Apple’s Coming iOS 16: A Wish List

Thanks for coming. That’ll be $200.

Fine, you don’t need my powers of prognostication to know the future of

Apple’s

AAPL -3.86%

software releases because you already know the past.

On Monday, the company opens its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (aka WWDC) with a keynote address. Like in previous years, Apple is expected to announce updates to its apps and core operating systems—iOS, MacOS, iPadOS, WatchOS, tvOS. Unlike previous years, or at least the last two years, I will be emerging from my basement to attend the event in Cupertino, Calif.

Monday’s keynote will still be prerecorded and streamed online, but an assortment of reporters, YouTubers and app developers are invited to watch from the company’s headquarters. 

I get why you might not tune in. It isn’t like we’re going to party like it’s iOS 99! (Forgive me, Prince fans.) After some 15 versions of iOS—with fewer and fewer whiz-bang features—it can be harder to get excited.

So why do we have to wait until June for the new software to be presented in a big, splashy, superlative-packed presentation? And why does the bulk of the features arrive in a big dump in September?

Justin Santamaria, who was a senior engineer manager at Apple until 2013 and led the development of the FaceTime and Messages apps, told me it’s because the company used to focus on the big yearly hardware upgrade. 

“We were always building the next operating system for the features that were coming out on the next iPhone,” he said. But he concedes that now that the company is more focused on software and services and people keep older iPhones longer, the one-big-annual-upgrade approach could be rethought.

And Apple’s moving away from it. In iOS 15, for instance, the company trickled out some of the bigger features over the course of the year—releasing its digital legacy feature in December and adding mask-support for Face ID in March.

Could it go further? Possibly. iOS could just be iOS—no number!—and new features could just appear when they’re ready, without the big applause from the, well, largely virtual audience. 

Still, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t get jazzed about minor feature updates, like some I’ve been dreaming of. Here’s my somewhat-annual somewhat-fantasy iOS wishlist of features:

Messaging Things 

Apple Messages has become my most important app, but not because it has the best tools. I’d love the ability to mark a message as unread, so I don’t forget about it and can come back to it later. Also, what about giving us more Tapback responses—you know, the icons that pop up when you hold down on a message? I’d love to see emoji options like Slack offers. And what I wouldn’t give for a typing indicator on group chats!

Given all the spam texts I’ve been getting lately, some better blocking and reporting tools are needed.

And finally, just embrace Rich Communication Services (or RCS) already, Apple. This messaging standard, already integrated into Android, brings iMessage-like features—such as read receipts, messaging over Wi-Fi and encryption—to regular text messaging. That means those texts with your green-bubble friends would be significantly better. Google has called on Apple to embrace the standard; an Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. 

Home Screen Things 

iOS 14 rethought the home screen with helpful widgets (those little boxes of live information) and an App Library to tame the mess. In iOS 16, Apple is planning to add widget capabilities to the lock screen, so you wouldn’t need to swipe to check weather or other info, according to Bloomberg. This goes hand-in-hand with the reports that the iPhone 14, due in September, would have an “always on” display that shows important info without needing to tap the screen—similar to Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones, and the Apple Watch.

And how about some fresh homescreen design options? With Apple’s Shortcuts feature, people have gotten into customizing their app icons with downloadable packs. Yet I’m exhausted just watching this TikTok on how to do it. Android’s new Material You feature lets you overhaul the colors, icons and look of your home screens without all that effort. Who doesn’t want their screen to look like a West Elm showroom? 

Miscellaneous Things

I say it every time I review the super-mega-massive iPhone (the Pro Max): Let us put two apps side by side, iPad style, or on top of each other. That way we can look at, say, a webpage and a document simultaneously.

Then there’s ducking autocorrect! As I proposed in my recent column, we should have the ability to adjust the aggressiveness of the correction so “well” doesn’t always become “we’ll.” But I’d settle for what Android has: options to suggest offensive words and people from your contacts, and a way to undo unwanted autocorrections.

In the Photos app, how about the ability to pull a still from a video after it’s been recorded? I love having this feature on the Google Pixel: I don’t have to devote the mental energy to deciding “video or photo” when capturing my kids doing something adorable. 

Apple Wallet badly needs an interface overhaul. The vertical display of cards is confusing and swiping around when shopping or boarding a flight with your family should be simpler.

And, for the love of battery-saving, please just put the battery percentage back in the upper right corner. I’m done swiping down!

Some of my top new features over the years have been ones focused on protecting our privacy, security and even physical safety. As my colleague Rolfe Winkler reported, Apple is working on a car-crash detection feature that will automatically dial 911 if the phone senses there was an accident.

iPad Things

I’m throwing in some iPadOS things, too. Please give us multiple user accounts so I don’t have to fear my son sending emails when he’s supposed to be watching Pokémon. As the iPad has become increasingly like a Mac, it makes sense to have this functionality.

And I’ll be honest, I really have no idea how to multitask efficiently on the iPad. I’ve never mastered the finger calisthenics to switch apps, place apps side by side, etc. All of this could be more intuitive.

Finally, my iPad wishlist constant: a freaking calculator. Seriously, just make it a widget at this point. 

Oh, and one AirPod thing. Look, I’m in charge, you little white doodads. I want to be able to say, “Stay connected to my iPhone and just my iPhone! Don’t connect to my MacBook or iPad!” Let’s have a setting to disable the constant switching between devices. 

We will see what wishes come true at the Monday event. I’ve just consulted my tarot cards and they confirm that we’ll in fact witness many things Apple touts as “great,” “incredible” and indeed “magical.”

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Write to Joanna Stern at joanna.stern@wsj.com