5 Major Features We Want to See in iOS and iPadOS 18 (2024)

With WWDC 2024 around the corner, we expect to hear big news regarding Apple’s expansive product and service lines. This is especially true of iOS and iPadOS, mobile operating systems that will receive prominent spotlights during the showcase.

Despite the improvements that came with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, Apple's phone and tablet operating systems face stiff competition from Google's Android OS, especially in the AI realm. These are the five key features that Apple should roll out later this year to help it keep pace with (or surpass) Google.

(Credit: Apple, PCMag)

1. Customizable App Layouts

Android tops iOS and iPadOS when it comes to screen customization. You can modify your Android device's look with various widget and app screen layouts to create genuinely unique screens. This freedom also allows you to make hideous home and lock screens, but the customization is appreciable.

Apple is vastly more stringent with its customization. By far the most restrictive element is the home screen's grid-based layout. You can't move apps wherever you wish on the page, either. They occupy the screen from left to right, and from top to bottom, with no flexibility whatsoever. We would love to see greater freedom on this front, even if it is purely for aesthetics.

(Credit: Tim Gideon)

2. A Dedicated AirPods App

AirPods are surprisingly complex bits of hardware despite their diminutive size. You can adjust numerous audio elements by tapping or swiping the buds or dipping into Settings. In fact, we have an extensive AirPods primer covering their depth and breadth of customization. The problem? You must jump through multiple Settings menus to make adjustments.

A dedicated AirPods app would be an easy solution for this issue. The tool would give you access to all AirPods features directly from your device's home screen without unnecessary fiddling. In addition, the app could let you manage updates or limit charging like iOS 17 does with iPhone 15. After all, AirPods have tiny batteries, so any means of managing overcharging would be welcome.

(Credit: Apple)

3. Improved Photo Editing

Apple's Photos app has two helpful features: Live Text and Visual Look Up. They identify text and subjects in a photograph for additional context and sticker creation. However, Apple’s overall photo-editing tools are rudimentary at best. It’s disappointing that you need third-party software to make meaningful edits on iOS and iPadOS. We hope this year's OS updates bring enhanced functions and AI-powered editing that rivals Google’s Magic Eraser, a powerful tool that lets you relocate subjects or remove unwanted elements, like strangers in the background of a shot.

(Credit: Epic Games, PCMag)

4. Allow Everyone to Sideload Apps

The App Store is Apple's carefully controlled online marketplace for downloading and installing apps to your devices. If an app isn't there, Apple will not let you install it. You cannot easily download and install apps from the internet or alternative stores. That process, called sideloading, opens the door to apps from across the world wide web (albeit with the risk of installing something nasty or potentially destructive to your phone or tablet). Google is more laissez-faire in this regard. It encourages you to use Google Play, but doesn’t restrict you to it. This is why you can still play Fortnite on an Android device, but not on an iPhone or iPad.

The European Union challenged Apple on this—and won! Apple devices running iOS 17.4 or later allow sideloading, but only in the European Union. We’d like to see that restriction eased to include the rest of the world.

(Credit: Apple)

5. Full RCS Compatibility in iMessages

Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a feature we wished for last year, but the subject has become a hot topic in recent months thanks to Apple easing its stance on the messaging protocol. In short, RCS is a messaging protocol that offers considerably more functionality than the dated short message service (SMS). For example, RCS lets you send longer messages, create and manage group chats, and fire off high-quality media files. It is potentially more secure, too, as you can encrypt the messages.

This may not sound impressive to iOS and iPadOS users. After all, Apple's proprietary iMessage has similar functionality. The problem is that iMessage doesn't communicate well with RCS. You receive fancy Android chat messages as bare-bones SMS messages on Apple devices (and vice versa). Worse, shared media is horribly compressed.

Apple announced that it will implement RCS support into its Messages app. Of course, we don’t expect Apple to adopt Google’s RCS protocols. Features like stickers will probably remain exclusive to Apple devices. However, Apple needs photo and video sharing improvements, as well as better group chat compatibility.

For more, check out everything else we expect to see at WWDC 2024, and make sure to tune in to PCMag for firsthand coverage from the event.