19 Effective iOS 9 Features Apple Needs To Include in Its Firmware!
Update 17th June, 2015: Apple has officially announced iOS 9 and you can see its features here: All the iOS 9 Features!
“I hope the new Apple iOS 9 will be awesome.”
That’s what many iPhone and iPad users want to believe (including us). Now, we don’t know what’s up with Apple and its iOS 9 firmware, but the early news may shock you right away. Ready to hear?
Apple’s focus is on “improving” iOS 9.
So wait a minute.
iOS 9 will be a improved version of iOS 8? At least that’s what so many news sources have to say.
Apple iOS Dev Team: Wake up!
Open your eyes. We don’t just need stability and optimization in iOS 9.
Give us more than that.
For years, you have made “slight” improvements in iOS – from iOS 6 to iOS 7 and iOS 8 while Android has seen major changes in those same years.
I am not saying Android is better than iOS, but we need big changes in iOS 9. And I don’t want to rant about this either. But this time, Apple, we would like to see you add the following features that will make our life easier:
Common Addition to iOS 9
#1 Crash & Lag… End All That: As much as I love iOS 8, it’s earlier version is laggy and crashes most of the iOS apps. We would like to see crash-free, smooth-running, innovative iOS 9 firmware.
#2 Improve Battery Life, Yo: Everyone wants this, and it has been said endlessly before, but if iOS 9 follows the footstep of iOS 8 – nothing is going to change. We still hope iOS 9 will be different and it will magically force the batteries of iPads and iPhones to last longer.
#3 Signal Improvement B*tch: Remember the “no service” & signal dropping issue in iOS 8? For God’s sake, we don’t want that to happen in iOS 9! Yes, there are beta programs and all that stuff, but give us (your users) a smooth experience this time. OK?
Uncommon Yet Required iOS 9 Features
#4 App Security & Protection: Just imagine the sheer power to password-protect any app in iOS 9, or hide it almost effortlessly. Current iOS 8 doesn’t have this (and using third-party tools is always a pain). So, Apple, give us the control to make changes in every app in our own terms.
#5 Email Priority: This one is big! The default Mail app in iOS 8 shows all the messages. It just feels like watching a bunch of street dogs knocking your door in the middle of the night. Look at Gmail, Apple! Show us important emails, prioritize them and give us all those things Gmail has. Or replace Mail app with Gmail. (OK, we love Gmail very much).
#6 Delete Native Apps: Ugh, so many of us hate the Tips app – it’s as useful as watching the ceiling of our rooms. Now, Apple, how about you give us the choice in iOS 9 to remove native apps that we don’t use anymore (while you are at it, please also update these native apps with a new kickass, rocking interface / design eh?).
#7 Simplify Apple ID Thing: Really: to log into our Apple account or iTunes account, we have to go through such an elaborate process and tap deep into some Settings option. Add a new feature to make using Apple ID easier than ever.
#8 Easy-to-use iCloud: iCloud makes you money. We all know that. And I am sure Apple will simplify iCloud in iOS 9. Nothing to say here.
#9 Custom Icons: Oh, jailbreakers are enjoying iPhones and iPads with all those gorgeous Cydia tweaks. While we could take that route, please at least give us the ability to change current icons and add our own set of icons to applications and games.
#10 Guest Mode: This was something I wanted when I had my first iPod Touch. I would give the device to a friend and he would look all the things that are private. So having a “Guest Mode” would solve this problem. When we show a picture of your friend (and hand him/her the iOS device), they should not be able to swipe left/right to see other images. Who takes care of iOS’s creative process? Just hire us, Apple!
#11 Night Theme: Introducing Accessibility for blind people was the best thing for iOS 8. It shows you care for people, and that’s a good thing. Now if we had a “night” theme where we can switch OFF those bright lights and turn them into something colorful in iOS 9 will be an added bonus.
#12 Email attachments: Seriously. Have you ever added multiple attachments through the Mail app? Whenever I want to paste photos captures from my iPhone and send them to someone else, I have to import one image at a time.
#13 Better Control Center: The current Control Center doesn’t have any customization feature. If I may say so, it’s like hotel serving just one pizza every day and every time of the year. We wish iOS 9 has a Control Center that gave us the control to revamp existing options.
#14 Easier Backup & Restore: OK, this is scary! The current iTunes and iCloud backups are good, but read the forums. You will be surprised to see so many apps erasing themselves during the firmware restoring process. And the inability to restore backed up data of older firmware to newer one is simple unacceptable.
#15 Downgrading Capabilities: Can you do this? Can you give us the option to change from iOS 9 to iOS 8? Or how about a one-click downgrade option for iPhones and iPads? Yes, we are thinking big here.
#16 Make Health Accessible: Add more free apps. Sure, there are tonnes of paid health apps but we are not sure we want them. Every startup comes with a iOS app these days and most of them are junk. The quality of iOS apps are going down. And especially when it comes to health apps, we would like to see you, Apple, innovate more and more.
#17 Improve Smart Dictionary: Another rant here. The current iOS autocorrection sucks. Even the Predictive Text (QuickType) suggestion must be improved. It’s annoying as hell.
#18 Font Changes: When iOS 8 was released with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, everyone complained about the font sizes. Do not make this mistake with iOS 9.
#19 Improve Spotlight: It’s cool, yes, but you can make it better. You can also fix Spotlight problems while you are it.
In short…
Do Not Give Us Same Old Things
Siri Optimized, slightly changed interface, optimization of apps and security changes in iOS 9? Yeah, all those are good. And we also want them.
But give us more.
Add more features. Super-cool options so our iPhones are no longer smartphones, but scientific devices that makes us look uber cool.
To conclude, we know some of our feature request for iOS 9 are bizarre but we like to have them when the firmware is released this year.