WWDC 2021: Wish List and Predictions
It’s that time of year again, where Apple nerds will gather around their screens for two hours to watch Apple executives tell us what we get to geek out over for the next year. Like last year, this year’s WWDC will be completely online, but for most of us, that’s how we’re used to experiencing it anyway.
My gut feeling is that this is going to be a big year. There have been several large, exciting announcements from Apple in just the past few weeks about new products and new software features. Announcing things like Spatial Audio and lossless Apple Music, the new iMacs and iPads, and impressive new accessibility features a month or two before Dubdub seems to indicate that they didn’t have time to include them in the keynote, which is exciting because it suggests the keynote is chock full of other cool stuff.
Here are the lists of things I’m hoping to see, and then some things I’m expecting to see.
Wish List:
[Recycled from 2019’s list.] Fix the atrocious Apple Music app. Get rid of the useless Browse, For You, and Radio tabs at the bottom, and replace them with Playlists, Artists, and Albums. Work in better sorting. Streamline the search feature.
I’m still sick of Apple Music. All of those problems are still there, and they’ve brought some of the issues from the Music app to the Podcasts app. I’ve recently switched to using Overcast as my podcast app, but as an One subscriber, I'm stuck with the shitty Music app.
[Recycled from 2019’s list.] It is HIGH TIME for some Siri improvements. We have been waiting and watching for years, every year expecting this to be the keynote where Apple rolls out a badass new Siri. They’ve teased us a few times with things like Siri suggestions and other minor voice improvements, but at the end of the day, I don’t give a shit about having Siri tell me hockey scores. I’m talking Iron Man-style, JARVIS-level intelligence. I know that Apple is behind the curve on this as a result of their focus on privacy, but they’ve gotta figure out a way to at least get Siri up to speed with the Google Assistant.
[Recycled from last year’s list.] Please. Please, please. Puhleeeaaaazeee. PLEASE. PLEASE make this the year that Siri gets a major boost. I would honestly be completely content, nay, happy, if this were the only change they announce this year. It’s so overdue. Siri was the first voice assistant on the scene, and now she’s in last place for speed, accuracy, and general capabilities. There’s so much potential here to make a truly intelligent voice assistant that would really set the iPhone apart from its competitors.
What do you have to do to get a decent virtual assistant around here? My god. As John Gruber has pointed out, if you hired a personal assistant and she was as stupid and contextually unaware as Siri is, you’d fire her within a week.
[Recycled from last year’s list.] I doubt Apple will ever implement this because it would be de facto acknowledging the fact that people use their iPhones to take nudes, but a locked photo album is also overdue.
Apparently Samsung has something like this. Please copy it, Apple.
[Recycled from last year’s list.] New privacy features are always welcome. They didn’t disappoint last year, but a VPN or a social network would still be great.
I will add to this to say that it isn’t on the list because Apple neglected privacy last year. They gave us some great improvements, I just want them to go even farther.
[Recycled from last year’s list.] iPadOS 14 has the potential to send my MacBook packing, if it’s upgraded as it deserves to be. The iPad Pro Magic Keyboard already has me reaching for my iPad more than I reach for my Mac, but there are some relatively basic everyday workflows (word processing, desktop class browsing, etc.) that are still just easier on the Mac. If they can use iPadOS 14 to make some of those processes even marginally easier, it will make the iPad a much more powerful platform and a truly viable option for people in the market for a new laptop.
Apple didn’t do that last year. Maybe this is the year, now that the iPad Pro has an M1.
[Recycled from last year’s list.] In my opinion, macOS just deserves some bug fixes and attention to detail.
[Recycled from last year’s list.] As I mentioned in my Apple Card review, I would really like for them to expand the capability of the Cash card to function more like a typical checking account.
I would really like this. A lot. Give me a nice, black titanium debit card, and then Apple can truly take all my money.
[Recycled from 2019’s list.] I would really like for them to revamp the Apple Watch UI in a meaningful way, and finally give the side button a distinct, useful role in controlling the device.
I think it’s also time for third party watch faces. Apple’s offerings just don’t scratch the itch, anymore.
Meaningful updates to the Apple Watch’s sleep tracking functionality would be nice. It’s currently such a mess that it isn’t worth using. The mandatory bedtime “feature” sucks.
Some new widget sizes would be nice for the iPhone, as well as the ability to make widgets more interactive. A now playing widget would be great.
The Home app is in desperate need of attention. It’s about 70% reliable, which is about 29% below where it needs to be, if it wants you to trust it with the responsibility of controlling your home.
I also hope Apple announces that they’re working on new programs for third party companies to build HomeKit support into their products. The market for HomeKit compatible devices is just not diverse enough.
I can’t put my finger on what exactly has been wrong with tvOS the past few years, but I think it needs some attention.
I think we’re also getting to the point where it’s safe to say the rollout of Look Around on Apple Maps is way too slow. Only a handful of cities in the US support it. It’s a really useful feature that I think is way better than Google’s street view, but not nearly enough people can benefit from it.
An option to have your iMessage conversations remain end to end encrypted in ALL scenarios (see: iCloud backups) is very necessary. I hope Apple fixes this, and touts iMessage’s security and privacy features to compete with dedicated secure messaging apps like Signal or Wickr.
AirPlay has been a bit less stable lately. I hope they iron out those kinks.
Invoking Siri by holding the side button on iOS devices sucks. I hope they’ll figure something else out, but I know they won’t.
Did I mention a locked photo album? 🍆
Predictions
I think it’s reasonable, given the sheer volume of the rumors, that we may see a new MacBook Pro. I think it would be a little weird for them to introduce a new MBP without introducing a new MacBook Air (or MacBook plain, hopefully; please ditch the “Air” branding!)
[Recycled from 2019’s list.] I predict that Apple will, once again, disappoint me by leaving the Music app practically untouched.
I think a lot of the updates we’ll get for macOS are going to be performance improvements and bug fixes. It’s hard to imagine them revamping the UI or introducing a bunch of new features this year. For the name, I’m going to throw my hat in the “macOS Monterey” ring.
When it comes to iPadOS, I think we will get some decent updates and improvements, but I don’t think they’ll go far enough to make the iPad a real computer. We might be substantially closer if they fix multitasking, but I’ll believe that when I see it. I do think they’ll find a way to bring the App Library to the dock, so that’ll ease some pains with multitasking.
Speaking of iPadOS, I bet Apple will tout the ability to add widgets anywhere on the Home Screen this year. They should get no credit for that. It should’ve been there last year, so as far as I’m concerned, they’re a year late.
I think we could see some more health features for the Apple Watch. The blood oxygen sensor on the Series 6 seems like it could have a few more tricks up its sleeve, and I wouldn’t be shocked if they added something like blood alcohol level measurements through a WatchOS update.
I’m sure we’ll get something in the way of privacy, but I don’t think it will go as far as ATT from last year.
All in all, there haven’t been many leaks or rumors about the software we’re going to see this year, so I have a feeling we’re in for a good show with some exciting surprises.