Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is on Monday, June 6, and the company is expected to not only announce new versions of all of its software but also hardware.
Naturally, the Input staff has some requests, and thoughts on how likely it is our pleas will be answered on a scale from 🍎 out of 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎 .
Widgets that actually do things
Apple first added widgets with iOS 14 in 2020, but still hasn’t committed to making them more than just glorified signs, especially for non-Apple apps. There’s no reason a widget shouldn’t offer the functionality of the apps they’re connected to. - Ian
Odds it happens: 🍎 🍎 🍎
Support for always-on displays
If there's one feature Apple should copy from Android, it's an always-on display for the iPhone's lock screen. This would only work for iPhones with an OLED screen, but it's past time we can check the time or even light notifications without having to turn on the whole screen and waste battery life. Mark Gurman's latest report says it's coming in iOS 16 so I've got my fingers crossed. - Ray
Odds it happens: 🍎🍎🍎🍎
Fix Focus Mode
iOS 15 introduced "Focus" modes as a way to help wrangle notifications from bombarding you when you don't want them to. The problem with Focus is that you can only whitelist the apps you want for each mode (i.e. Sleep, Work, etc.). But what we really want is a way to blacklist apps we don't want notifications for. It'd make setting up Focus modes something we’d want to do. - Ray
Odds it happens: 🍎🍎🍎
Colorful new MacBook Airs
Somewhere on Apple’s campus is a whiteboard that says “do the MacBook Air thing again” as in, recreate the truly wild success of the company’s first lightweight laptop. A redesigned, colorful version of the MacBook Air could be just the thing to make that happen. With a new M2 chip to announce and a captive audience of developers, maybe WWDC is just the place to do it. - Ian
Odds it happens: 🍎 🍎 🍎 🍎
An Apple-made Weather app for iPadOS
It’s so weird that Apple makes a terrific weather app for iPhone, but the iPad is stuck with what's essentially a bookmark to Weather.com. It's weirder that there's no official Weather app for iPad given Apple acquired Dark Sky a few years ago. Maybe the check from Weather.com is massive, but the website is an ad-infested mess. Give us a proper Weather app, Apple! - Ray
Odds it happens: 🍎🍎
Proper iPad multitasking
The iPad was supposed to be Apple’s vision for the future of computing. Changes have been made to make it feel like a capable machine, but it feels a little ridiculous that you can only look at three apps at the same time. Reports suggest the company is interested in changing that, so I feel comfortable saying this now, I never want to see a Slide Over window ever again! - Ian
Odds it happens: 🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎
Real sleep tracking in watchOS
I can't be the only one disappointed by the sleep tracking in the Apple Watch. It's not at all detailed or meaningful tracking like what you'd get on a Fitbit or even the Oura smart ring. Telling people that it's bedtime is not enough. Users needs need real data on exactly when they fall asleep (and nap) in order to make informed decisions on how to live healthier lives. - Ray
Odds it happens: 🍎🍎
iPad apps that work better on Mac
Bringing iPad apps to the Mac using Catalyst was supposed to give macOS a massive boost — especially Macs running Apple silicon. That hasn't happened. iPad apps are mostly a janky experience on macOS with most of them not even supporting a keyboard and mouse. I'd love to see this change with the next version of macOS. - Ray
Odds it happens: 🍎🍎
A mixed reality headset tease
The latest rumors from credible reporters and leakers suggest Apple will not announce its long-rumored AR/VR mixed reality headset at WWDC. But Apple absolutely reads all the rumors and the leakers aren't always right (remember the leak for the alleged flat-sided Apple Watch Series 7?). The last time Apple did a "one more thing" was the Apple Watch in 2014. Can we get a glimpse? A tease? - Ray
Odds it happens: 🍎
Transcriptions for Voice Memos
There's a reason I carry a Pixel 6 Pro with me whenever I have to conduct interviews: the Recorder app. Google's Recorder app transcribes audio recordings (often to an eerily accurate degree) live. The transcription is searchable and you can export it to Google Keep or Docs. I love it. There's no reason why Apple can't offer this feature as a software update considering it's always touting the machine-learning capabilities of its mobile chips. - Ray
Odds it happens: 🍎🍎🍎
A fix for the Studio Display’s bad webcam
A monitor that starts at $1,600 and is advertised with a kickass ultrawide camera should not look worse than the webcam from 2017 iMac. Apple tends not to draw attention to hardware issues, but if there's any way to restore good faith, it's telling customers who purchased the pricey Studio Display there's a major fix on the way. Like a real, better fix than the one pushed out a few weeks ago. - Ray
Odds it happens: 🍎
Fixes for the Reminders app
I use the Reminders app all the time — it’s just so effortless to ask Siri to remember things I’ve gotta get done. The app itself is a mess, though. Adding reminders manually is frustrating and slow. We know there are better input methods for reminders because plenty of third-party apps have figured it out. Also, about half the time I mark a reminder as complete from the lock screen, it simply pops right back up. What gives, Apple? - Matt
Odds it happens: 🍎🍎
WWDC 2022 starts June 6 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT
Tune in to Apple’s opening conference keynote to see just how off we were.