Below is our wish list of what we expect from iOS 11.

1. Contents

   1. Voice Assistant Siri should even better recognize the user's speech
   2. Give third-party software developers access to Siri Kit
   3. Built-in automation tools
   4. Redesigned tablet multitasking iPad
   5. Flexible configuration of the Control Center
   6. Selecting default apps
   7. Redesigned notification system
   8. Design update
   9. Redesigned interface iCloud Drive
   10. Dark mode interface
   11. What's on your wish list?

   Voice Assistant Siri should even better recognize the user's speech

The war in the field of speech recognition is gaining momentum, and the position Siri in this case can not be called leading. Despite the fact that the work of the voice assistant is consistently improving, the system does not always correctly understand your question and, as a result, does not always give the desired answer. This situation is partly due to the fact that in its work Siri it uses the Bing search engine, which is significantly inferior to search capabilities Google. But Siri can be improved in terms of user speech recognition, especially considering the fact that the 'Hello Siri' feature now works on most iOS devices. Siri should be able to figure out which device to use to listen to your request.

And also Apple it would be quite nice to teach Siri to receive and process text messages from the user. We mean the fact that even the voice assistant Google on iPhone can do this.

2. Give third-party software developers access to Siri Kit

At last year's WWDC conference, we were introduced to Siri Kit. The company Apple let the developers play with the features a bit Siri. If you remember, the Siri Kit allows six types of applications (such as 'Payment', 'Sending messages' and others) to access Siri, but in a very stripped-down form (in the traditional Apple style). It all came down to the fact that Apple took over all the rough work on the development of a speech recognition system and its interpretation. And all that was left for the third-party software developers was to adapt their applications to include 'keywords and phrases' and configure the functionality they supported. That, we repeat, is very, very limited in action.

Hopefully this year Apple will expand this playground so that developers can play around with more functionality. Even if Apple goes on to stick to its strategy with passphrases supported by Siri, I would like Apple to include similar support in media applications such as players music files and podcasts. Also, it would not hurt to get voice control for task managers.

Read also: List of new features in iOS 11: Siri becomes a real assistant with integration into more applications.

3. Built-in automation tools

A couple of weeks ago Apple bought iOS an application for automating actions 'Workflow'. And while the application continues to be periodically updated, we hope that Apple will begin the process of integrating the individual components of this application directly into the operating system itself. Even in an officially approved Apple framework, automating actions between different applications would undoubtedly be of great benefit.

Currently, 'Workflow' type applications actually use URL links to launch applications and perform certain actions. But all this is provided that these applications include support for the operation of the automation application. If Apple finalizes and allows its own applications (such as 'Photos' and 'Calendar') to use the automation functionality, then this step will allow third-party developers to include such support in their own applications.

4. Redesigned tablet multitasking iPad

One of the most exciting rumors at WWDC in 2016 was that the tablet iPad will finally receive the attention it deserves Apple and they will continue to further develop special functionality for this device, which for the first time was presented as part of iOS 9. Over the past two years, we have been presented with two models of tablets with the prefix 'Pro', but we never saw a redesigned concept of productivity of this type of device. Hopefully this year will be the year of increased productivity iPad that we will be shown at WWDC.

In our opinion, what Apple needs to be done without fail is to improve the multitasking aspect of iOS. By and large, now we are dealing with version 1.0., Which creates a lot of problems for both beginners and experienced users.

The very concept of multiple open source applications is not obvious enough. And the more you use the 'Split View' dual-window mode, the more often you run into limitations. First of all, even if both running applications share the screen 50 by 50, this does not mean that they are given the same priority in the system. The application on the left is given higher priority in the system than the application on the right. And there are no obvious solutions to easily swap them and thus change their priority.

The very process of switching between applications in two-window mode is also somewhat complicated and requires a large amount of unnecessary scrolling. All these problems can be easily solved, it is just that the development of the solution itself is not a priority for Apple.

Concept iOS 11 by Federico Viticci offers possible solutions to all these problems. We especially love how easy it is to switch between apps in Split View – between your favorite apps, recently launched or the search method.

Besides improving multitasking, Apple can do a lot to improve the user experience iPad. For example, a long-awaited system drag-and-drop feature would allow users to easily drag and drop content from one open application to another. It seems to me that Apple should also use her custom 3-pane interface on the big iPad Pro (the interface she uses in apps like Mail and Notes).

Viticci's concept also mentions a feature like 'My Shelf'. A place to store temporary content objects – texts, images, files and more, which allows you to quickly access the content you need at the moment in another application. And the more we think about it, the more we like this concept. Surely, many users have a great need for more efficient placement and storage of links, texts and photos when typing an article for publication. If you always had the 'Shelf' function at hand, where you could store links and photos while working on an article, then such a functionality would probably help you more often use for such work iPad (which is extremely difficult to do at the moment).

5. Flexible configuration of the Control Center

It seems that the ability to customize the Control Center will never disappear from our wish list. The desire to have such an opportunity originates from the moment the Control Center itself appeared. After all, this is such an obvious function. Apple, let us define for ourselves which radio buttons should be in the Control Center. Or at least let us take away that huge 'Night Mode' toggle button. You are welcome!

6. Selecting default apps

Another long-requested wish. Its implementation would be especially useful for users from the Asian region, where a set of standard applications from Apple does not always find its use. It would be great if links to geographic coordinates would open in the 'Google Maps' app. Or if the default browser could be 'Opera Mini'. Or to be able to use another application instead of the 'Phone' application, such as 'Truecaller', which has a caller ID function, which in some cases would be very useful.

Having the ability to switch to local, sometimes better localized versions of alternative applications would help Apple in her efforts to conquer new markets in Asia.

7. Redesigned notification system

When it comes to the notification system, the lag Apple from similar systems by Android becomes even more obvious. In Apple notifications are arranged in chronological reverse order, and there is nothing you can do about it. There is no way to group notifications by application or by importance. In addition, if you did not notice the notification on the locked screen, then when unlocking you will have to either look for it on the application icon or launch the Action Center.

8. Design update

We don't think we'll have to see another UI redesign like the one we saw in iOS 7. Although the need for such a redesign is obvious, especially with the iPhone Plus size. The latest trend in interface design is the ability to use the space that appears above the search menu and switch between windows with swipe gestures. You can also add heavier UI elements to the space below.

We have already seen something similar in updates iOS 10 – in particular, in the 'Music' and 'Maps' applications. The bottom of the Music app contains a large number of interface elements, while the Maps app has swipe-toggle cards that also appear at the bottom of the screen.

Additionally, Apple itself uses anti-aliased interface elements that can be invoked on any screen, for example, in the iMessage app App Store. If Apple generates API codes or adds these elements to the UI Design Guide, we will very soon see them appear in third-party applications. The 'Overcast' app already uses swipe-toggle cards.

9. Redesigned interface iCloud Drive

Since Apple is trying to increase revenues from the offered online services, it is likely that we will see attempts Apple to force users to switch to advanced service plans iCloud. One way to accomplish this is with a revised 'iCloud Drive' app on iPhone and iPad. And use this app as a filesystem for iOS. We are not talking about having to create a 'Finder' application for iOS. It is about creating a storage location for files that can be opened by various applications without having to create many unnecessary duplicates.

For many, the lack of a file system in iPad is always just annoying. Apple you need to accept the fact that for most users, successful work is largely dependent on the presence of files. And from being able to freely move these files between folders and applications.

10. Dark mode interface

And since we are talking about applications, we still hope for the appearance of a mode with a dark interface, even if we are talking about separate standard applications Apple, such as 'Settings', 'Mail', 'Notes', etc. etc.

What's on your wish list?

What should Apple be implemented in iOS 11, from your point of view? Please share your opinion in the comments section below.

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