My WWDC 2024 Wish List
As we're only a few hours away from the start of WWDC, there is a lot of excitment about all the new features Apple will introduce across their various operating systems, as well as speculation about a revamped Siri with lots of AI features being baked into Apple’s various apps and services. However, as someone who only really uses and cares about iOS, there are a few things at the top of my wish list.
First, I hope that the iPhone 11 will be able to upgrade to iOS 18. I really like my iPhone 11, and after four and a half years it's still going strong. I’m just not ready to upgrade to a new phone yet, and I hope that Apple doesn't force my hand*.
Second, I sincerely hope that iOS 18 finally allows browser makers to leverage their own rendering and JavaScript engines. While Apple is currently sort of allowing this in order to comply with EU mandates, what I am hoping for is that Apple will simply allow other browser makers to put these new browser versions in the official Apple App Store so that customers will not have to sideload them. I also hope that Apple allows this across all regions, inclusive of the US.
Last, if Apple will not allow the above, I at least hope they continue giving Safari feature parity with Chrome and other Chromium based browsers. Chromium based browsers lead the pack, and Safari (Webkit) has a lot of catching up to do.
We'll see what happens in a few hours.
**UPDATE**
Well, I guess one out of three isn't bad. I'm happy that the iPhone 11 will be allowed to upgrade to iOS 18. I really was not ready to upgrade my phone. In terms of Safari, it looks like the only new features Apple is talking about on their site are Highlights and an updated Reader mode. Both of these seem to be A.I. related, and I'm not sure if they will work on a device as old as an iPhone 11. The ability to detect and highlight relevant information on a page as one browses and article summaries both sound like great features. That said, as someone who does not use Safari, I'm once again disappointed that third party browsers in the U.S. appear to still be required to be based on Webkit. :-( Oh well. There is always next year.
* While Apple does patch the occasional critical security issues on older versions of iOS, they traditionally only support the latest version of iOS with new feature updates and regular security updates.