Ideas that are better than Liquid Glass

[HouseLannister]

Not necessarily looking for better UI design suggestions. Just wondering what ideas you all have for the OS that Apple could have done as an alternative to focusing on Liquid Glass or AI. If you were designing the OS, what would be your big idea for this year?

I'll start:

A Real Dock on iOS. You want to have a consistent design across all your OSes? Well, give me a real dock with auto-hide, let me add more than 4 apps to it, and give me the magnification effect when it's full. Let me put a folder there too.

A More Dense Home Screen. More rows and more columns. I picture 8x5 when using a hidden dock, 7x5 otherwise.

Split-Screen & Slide-Over on iOS. If foldables are coming, let's get ready. Split-screen seems like a must if you are going to have a folding tablet-style phone in 2026 (or is it 2027 now?) and has been on Android since 2016. And slide-over would be perfect on any iPhone (kind of like the new 90/10% layout that Samsung is testing with OneUI 8).

Make App Library Useful. Hide Recently Added when I haven't installed anything recently. Let me rename and delete app categories. Let me move apps between categories. (Maybe I don't want Pocket Casts in Information and Reading because it belongs in Entertainment.) While you are at it, let me rename apps---I should be able to nickname them whatever I want.

More Toggles. An option to make the default App Library view the alpha-sort instead of requiring an additional gesture. An option to change the default press behavior on the Dynamic Island to the long-press behavior (like it always should have been). An option to add a number row to the keyboard. An option to hide app/widget names when using small icons. Just give us options.

Theme support. An icon picker and icon packs in the App Store.

 

[one more]

Not necessarily looking for better UI design suggestions. Just wondering what ideas you all have for the OS that Apple could have done as an alternative to focusing on Liquid Glass or AI. If you were designing the OS, what would be your big idea for this year?

I'll start:

A Real Dock on iOS. You want to have a consistent design across all your OSes? Well, give me a real dock with auto-hide, let me add more than 4 apps to it, and give me the magnification effect when it's full. Let me put a folder there too.

A More Dense Home Screen. More rows and more columns. I picture 8x5 when using a hidden dock, 7x5 otherwise.

Split-Screen & Slide-Over on iOS. If foldables are coming, let's get ready. Split-screen seems like a must if you are going to have a folding tablet-style phone in 2026 (or is it 2027 now?) and has been on Android since 2016. And slide-over would be perfect on any iPhone (kind of like the new 90/10% layout that Samsung is testing with OneUI 8).

Make App Library Useful. Hide Recently Added when I haven't installed anything recently. Let me rename and delete app categories. Let me move apps between categories. (Maybe I don't want Pocket Casts in Information and Reading because it belongs in Entertainment.) While you are at it, let me rename apps---I should be able to nickname them whatever I want.

More Toggles. An option to make the default App Library view the alpha-sort instead of requiring an additional gesture. An option to change the default press behavior on the Dynamic Island to the long-press behavior (like it always should have been). An option to add a number row to the keyboard. An option to hide app/widget names when using small icons. Just give us options.

Theme support. An icon picker and icon packs in the App Store.

You can already put a folder in a dock, even in iOS 18.5 🖐️

 

[tim_apple]

Not necessarily looking for better UI design suggestions. Just wondering what ideas you all have for the OS that Apple could have done as an alternative to focusing on Liquid Glass or AI. If you were designing the OS, what would be your big idea for this year?

I'll start:

A Real Dock on iOS. You want to have a consistent design across all your OSes? Well, give me a real dock with auto-hide, let me add more than 4 apps to it, and give me the magnification effect when it's full. Let me put a folder there too.

A More Dense Home Screen. More rows and more columns. I picture 8x5 when using a hidden dock, 7x5 otherwise.

Split-Screen & Slide-Over on iOS. If foldables are coming, let's get ready. Split-screen seems like a must if you are going to have a folding tablet-style phone in 2026 (or is it 2027 now?) and has been on Android since 2016. And slide-over would be perfect on any iPhone (kind of like the new 90/10% layout that Samsung is testing with OneUI 8).

Make App Library Useful. Hide Recently Added when I haven't installed anything recently. Let me rename and delete app categories. Let me move apps between categories. (Maybe I don't want Pocket Casts in Information and Reading because it belongs in Entertainment.) While you are at it, let me rename apps---I should be able to nickname them whatever I want.

More Toggles. An option to make the default App Library view the alpha-sort instead of requiring an additional gesture. An option to change the default press behavior on the Dynamic Island to the long-press behavior (like it always should have been). An option to add a number row to the keyboard. An option to hide app/widget names when using small icons. Just give us options.

Theme support. An icon picker and icon packs in the App Store.

How would auto hide the dock work? Like what would it show when it’s hiding. Would it appear over other apps?

 

[HouseLannister]

You can already put a folder in a dock, even in iOS 18.5 🖐️

Fair. I meant the way folders behave in the Mac and iPad 26 dock. Functionality is already there, though.

How would auto hide the dock work? Like what would it show when it’s hiding. Would it appear over other apps?

Same as on iPadOS. It just pops up when you drag up from the bottom. Overlaps the app you are in while using. And imagine if you could put it on any side of the screen. Throw it on the left and you have a nice one-hand mode.

 

[DoctorFedora]

at a glance, sounds to me kind of like what you actually want is an iPad Mini with a cellular modem

 

[Maclver]

Honestly been dying for themes…. We are like 25% there with the shortcuts workaround to change icons. But FFS Apple, give us the freedom to make our iPhones ours. We are well past the point where you need it took the same for brand recognition

 

[HouseLannister]

at a glance, sounds to me kind of like what you actually want is an iPad Mini with a cellular modem

Now that it has the phone app, yeah. Just make it fold in half and you got a sale from me.

 

[MegaBlue]

How would the magnification on a dock even work with touch? Are they supposed to start shipping screens that detect finger hover or am I supposed to first tap to zoom in, then tap again to pick the app, or am I always supposed to press and hold if I want to see my apps? That doesn't sound very intuitive or enjoyable to use.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Honestly been dying for themes…. We are like 25% there with the shortcuts workaround to change icons. But FFS Apple, give us the freedom to make our iPhones ours. We are well past the point where you need it took the same for brand recognition

It wouldn't surprise me if they did that and just followed Nintendo and had two: White, and Dark.

 

[mlayer]

Fair. I meant the way folders behave in the Mac and iPad 26 dock. Functionality is already there, though.

Same as on iPadOS. It just pops up when you drag up from the bottom. Overlaps the app you are in while using. And imagine if you could put it on any side of the screen. Throw it on the left and you have a nice one-hand mode.

So in the home screen that bottom edge would be blank unless you drag up from the edge? That would be a lot of empty space that you couldn't replace with another row of apps since you would have to make room for the dock when it appears.

 

[HouseLannister]

So in the home screen that bottom edge would be blank unless you drag up from the edge? That would be a lot of empty space that you couldn't replace with another row of apps since you would have to make room for the dock when it appears.

I think you could put another row of icons there and hide it all the time. It would require work though. Imagine an iPad with a Safari Home Screen filled with Favorites and you swipe up from the bottom. The dock just overlaps the bottom row of favorites. Samsung and other Android phones already do this with the edge panel. It’s not hard.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

So in the home screen that bottom edge would be blank unless you drag up from the edge? That would be a lot of empty space that you couldn't replace with another row of apps since you would have to make room for the dock when it appears.

In iPadOS, the dock stays visible on the home screen. It only slides away when in apps.

 

[JanetTheGreat]

I would like there to be an appearance feature that allows you to make your OS look like any previous version you want by selecting it in a menu.

 

[nickdalzell1]

I would like there to be an appearance feature that allows you to make your OS look like any previous version you want by selecting it in a menu.

Sadly I bet the earliest it would go back to would be iOS 7. Cook and company don't want to remind themselves of their falling out with Scott Forstall.

 

[HouseLannister]

Surprised this thread didn’t get more new ideas. Maybe the OS is fully mature and just doesn’t need much. If so, the move to the year naming seems shortsighted. Do we even need a new iOS next year? What’s left to add? Strip out liquid glass and this could have been called 18.7. There’s just not much meat in this update.

 

[nickdalzell1]

The move to the naming fits with Windows (Windows 9 never happened) and Samsung's phone model scheme after the S10.

 

[mlayer]

Surprised this thread didn’t get more new ideas. Maybe the OS is fully mature and just doesn’t need much. If so, the move to the year naming seems shortsighted. Do we even need a new iOS next year? What’s left to add? Strip out liquid glass and this could have been called 18.7. There’s just not much meat in this update.

Even if you call this only a fresh coat of paint, any major UI change has to undergo serious work and painstaking attention to detail and testing. I would expect 27+ to have more under-the-hood updates or major additional features, like the long-awaited AI integration and Siri revamp. What I've noticed is that the industry may have mined every last bit of inspiration and is now going through cycles like it's fashion. Same goes for the armchair AI designers.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Well, I'm a dark mode type of guy. I do dark mode all the time. I was fairly happy with the dark mode icon theme of the last iOS... but this glass mode - I hope it has a dark mode... I am not a fan of the see through, I usually turn ON Reduce Transparency.

Similar to what you mentioned - my big problem with iOS? That MASSIVE bar of wasted space above the Dock. Let me size down the icons just a tiny bit to get another row of icons on my Home Screen. Back when I was an Android user I'd install a custom launcher, size down the icons so I could get a TON of icons on the Home Screen (I do not swipe to other screens, I like everything on one screen). So my Home Screen is full of folders of the apps I use regularly.

I'm a big fan of minimalism. The OS needs to get out of my way so I can do what I want. One reason why I really like Mac OS.

 

[FeliApple]

I’d go back to iOS 6 immediately. It’s the only change that would make me update my devices without thinking.

 

[nickdalzell1]

I’d go back to iOS 6 immediately. It’s the only change that would make me update my devices without thinking.

After trusting Apple with updates right up until iOS 7 (I never did any research ahead of time nor watch WWDC because every update until that one improved stuff) I am now very wary about any updates on any platform because that one basically soured my love of updates. I often disable all updates and live with old versions after that experience. My first seeing iOS 7 installed on my iPhone 4 and iPad 3 made me think they had a major malfunction and went into some weird safe mode colour scheme--it was that ugly and awful, hardly the kind of 'quality' I'd expect with Apple.

I would try trusting them again if they ever brought the iOS 6 look back. They never should have taken it away, they should have made it better and better and instead they felt like revisiting '80s computing nostalgia. Worse yet, there are folks that think flat UI design should be FOREVER...

 

[Yr Blues]

Use parallax effect throughout the GUI to add 3D depth with iOS 18 as its theme.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Parallax existed in iOS 7, and it didn't make it nearly as enjoyable to use as iOS 6. I still despise iOS 7 and what it did to design.

 

[Iwavvns]

Honestly been dying for themes…. We are like 25% there with the shortcuts workaround to change icons. But FFS Apple, give us the freedom to make our iPhones ours. We are well past the point where you need it took the same for brand recognition

I would love to be able to design custom themes for my iPhone and iPad. But, I can’t help wonder how much of a hit the CPU and battery would take for a full theming engine and having to load image files for everything.

 

[Iwavvns]

I’d like the option to remove/hide the dock altogether.

 

[TwoBytes]

Dieselpunk Skeuomorphism like Bioshock