Summer is almost here, which means a new World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) is almost upon us. And with it, hope springs eternal that Apple will improve macOS and address its many underlying issues.
Two years ago, I outlined my wish list for macOS Sequoia. Surprisingly, three of the items on my list came to fruition. We now have Widgets on the Desktop, built-in window management in macOS, and a dedicated Passwords app. These features work as advertised and are welcome additions.
Still untouched, however, are System Settings and Stage Manager. System Settings still feels cumbersome when it comes to locating specific settings, while Stage Manager remains a kludgy curiosity. Both could benefit from a complete re-think.
Apple Intelligence, hyped with macOS Sequoia’s release last year, has been a complete disappointment. The features Apple did release are lackluster or all-together baffling (I’m looking at you, Image Playground). Adding insult to injury, promised new Apple Intelligence features from last year’s WWDC have yet to materialize. It’s not a good look.
While some might give Apple a pass on Apple Intelligence, the same can’t be said for Siri, first introduced in 2011. Fourteen years later, it’s nothing more than an odd novelty, beyond setting simple timers and providing weather forecast information.
If the rumors are to be believed, nearly all of Apple’s upcoming OS’s (iPadOS, iOS, tvOS and macOS) will be receiving a significant visual overhaul, inspired by the UI found in Apple’s visionOS.
Call me jaded, but given Apple’s track record, I’m ambivalent about such changes. It’s been my experience that many of macOS’s UI changes since macOS Mojave have been regressions, with more emphasis placed on form over function. A new UI overhaul can be potentially exciting, but my concern is it will come at the expense of reduced consistency and visual contrast.
I want more of a Snow Leopard treatment for whatever Apple trots out as the next version of macOS. An increased focus on security, stability and performance would be welcomed.
With the upcoming revamp of macOS, it’s doubtful that support will continue for Intel-based Macs. This is to be expected, especially with four generations of Apple Silicon-based Macs under Apple’s belt. I traded my 2018 Mac mini for an M4 Mac mini last fall, and have zero regrets.
What’s my Wish List for macOS 16?
The return of skeuomorphism. To be clear, I’m not advocating for the return of faux-Leather binding or torn paper edges, but I would like to see better designed buttons and improved touch targets, especially when navigating the Finder.
Update Time Machine. While Apple’s backup utility generally works well, it’s been unchanged for quite some time. I would like Time Machine to have more granular control over what folder(s) get backed up, include additional custom backup schedules, and have the ability to define how long I want to keep my backups for. A Time Machine-to-iCloud backup would be fantastic, as well, allowing users to access their files from all their Apple devices.
And speaking of backups, I want macOS to have a simple option to create bootable backups. Apple provides no recourse for users to change their Mac’s storage, so why not at least give users an option to make a bootable backup?
The Dock is another macOS element that has not changed much since its introduction. My vote would go for macOS to provide a set of user-customizable Docks. The Dock could change its contents depending upon the Focus mode I’m in. I could have a separate Dock visible when I’m at work, and a different Dock when I’m using my Mac at home.
And while we’re at it, let my wallpaper automatically change based on my current Focus mode, too. This is already possible in both iOS and watchOS, so its absense in macOS is somewhat baffling to me.
As I mentioned I have mentioned previously, I would prefer a more intuitive, logically grouped System Settings. Commonly changed settings should be easy to find. Include an option to toggle System Settings to an Advanced view for those who need it.
Personally, I don’t really care whether macOS is consistent with iOS or iPadOS. Each device is its own animal. Apple can keep certain elements between all OS’s the same, but it should also play to each device’s unique strengths. System Settings on the Mac makes no sense when displayed as a narrow window, given its extra wide screen real estate.
UI Theming would be nice. We’ve had Light Mode and Dark mode for ages, but given the forthcoming overhaul, it would be refreshing to have other color options to choose from. Imagine if your red iMac sported a tastefully designed red-themed macOS UI? While theming is not essential, it can bring some much-needed fun and whimsy back to macOS. Remember fun, Apple?
These are just a few of the main items I’d like to see addressed in macOS 16. With WWDC less than two months away, what are some of your wish list items for macOS?
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You’re speaking my language! Less form over function; fix system setting; bootable back ups (but keeping system integrity); also for many of us time-machine over a local network seems broken – we are constantly being pushed to the cloud but this is expensive and slow and certainly here in the UK no longer E2EE so this is important for a proper backup scheme.
Of these system settings is the one that Apple comprehensively broke- until quite recently I never had to look up how to change a setting on the web- now it seems almost as bad as Windows and I’ve used Macs since 1985
Excellent article that probably reflects the hopes of real-world Apple users. I would just add the restoration of the capabilities of TextEdit that came with the version supplied in Monterey. For some inexplicable reason the ability to select non-contiguous text while holding down the option key was removed from versions thereafter. Completely unacceptable shortcoming in what purports to be a text editor.
And STOP blocking-locking Messages (iMessage) every few days, again and again and again for years now, requesting email and password each time, then answer to two security questions, then password again. Frustrating!!!
Agree whole heartedly with several of your thoughts.
Time Machine especially needs to be more logical and “customizable.” Is it just me, or has System Settings become more arcane over time? Finally, your suggestion regarding a decent bootable backup is right on the money.
I hope Apple is paying attention.
My 2020 Mini will stay on Catalina forever due to the cludge associated with its successors.
My 2023 Mini pro will stay on Sonoma forever since its successors do not have “features” that I need or want.
I strongly agree with the general and some of the specific points of your article. But how about fixing some of the problems:
Music is a complete kludge, lacking features it once had (like remembering what playlist you were playing last. For that matter, it would be nice if it didn’t forget what piece it’s playing right now! It does not perform consistently, with frequent incomprehensible, nonspecific error messages—and the only option in the dialog box is “OK.” You can no longer truncate a piece of music, for example to take out almost a minute of ovation at the end, or cut out introductory blather by the artist.
Mail continues to be a cluster kludge, with too many inconsistencies to mention, a complete lack of flexibility, and a lack of access to its settings, like what ports it’s using.
I strongly agree that the System Settings mess needs to be cleaned up. I also do not care if the system settings look or function the same on my phone and desktop. They are two entirely different machines, and forcing the iOS (the “i” stands for “idiotic”) settings layout on the Mac OS is CRIMINAL and even IMMORAL. Bad enough I have to put up with it on my phone.
Don’t give us more eye candy and entertainment. Give us back functionality and user friendliness. Remember that concept? If we want user indifference, we can get a Windows machine.
I want NO BUGS. Stuff should Just Work. That’s particularly true for Music.app. Now this has gotten more reliable, but I still get tracks that just stop playing, drops with my AirPlay receivers, occasional app crashes, etc.
In Music.app, I want albums to be organized by album title, not album title AND artist. So an album named “classical-assortment” that has some tracks performed by “artist1” and others by “artist2” to be treated as A SINGLE ALBUM.
In Mail.app, I want this to ALWAYS DEFAULT to the account the message was sent to, when replying. This is NOT Rocket Science.
I’d like an option to do absolute lexical sorting in Finder. Right now it tries to interpret the filename, particularly with numbers, and that’s annoying for batches of files that don’t start with consistent leading zeros.
All these are ‘just works/least surprise’ kinds of things
TimeMachine is in desperate need for one major upgrade: make it fix it’s errors. In most all of recent MacOs versions, I’ve encountered, at some point or another, error messages complaining that TM can’t backup because it’s out of space. TM documentation says it will delete the oldest backups when it needs more space, but it’s never seemed to actually do this. Generally, if I choose to try to fix this issue, I blow away the existing backup and start all over. Sometimes this works, but most times, the TM backups still complain about lack of space and fail. It seems that the first job of “Apple Intelligence” would be to prompt users to fix this problem instead of leaving us to devote hours to unsatisfying research and repair attempts.
Please, give us back the old System Settings!! The new arrangement is user unfriendly and lacks an interface that matches the hardware. A Mac is not an iPhone!