At Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) this year, Apple brought impressive changes to all its operating systems. You can see my favorite announcements from the event here. Still, there were things that Apple left out of the event for time (iOS, iPadOS, and Mac). There are a few things that everyone was hoping would be announced but still haven’t been. Here are some areas Apple still needs to work on in future upgrades.
iCloud Storage
When they introduced iCloud storage in 2011, Apple offered everyone that signed up 5GB of storage for free. Eight years later, they are still offering 5GB of data free. While 5GB is better than nothing, backups and pictures have increased in size exponentially. Really, 5GB just doesn’t get you as far as it used to.
Of course, Apple is out to make money so they allow you to increase the amount of storage you get, but it will cost you. Apple allows you to pay monthly for access to storage with three tiers: 50GB for $0.99, 200 GB for $2.99, or 2TB for $9.99. You can share this data with your family if you are on a family plan, but that space will fill up quickly with everyone sharing it.
50GB is better than the free 5GB they give you, and it is cheap. If you are saving photos and backups you’ll run out of space quickly. 200GB is better, but it is hard to share with a family. Also, if you are on a family plan and you aren’t sharing a drive then you are paying $1-3 per person per month and that can start to add up. The next jump up is 2TB for $10. That’s a HUGE jump. Wouldn’t it make sense for Apple to offer a tier somewhere between the two? I’d rather pay a little less since I don’t need 2TB of storage.
Apple’s competitors offer morestorage for free. For example, Google offers you 15GB free. If a school uses Apple devices, it gives every student and teacher 200GB for free. Why can’t they expand that program to everyone?
Apple needs to increase what it offers at the free level. I also wish that Apple would expand its offerings in paid storage. I think a $7 per month 1 TB storage level would go pretty far.
Multiple User Support on iPad
Apple has greatly advanced the iPad from its beginnings. iPadOS has pushed the tablet closer to replacing a desktop level device. But Apple still thinks of the iPad as a personal device. I’m pretty lucky: my wife has her own iPad, while I have an iPad Pro. These are personal devices for us, but for many, they have to share.
The funny thing is, Apple already has the ability to allow the iPad to use multiple user accounts. In Apple related schools, students and teachers get their own account and can log into any school iPad with those accounts. This way, whatever iPad a student picks up, it will have their own data and apps on that device.
It would be nice for Apple to add the ability for multiple users for families that share iPads instead of holding it as an educational feature.
iOS Development Tools
Apple pushed the iPad further than it has in years. Every year it becomes a more competent device.
But you still can’t develop apps on the device.
If Apple wants to push it like a Pro device, it will need to figure out a way to allow it to develop apps. SwiftPlaygrounds is a great learning app, and I think there are some features where you can practice programming inside of it, but it is not a development environment that will actually build an app that you can use on the device.
I wonder if it comes down to security on an iOS device. The system is so locked down, that Apple doesn’t want someone getting on one and creating a virus or spyware. Other than that, I honestly don’t know why they haven’t made a development system. The iPad is plenty fast to[MOU8] do it after all.
Leading the Way With Project Catalyst
I’ve stated many times that I think Project Catalyst is going to be huge. Project Catalyst is Apple’s effort to bring iPad apps to the Mac using one set of code. Apple is trying to create a development system that developers will be interested in and will allow them to create one code base.
The thing I think Apple missed is a big app to market it. They actually didn’t mention any of the apps being a Catalyst app on stage (other than the ones that came in Mojave). It was later revealed that Podcasts will be a project Catalyst app when it launches, but the new Music and Apple TV apps will be normal mac apps.
How are developers supposed to jump in the system and see the benefits if Apple doesn’t lead the way themselves?
While I’m not sure that I would have wanted the iOS music app ported as it is, Apple could have set the standard by making the new Music app out of Catalyst. It could have had more functionality than the iOS version, or it could have brought features to the iPad as well.
I still believe that this will be a great developer system in the long run, but I want to see the people that are pushing this be the ones using it.
Pro Apps for iOS
Where are Apple’s Pro Apps on iOS? Where is Final Cut for the iPad?
iMovie is a great basic app but it lacks many of the features that you can get on an app like LumaFusion, which is a high end video editor on iOS. Apple seems content to allow 3rd party developers to push the boundaries of the system. The problem with that is that they are not Apple.
Final Cut is one of the leading video editors. It’s blazing fast, and while it does have a learning curve, it is fairly easy to actually use. It is so efficient that the changes you make are done on the fly, even if you are currently encoding a video.
Where is that on the iPad or iOS?
Apple knows the system better than anyone, and they should be the ones pushing the apps forward. I would love to see how Apple would create these pros apps on an iOS device. I think they would work better than most of what is currently out there.
For now, though, we’ll have to wait on those 3rd party guys to get it done.
Wrap Up
These are my biggest misses from this year’s WWDC. Some of theseseem like low hanging fruit, and some are things that will probably never come. Still, I would love to see how Apple tackles these things in the future.
That said, I am very excited to get to try out iOS 13, iPadOS, and MacOS 10.15.
What else did Apple miss at this year’s WWDC? Tag me on Facebook to let me know!
