Earlier this week, we shared the first part of our iOS 16 concept and explained why we were publishing these ideas so far in advance, especially with the first iOS 15 beta just dropping. That first piece focused on changes to system components, while this piece focuses on individual apps and ties the two together. We looked at a few of Apple’s built-in apps that we believe could use some additional love, as well as ways for Apple to go after some of its biggest competitors.
The first part of this concept included updates to widgets on the Home Screen, a new icon for App Library on the iPhone, new focus toggles on the Lock Screen, and enhancements to AirPlay and Handoff.
Here, we’ll go through what we’d like to see in apps like Photos, Music, and Maps, as well as tools like Calculator, Clock, and Watch. We also spent some time thinking about innovative ways to build upon the work that Apple is doing with Siri.
Apple’s own Instagram
It’s clear that Apple is trying to reposition iOS as an ambient social platform with many of the changes being made in iOS 15. Several of them appear to be targeting Facebook head-on. This isn’t even including the privacy changes that undoubtedly affect the way Facebook does business. We’d love to see Apple create a feed in the Photos app that consolidates all of the photos, memories, albums, and more that your friends and family share with you in real time.
A new “Shared” tab in the center of the bottom bar could show you an Instagram-like real-time feed of all the photos your friends and family share with you. You could even create a profile, similar to the one you have in Messages, directly in Photos. The design of the feed and albums on profiles could adopt the same new stack style introduced in the Messages in iOS 15 for a slick and unique look.
In the profile view, you could see all of a friend’s photos, memories, videos, and more organized in a simple and recognizable interface. In the feed, you could leave a comment or share that photo with another friend.
Cover flow’s triumphant return
We all really miss cover flow. More than anything, the Music app needs a landscape mode. We haven’t had one in more than five years. With the introduction of the new spatial audio and lossless tracks, Apple wants users to spend more time simply enjoying their music. Cover flow was the perfect way to do that back in the day.
Apple could bring back the classic landscape cover flow design last seen in iOS 6 — of course, with some flatter, more modern tweaks. The albums could be flanked by a button on either side, with the left side letting you toggle between cover flow and a simpler grid view, while the right side would let you sort your albums by recently added, play count, and alphabetical.
When tapping on an album, instead of flipping over in a skeuomorphic way, it could grow and blur. The track list would get layered right on top and offer buttons for shuffle and play, as well as the context buttons you’d see in an album in portrait mode.
‘Order with Apple’ in Maps + Siri
This is a big one, and it would require a fairly big effort by many teams. We’d love for Apple to create a new API for food ordering apps and a new service called “Order with Apple.” You could order food directly in the Maps app, but better yet, you could ask Siri to order food for you.
Siri would display menus and have a new bag button to the right of the orb at the bottom of the screen. It could keep track of all the items you want to order and let you do so right there with Apple Pay. This could theoretically work with any shopping service that would want to integrate product pick up or delivery.
Calculator gains history
Apple’s built-in calculator has stayed virtually the same for the past decade. It’s gotten new coats of paint a few times but nothing really new from a functional standpoint. We’d love to see Apple add a new history function to Calculator so that you can see past equations and results.
In the top left, you’d just tap on the history icon, and a modal would slide up with tape of your math history. You’d be able to see the date and time you did an equation and clear the entire tape of all of your previous work.
In addition to the history view, you’d be able to see the equation above the larger answer. There’d also be a simple undo button for folks who still haven’t discovered the back gesture. In the top right, we’d love for Apple to add a new share button to make it easy to send answers and equations to friends and family.
Clock gets multiple timers and a new UI
The timer in Clock needs more work than anything else in the app. First and foremost, we need multiple timers on the iPhone, and we need a fresh user interface for it. In real time, you can see all active timers and stop them on the fly. Below the active timers, you can see all of your recent timers, just like on Apple Watch.
In the bottom row, you could save timers you frequently use to a new “favorite timers” section. With all of these changes, you could set and change timers on the fly. In the top right, you can see a plus button that would bring up the old scroll wheel picker interface to set a new timer.
Watch faces + band discovery
The Watch app on iPhone could use some better discovery features for watch faces. It starts with a redesigned face gallery that lets you browse faces by category, color, and edition and lets you see faces your friends have shared with you. Below the different sort options, there are curated categories by use case, like fitness and business.
You might have noticed a new tab in the bottom bar. Just tap on the new watch bands tab to see all of the bands available at the Apple Store. You’ll see what’s new first, as well as bands created specifically for your particular watch material finish.
You could also store a list of all the bands you have purchased. The app could bring them in automatically based on your Apple Store purchase history too. Apple could also suggest watch faces that go nicely with a particular band in your collection.
Conclusion
This just scratches the surface of some of the changes Apple could make to apps customers use frequently. You might notice throughout the concept some tweaks I didn’t mention. You can read the entire “release notes” below to see everything from part 1 and part 2 of this iOS 16 concept. Let us know what you think and what features you might want to see next year in the comments below.
“Release Notes”
Home Screen
Add more powerful interactive widgets to your home screen
Includes Home app and Voice Memos widgets
New Health widget tracks individual metrics
New Wallet widget lets you keep track of your Apple Card balance
App Library can be added to any home screen
Place an icon for App Library in the dock
Access App Library from any page
Focuses
Quickly change between focuses right from the lock screen
Press and slide your finger up and down the list to change focus
Enable do not disturb more quickly with a gesture
Wallpaper can change with focuses
Set wallpapers to change when enabling a focus
Siri
Use Handoff and AirPlay with Siri
Ask Siri to put content you’re viewing on iPhone on a TV, Mac, or speaker
Apps that do not support the new API will still work with AirPlay mirroring
Shop and order food with Siri
Ask Siri to order food from a restaurant and it will provide a menu
New shopping button saves your orders for later
“Order with Apple” integrates with apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats
View history of Siri requests
Tap the history button to see a list of all your most recent Siri queries
View stacks of previously used Siri information cards
Maps
Place orders from participating restaurants and stores
Integration with apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats makes it easy to order food and more
See menus right in the Maps app without going to the web
Photos
Share your photos with friends and families in the new feed
Post memories, albums, photos, videos, and more for friends and family to see
View the feed using the new “Shared” tab in the Photos app
Comment on photos and share them
Tap a profile to see all photos shared by that person
Create a profile and connect with your friends
See all shared memories, photos, albums, and more
Set a profile photo or use your Memoji from Messages
Music
Turn your iPhone into landscape mode for new view styles
Cover flow returns to iPhone alongside a new grid view
Sort albums by recently added, alphabetical order, and play count
Works in dark and light modes
Sounds
All new “Sounds” app lets you relax with background sounds
Play sounds like stream, rain, and dark noise
Enable listening in the background with other content
Swipe between sounds on the fly
Set a sleep timer for use at nighttime
Save your favorite sounds locally to your iPhone
Spatial audio comes to background sounds
New recordings immerse you in other locations
Head tracking lets sounds move with you
Calculator
View your calculation history with a tap
Tap the new history button to see previous calculations
See when you made a calculation
Clear your calculation history
Quickly share numbers with contacts
New share button makes it easier than ever to share the result of a calculation
Equations are always visible
Now you won’t just see an answer, but also the equation
Quickly tap to undo a calculation
Clock
Completely redesigned timer interface
Organized by active, recent, and favorites
See your recently used timers
Save frequently used timers to favorites
Set multiple timers at once
See the status of multiple timers
Choose to stop individual timers
Add a new timer with a tap of the button in the top right
Watch
Completely redesigned face gallery
Organized by category, color, edition, and shared
See faces your friends use and share with you
Find faces in collections organized by use
New bands tab makes it easy to discover new styles
See bands designed specifically for your model of Apple Watch
Shop new bands at the Apple Store
Save a collection of the bands you own
Get suggested faces for corresponding bands
Light mode is now enabled in Watch
When your iPhone is in light mode, the app now reflects the proper design
Add more powerful interactive widgets to your home screen
Includes Home app and Voice Memos widgets
New Health widget tracks individual metrics
New Wallet widget lets you keep track of your Apple Card balance
App Library can be added to any home screen
Place an icon for App Library in the dock
Access App Library from any page
Includes Home app and Voice Memos widgets
New Health widget tracks individual metrics
New Wallet widget lets you keep track of your Apple Card balance
Place an icon for App Library in the dock
Access App Library from any page
Quickly change between focuses right from the lock screen
Press and slide your finger up and down the list to change focus
Enable do not disturb more quickly with a gesture
Wallpaper can change with focuses
Set wallpapers to change when enabling a focus
Press and slide your finger up and down the list to change focus
Enable do not disturb more quickly with a gesture
Set wallpapers to change when enabling a focus
Use Handoff and AirPlay with Siri
Ask Siri to put content you’re viewing on iPhone on a TV, Mac, or speaker
Apps that do not support the new API will still work with AirPlay mirroring
Shop and order food with Siri
Ask Siri to order food from a restaurant and it will provide a menu
New shopping button saves your orders for later
“Order with Apple” integrates with apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats
View history of Siri requests
Tap the history button to see a list of all your most recent Siri queries
View stacks of previously used Siri information cards
Ask Siri to put content you’re viewing on iPhone on a TV, Mac, or speaker
Apps that do not support the new API will still work with AirPlay mirroring
Ask Siri to order food from a restaurant and it will provide a menu
New shopping button saves your orders for later
“Order with Apple” integrates with apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats
Tap the history button to see a list of all your most recent Siri queries
View stacks of previously used Siri information cards
Place orders from participating restaurants and stores
Integration with apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats makes it easy to order food and more
See menus right in the Maps app without going to the web
Integration with apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats makes it easy to order food and more
See menus right in the Maps app without going to the web
Share your photos with friends and families in the new feed
Post memories, albums, photos, videos, and more for friends and family to see
View the feed using the new “Shared” tab in the Photos app
Comment on photos and share them
Tap a profile to see all photos shared by that person
Create a profile and connect with your friends
See all shared memories, photos, albums, and more
Set a profile photo or use your Memoji from Messages
Post memories, albums, photos, videos, and more for friends and family to see
View the feed using the new “Shared” tab in the Photos app
Comment on photos and share them
Tap a profile to see all photos shared by that person
See all shared memories, photos, albums, and more
Set a profile photo or use your Memoji from Messages
Turn your iPhone into landscape mode for new view styles
Cover flow returns to iPhone alongside a new grid view
Sort albums by recently added, alphabetical order, and play count
Works in dark and light modes
Cover flow returns to iPhone alongside a new grid view
Sort albums by recently added, alphabetical order, and play count
Works in dark and light modes
All new “Sounds” app lets you relax with background sounds
Play sounds like stream, rain, and dark noise
Enable listening in the background with other content
Swipe between sounds on the fly
Set a sleep timer for use at nighttime
Save your favorite sounds locally to your iPhone
Spatial audio comes to background sounds
New recordings immerse you in other locations
Head tracking lets sounds move with you
Play sounds like stream, rain, and dark noise
Enable listening in the background with other content
Swipe between sounds on the fly
Set a sleep timer for use at nighttime
Save your favorite sounds locally to your iPhone
New recordings immerse you in other locations
Head tracking lets sounds move with you
View your calculation history with a tap
Tap the new history button to see previous calculations
See when you made a calculation
Clear your calculation history
Quickly share numbers with contacts
New share button makes it easier than ever to share the result of a calculation
Equations are always visible
Now you won’t just see an answer, but also the equation
Quickly tap to undo a calculation
Tap the new history button to see previous calculations
See when you made a calculation
Clear your calculation history
New share button makes it easier than ever to share the result of a calculation
Now you won’t just see an answer, but also the equation
Quickly tap to undo a calculation
Completely redesigned timer interface
Organized by active, recent, and favorites
See your recently used timers
Save frequently used timers to favorites
Set multiple timers at once
See the status of multiple timers
Choose to stop individual timers
Add a new timer with a tap of the button in the top right
Organized by active, recent, and favorites
See your recently used timers
Save frequently used timers to favorites
See the status of multiple timers
Choose to stop individual timers
Add a new timer with a tap of the button in the top right
Completely redesigned face gallery
Organized by category, color, edition, and shared
See faces your friends use and share with you
Find faces in collections organized by use
New bands tab makes it easy to discover new styles
See bands designed specifically for your model of Apple Watch
Shop new bands at the Apple Store
Save a collection of the bands you own
Get suggested faces for corresponding bands
Light mode is now enabled in Watch
When your iPhone is in light mode, the app now reflects the proper design
Organized by category, color, edition, and shared
See faces your friends use and share with you
Find faces in collections organized by use
See bands designed specifically for your model of Apple Watch
Shop new bands at the Apple Store
Save a collection of the bands you own
Get suggested faces for corresponding bands
When your iPhone is in light mode, the app now reflects the proper design