With WWDC 2012 kicking off on Monday with an annual keynote presentation, iOS 6 is all but confirmed at this point. There’s plenty of rumors about what is to come, but what about all of the small features that haven’t been mentioned in the media? I, for one, think they can definitely improve the OS, especially for users who appreciate the attention to detail and polish Apple is known for in its products. These features aren’t as likely to make it into the release as what’s already been whispered around, but nonetheless, here’s five I can only wish for in iOS 6.
Set app defaults
I think Apple will have to do this eventually in order to avoid any antitrust claims, but this is quite simple. The user should be able to set defaults for certain apps to complete various tasks. Why should tapping a link in Mail always open in Safari? There’s a few alternatives in the App Store such as Opera and Dolphin. Right now it’s not possible for someone to tap a link in a different app and have it open in a third-party browser. That needs to change. The same can be said about using a different mail client to send mail.
Attach photos from within Mail
Seriously Apple, why the hell isn’t this possible yet? It’s been five years since the iPhone came out and I still can’t attach a photo or video from within Mail.app. I have to go into the Photos app, tap the share button, and choose to send it in Mail. That’s so dreadfully inefficient when you have a message already typed up or even if you’re just browsing through mail and you want to compose one with a photo. You’ll have to jump over to Photos then back into Mail — tedious.
Videos in Photo Stream
This is tricky because videos take up way more space than photos do, so it’s hard to rely on iCloud to sync them between devices. Then again, I suppose that’s why this is a wish list. I love that whenever I take a photo on my iPhone, it’s automatically on my Mac and I don’t need to think twice about it. When I take a video, however, it’s a different story. To get it on my Mac, I have to find my USB cable, tether the phone to my computer and wait for the video to import into iPhoto. I guess we’re all a little spoiled now because just one year ago we had to tether the iPhone to transfer just about anything, but now that we can sync over WiFi, I want to make the most out of it.
Quickly close a notification banner
I don’t want to get too nitpicky about this because I know Apple just revamped notifications with iOS 5, but I have but one request: give users the ability to quickly close notification banners. They aren’t as disruptive as the alerts of yesteryear, but when they sit on the top they can sometimes still be a minor distraction. It’s especially annoying when I first turn on my iPhone or iPad and all the notifications I missed since I shut it off appear one after the other. A small X button on the right of the banner would be sufficient — nothing more.
Widgets for iPad
Widgets are my biggest request, but I have an alternative to the most common plea, which is to stick widgets on the home screen of any iOS device. I just want them on my iPad. For the iPhone, I actually like just having the simple row of icons because I can make the most out of the small screen space with the apps I’ve installed. There’s no excuse for the lack of widgets on the iPad; there’s plenty of space in between each icon. If Apple squeezed them closer together, widgets would fit in perfectly on the large display without sacrificing too much the amount of apps per page. The next iPhone may get a 4-inch display, but let’s just cross that bridge when we get to it.
A few other features would have made this wish list too such as Siri APIs or Facebook integration, but those things are far more likely to become realities in iOS 6 rather than classify as mere wishes. For more on that, check out Blake Stimac’s post on what’s expected at WWDC 2012.
If you have a wish list of your own for iOS 6, let us know in the comments below.