My iOS7 Wishlist

With rumours of the new iPhone 5S and its' many 'amazing new features' kicking into overdrive, it wasn't too long until iOS7 rumours began to float around. Despite the iPhone 5 only being released late last September, it seems tech geeks are already hot for Apples' next instalment.

I was not a big fan of the iPhone 5 when it was released. As far as I am concerned, all they have done is make the screen taller, and some may argue that the resolution is still far behind the likes of the Galaxy S3 and S4.

iOS6 was a disappointment too, especially with Apples' decision to develop their own Maps, and the complete lack of support for issues that have been around since the release of iOS5. But there is always hope for the future, so here is my iOS7 wish-list.

All iPhone users completely understand Apple have to develop built-in applications that appeal to all everyone. The likes of Maps, Reminders, Stocks, Videos, Passbook and Newsstand etc are definitely great, but not everyone wants to use them, and most of those people don't want to see them.

Personally, I move all the Apps I don't use onto a separate page at the end of my home screen. Of course, I would rather not have to do this, so a simple functionality to hide the built-in Apps I don't want to use would be great. It is, after all, my phone.

Back in June 2007, a revolution began;  a large part of that revolution was iOS. So lets' fast forward to the present day and iOS6, but wait! What's this? Everything looks the same! 6 years on and the only major visual changes are a few new icons for the built-in Apps and the ability to change your home screen background.

Apart from that, we are still looking at the same minimal lock screen and 4 icon wide home screen. I guess you can say that any major changes to the iOS design would be met with some very strong criticism, but isn't that always the case with a re-design? Just look at the likes of Facebook and YouTube.

Maybe Apple could introduce some more features to the lock screen. I'm not suggesting that we fill the space with pointless weather widgets, but some more functionality on the lock screen would definitely be nice. Animated lock screen wallpapers would be a great touch!

Don't get me wrong, Apples' built in Apps are more than capable of fulfilling the basic task they are designed for, but sometimes you need to look towards third-party applications to get exactly what you want.

As a bit of a music buff, I live off Spotify. I never use the built-in Music application at all, so why should I have to suffer with it as the default music player?

Another good example is the browser, I never use Safari, I always use Chrome. So why can I not set Chrome as my default browser when I click on links from applications?

Apple have always been very minimal with their products, but sometimes too much minimalism just doesn't work, and unfortunately I think this is currently the case with iOS.

With a lot of their built-in applications, the functionality is poor to say the least; let's use Messages as an example. While the ability to send and receive messages is there, along with the extra option of iMessage, on the surface of things, that's it. Why have Apple decided to get rid of other common messaging functionalities, such as inbox and outbox, trash folders and pre-saved messaging groups?

iOS and OS X has always been closed source, but to me it feels that the functionality of the iPhone seems very closed source too. There is so much I want to do with my iPhone, but it feels like Apple is restricting me and telling me how I can/can't use it.

For as long as iOS remains closed source, there are always going to be jailbreakers who want to take their device to the next level. I say let them be; I have jailbroken in the past, and it really makes you see how very little the iPhone actually does with iOS.

I have seen some incredible jailbreaks for the iPhone, and I really believe that Apple can learn a lot from these ideas to really help improve their iOS.

A few great ideas I have seen in the past was the ability to toggle the LED flashlight on and off from the lockscreen, a 'Kill All' button in the taskbar which closes all of the currently open Apps and animated lock screen backgrounds, which, might I add, worked amazingly.

With the integration of Facebook now on the iPhone, it seems that everyone feels pressured to keep their contacts up-to-date with pictures and other details. But it seems that this has only a good use when you get a phone call and you can see their picture on the screen.

The contact pictures are there, so why not make the most of them? I think a great new feature for iOS7 would be to have contact photos integrated into the Messages. Having a small image next to the person's name on your inbox would definitely be a nice subtle touch, or maybe Apple could take it one step further and integrate contact photos into the actual conversation itself?

In my many years of owning an iOS device, I have always updated my Apps when prompted. A great feature would be to have pre-selected, if not all of my Apps updating automatically.

It's the little things that help, but this has been on my list since iOS4. I really think the Messaging would benefit from converting the likes of  ':)' and ':-)' to the smiley Emoji's etc. I don't want to see punctuation, I want to see smiles!

Some people may not like this, but a nice workaround would be to add a simple on/off option in the settings.

Again, it's just a little thing, but why aren't GIF's supported in the camera roll? Come on Apple! I want to see cats being cats and people falling over.

This may seem like quite a negative blog post, but I would just like to say that I think iOS is definitely a fantastic operating system. I just believe Apple have been taking progress far too slow, and some serious improvements are definitely needed to keep up with the ever changing and fast growing Android OS.