Apple gave us an official date for this yr’s 2024 the place the following main model of the iPhone’s software program, doubtless referred to as iOS 18, will debut. We’ve a number of concepts for options and fixes that Apple ought to embody in its subsequent main replace to the iPhone.
For seven months, most of us have lived with iOS 17. There have been excessive factors just like the introduction of StandBy Mode, Examine In and iMessage stickers. And there have been low factors like the entire overheating software program bug that hit iPhones operating iOS 17, which has since been resolved. For months we have Journal-ed, NameDrop-ed and casually sworn in Messages with out the concern of being Autocorrect-ed.
So what’s subsequent for the iPhone? What is going to my iPhone be like this fall? Now that the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional is out will it change issues?
I don’t know.
Positive there are rumors about iOS 18 and the way it’ll be a massive deal, possibly even a larger deal than the iPhone 16. And yeah, Apple, like different cellphone makers, will doubtless flex its hype muscular tissues and attempt to impress us with some AI magic.
Neglect all that. As an alternative of us attempting to guess what Apple will do subsequent to our iPhones, I believed I would assemble a few of CNET’s finest iOS-ers and iPhone-nitians to inform Apple what we would like in iOS 18.
— Patrick Holland
Extra multitasking for the iPhone Professional Max
![iPhone 15 Pro Max](https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/024bb03f0a1272ecd51402ead3d836c30844382b/hub/2023/09/18/231bc1ca-0209-4724-bc50-63b8cdc3b053/iphone15-pro-96.jpg?auto=webp&width=1200)
The iPhone Professional Max’s display screen has ample quantity of room for a Slide Over panel.
The Dynamic Island is a good begin, however I want Apple would discover extra methods to reap the benefits of the Professional Max’s giant display screen specifically. As I’ve written previously, I would like to see a model of Apple’s Slide Over characteristic optimized for its larger-size iPhone.
Slide Over allows you to view a second app in a floating panel alongside the aspect of the display screen. This feels extra helpful on a smartphone-size display screen in contrast with break up view. If Slide Over have been accessible on the iPhone Professional Max, you’d be capable to dedicate many of the display screen to a single app, whereas checking one other. I might see this being helpful for shopping by way of my electronic mail inbox whereas protecting a watch out for brand spanking new Slack messages, for instance.
— Lisa Eadicicco
Let the Motion button assist a number of shortcuts
![iPhone 15 Pro Max](https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/34a467d884ddda0fa9962dce22f385d44aec76a9/hub/2023/09/18/76ebfda7-659e-444c-ad77-f511352c6862/iphone15-pro-57.jpg?auto=webp&width=1200)
From top-to-bottom: Motion button, quantity up button and quantity down button.
One of many new options on the iPhone 15 Professional and 15 Professional Max is the Motion button, which changed the silent/ring slider button discovered on each prior iPhone mannequin because it debuted in 2007. In its present setup, I can set the Motion button to set off one shortcut at a time. By default, it does precisely the identical factor because the mute slider did earlier than it: it could possibly toggle between turning on the ringer and placing your iPhone into silent mode. There are a selection of different choices for it like with the ability to use it to open the Digital camera app and take a photograph. You possibly can even have it run a particular shortcut/automation within the Shortcuts app. Maybe my favourite use is somebody who makes use of their location to vary what the Motion button does like flip it into an order now set off for a Starbucks latte.
The Motion button works with a single lengthy press, it doesn’t matter what you select for the button to do. At the moment, you both want to vary what the Motion button does to get extra use out of it or make some elaborate automations within the Shortcuts app.
However I really feel there’s much more that the Motion button might do if Apple would let it assist a number of enter clicks. Like, I might nonetheless have it’s a toggle for ringer/silent mode with a single lengthy press, however do one thing else (like activate/off the flashlight) with a double-long press. I feel this may add a lot performance to the button and in consequence open it as much as much more individuals taking extra benefit of it.
— Patrick Holland
Extra StandBy Mode capabilities please
![And iPhone charging with the StandBy screen on](https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/afabf0520ac4407d4dfee40afff18abd5ebe4802/hub/2023/07/14/ed860f4d-194f-43d2-a0d5-1e1ed29e1803/p1004082.jpg?auto=webp&width=1200)
iOS 17 turned my iPhone right into a mini-smart residence show.
StandBy Mode was one in all my favourite new options Apple launched with iOS 17. I exploit the characteristic on my work desk every day, and it is good having easy accessibility to the climate, time and podcasts. However I would like Apple to develop this characteristic extra.
For starters, I would like Messages and Mail to reap the benefits of StandBy Mode. Proper now, in case your iPhone will get a textual content whereas it is in StandBy Mode, you get a notification, and for those who faucet the notification in time, you see a preview of the message. In any other case, you must take away your iPhone from StandBy Mode to learn the complete message and reply.
It will be nice if Apple developed a StandBy Mode widget for Messages that allows you to see full messages and reply to them with out exiting StandBy Mode. It will even be good if there was a Mail widget for StandBy Mode that allows you to learn emails (like newsletters) and exhibits you new messages. That means you’ll be able to keep watch over your inbox and know if you must reply to an electronic mail instantly or in case your newest electronic mail is simply spam.
— Zach McAuliffe
Make Siri extra succesful
![Siri on iOS 17](https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/5bde19d4ffbc2e767442813d5aaf28be6499e4fc/hub/2023/09/05/4673d5b0-c731-4bca-9ab0-41270384025f/20230904-145524.jpg?auto=webp&width=1200)
Siri received a slight makeover on iOS 17, together with two new options that can undoubtedly change the way you work together with the private voice assistant.
As a working mother, I virtually all the time have a protracted to-do record, and a wiser Siri would really assist make my life simpler. Proper now, I flip to Siri for assist with primary duties equivalent to setting an alarm, making a reminder or checking the climate. However with rumors of giant language mannequin integration in Siri, I discover myself envisioning a future during which an iPhone can get extra advanced duties achieved. Issues like reminding me to purchase blueberries after I’m close to a grocery store or find close by eating places in Hong Kong which are each kid-friendly and dog-friendly.
Fortunate for me, this does not appear to be far-fetched. Giant language fashions shouldn’t solely permit Siri to grasp extra advanced and nuanced questions, but additionally allow it to reply these questions extra precisely.
— Sareena Dayaram
Detect language in Messages and translate, por favor
![Siri translate feature on iPhone](https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/8abd8b246263187eeed3e4eea4e80d8c4cc494ed/hub/2024/02/23/e131fbd8-6bae-4fbc-9293-c7661e275371/img-4691.png?auto=webp&width=1200)
This pop-up will seem on the high of your cellphone, previewing each what you mentioned and the interpretation.
Bilingual households might share my problem of Siri needing to do a greater job of robotically detecting which language is being spoken. As a result of proper now the iPhone will spit out gibberish, turning Spanish dictation into English, or English into Spanish, for those who overlook to modify your keyboard.
If a voice mail message is left in Spanish, the system cannot acknowledge that it is not English and tries to provide an English preview that appears like nonsense. Possibly these rumored AI smarts may also help Siri know what language is being spoken.
My Español no es bueno, so it could be useful if my iPhone supplied an English translation of textual content or voice messages despatched to me in Spanish. The Duolingo chicken could be mad at me for not needing to follow my Spanish classes anymore, however Duo is all the time mad at me anyway.
— Bridget Carey
Examine-in for group chats
Apple explains Examine In’s options.
Certainly one of my favourite iOS 17 options is Examine In, which helps you to share with a pal or member of the family that you just’re heading to a particular location (like possibly coming residence from a late dinner). Your pal or member of the family will get a ping letting them know you are on the transfer and when you ought to be residence. They get notified when you make it to your vacation spot or for those who make an surprising cease alongside the way in which. If one thing occurs to you and you do not get residence, your pal receives a message that additionally contains information like your final location and battery degree in your iPhone.
I would like iOS 18 to let me ship a Examine-In to a gaggle of individuals, not only a single individual. Proper now, with the ability to begin a Examine In with only one individual is nice, however there are a lot of instances I wish to share a Examine In with extra members of the family or a gaggle of pals all on the similar time.
— Patrick Holland
Schedule texts in Messages
![iphone with messages on screen](https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/38c9f6690c31db7d236421e15b15028c4121dc44/hub/2023/06/05/30c8be7e-958b-437e-8fc4-7f0d73c51510/screenshot-2023-06-05-at-10-29-05-am.png?auto=webp&width=1200)
You possibly can’t schedule a Message to be despatched.
Having the ability to schedule texts in Messages could be an enormous plus. Texting family and friends in several time zones is all the time a sport of math as a result of I do not wish to textual content them when they’re nonetheless sleeping. Yeah, I could be texting them at 8 a.m. ET, however they’re nonetheless asleep because it’s 5 a.m. PT for them. I additionally used to work third shift, and there have been instances after I’d wish to textual content a pal and ask them a query or simply to speak. However alas, who desires to be awoken to a textual content message at 5 a.m.? Only a few individuals, as I got here to search out out.
Scheduling texts to ship in Messages would assist alleviate these points. Different messaging apps already allow you to schedule messages to ship later, together with Android, so it is time for Apple to rise up to hurry with others. Some individuals may say that there is a Shortcut you’ll be able to allow in your iPhone to ship messages at a later time, however I would argue that if you must use a workaround to get one thing to work, it is not really working. Apple ought to take a cue from Android and let individuals schedule messages to ship at a later time. Individuals who reside in several time zones than their family and friends or work bizarre shifts will thanks.
— Zach McAuliffe
Add a professional digital camera app
![iPhone 15 Pro Max](https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/0146652017d2076aa20fb1156888162f3a434096/hub/2023/09/18/9f40fa9a-7783-4941-8b9f-ffc7fb686fce/iphone15-pro-35.jpg?auto=webp&width=1200)
The iPhone wants a professional digital camera app.
It is time for Apple to revisit the iPhone’s Digital camera app. For years, it was the gold normal of simplicity, providing a “see what you get” preview for images, movies and results with minimal, easy-to-navigate controls and modes. However as Apple has added extra performance, particularly for ProRaw images, ProRes video recording and spatial movies, the Digital camera app has began to really feel cramped. It tries to stay a one-size-fits-all app on the expense of higher-end options like guide digital camera controls.
I would like Apple to make a separate professional digital camera app, alongside the strains of the way it created a standalone app for classical music. Apple Music Classical tackles the particular problem of categorizing, trying to find, and discovering classical music, one thing the default Apple Music app is not geared towards. Equally, the professional digital camera app might be a spot for artistic sorts to entry digital camera controls, settings and options past these within the primary digital camera app. Sony has been fairly profitable with this kind of method in its Xperia 1 and 5 collection telephones, and Samsung has a separate Professional Uncooked app to enrich its primary one.
Now it is Apple’s flip.
— Patrick Holland
I Took 600+ Pictures With the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max. Have a look at My Favorites