My WWDC Wishlist

Until quite recently the Apple community had really high hopes for this year with a new UI framework, codename Marzipan, as the highlight. Unfortunately @gruber effectively killed that rumor so what’s left to hope for? Well, a lot, so I thought I’d write down my wishes so I can score it after the conference.

Developer tools

People keeps forgetting that WWDC is first and foremost a conference for developers and my biggest hope is for Apple to really make it easier to develop apps. The Swift language and all the frameworks are awesome but when you try React Native and other modern development environments you understand why it’s gaining traction. Build, run and wait… instead of just writing your code and seeing changes more or less instantaneously is really bad.

So if we don’t get a new UI framework, I really hope that Apple makes the feedback loop for using the current ones much better.

iOS (including watchOS and tvOS)

For iOS and its siblings I’m mostly hoping for stability fixes and improvements to the core apps. It’s really strange to me that you cannot duplicate a calendar event, pass an e-mail to a todo app or see two notes at the same time. There are so many small improvements that Apple can do to make iOS really good.

To be really specific on the API side I’m also hoping for improvements to SFSafariViewController to make it possible to add buttons to the navigation bar and make it more powerful in a UISplitViewController. Very niche, I know, but as a developer it’s sometimes the small things that make or break an idea.

macOS

There are obviously lots of things that Apple can do with macOS but my biggest frustration right now is app installs. When the Mac App Store was introduced it sounded like a really good idea but after letting it collect dust for a couple of years the situation is even worse than it was before. Solutions such as Setapp and apps moving away from the App Store or creating stupid in-app purchase solutions to fake trials should make it really clear that Apple need to do something.

I know that this is an unpopular opinion but I would actually prefer if the Mac App Store was the only way to install apps but before that can happen it needs to be way better so for now I’m hoping for sharable in-app purchases, better sandboxing and maybe some of the “new” features from the iOS App Store.

Recognition that the world exists

One thing that Apple often gets credit for is only announcing stuff they actually ship. Lately this has not really been the case with delays for AirPower, AirPlay 2 and Messages in the Cloud but for people outside the US, we get this all the time. Where is Apple News, Apple Pay Cash, HomePod, TV series on iTunes and so much more? At least not in Sweden. This year I hope that Apple won’t release any US only features.

Siri

I don’t need Siri be be able to book a restaurant table for me over the phone but when I tell it to add something to my shopping list and she gets the words right I want her to do the same thing every time. Having the concept of “and” would also be great.

Hardware

I don’t think we’ll see any hardware at WWDC this year and I don’t care. I think the current line-up is great. They should obviously do something about the laptop keyboard since they keep breaking but I haven’t had any problems with mine and I absolutely love my MacBook Pro so I’m fine right now.

If they do release something I’m hoping for an updated iPad Pro with FaceID. My iPhone X have ruined me and having to use TouchID seems as nice as spinning hard drives.

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Besides my wish list above I’m really looking forward to the ATP and Relay FM live shows. They pretty much live in my ears so seeing them live will be so much fun.

See you all in San Jose.

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