Plenty of sites list the big rumors and features they hope for in iOS 13. I enjoy that stuff as much as everyone else, but I also revel in the little details and polish. So here are some things I hope we can all revel in iOS 13:

  • I would love to set lock screen and home screen wallpapers from any photo in Safari and other apps, without having to first save it in Photos
  • If we tap a link in an app and the Safari in-app viewer appears, we can tap a Safari icon in the corner to open that link in the main Safari app. If we do that, I wish the app would automatically hide the in-app viewer
  • Please, oh please, let the audio overlay rumor be true. In iOS 12, Apple gave developers the option to use a less obtrusive volume indicator when playing video or other media. But many developers haven’t updated or perhaps didn’t know about it. Rumors has it that this indicator will become standard in iOS 13
  • With 230 more emoji on the horizon, a search option for the emoji picker, like macOS has, is long overdue
  • On an iPad with a hardware keyboard and apps in Split View or Slide Over, too many apps still exhibit weird behavior. One common example is that the keyboard suggestion bar sometimes covers the text input of an app. I don’t know if this is on Apple or developers to test and fix, but I would much welcome some kind of solution
  • In Screen Time, I’d like the option to have more granular control over each app’s category. Tags would be ideal. For example, I use Twitterrific for some of my client work (the iCloud timeline sync makes it easy to pick up where I left off across devices. Why don’t more personal and professional social apps do this?). Of course, Screen Time thinks this is personal social media, but it isn’t. I swear
  • Ban the YouTube app from the App Store until it supports iOS Picture in Picture on iPad (yes, you can PiP within the YouTube app and browse other videos. But you can’t pop video out of the app. No, not even if you’re a YouTube Premium subscriber, which I am). I realize this has nothing to do with iOS, but desperate times call for drastic measures
  • I’d love the two-column widget view to return to the iPad’s Today screen. It was super duper useful
  • Spam calls are getting bad. Call blocking/identifying apps and plugins for the Phone app are great. But even better would be an option to block or send to voicemail all numbers not in Contacts
  • 3D Touch is great, I will fight you on this, and I want to see Apple push it for more developers to adopt
  • Developer-created faces for Apple Watch would be great, and I’m sure a new source of revenue for everyone
  • Improve drag and drop on iPad, both in iOS and with third party developers. Far, far too many apps still don’t support it. Like Discord and Slack. What the hell

I think that about covers it for now. Let me know what you think or if you have a good one I should add to the list.

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