iOS 18 Speculation Thread

[Realityck]

Yeah, I’m totally with you on that. I think 18.3 could be bigger than some people are expecting. We just simply don’t know what new features it will add, but I’m convinced it likely will include new features and improvements. Apple definitely seems to be trying to roll out as much as quickly as possible, probably trying to also make it easier to develop iOS 19 if the rumors of iOS 18 slowing down iOS 19 development are true. I’m guessing in that case they would want to get as many features out as quickly as possible that way they can dedicate more resources towards 19. But perhaps I’m wrong. 👍🏻

reference

iOS 18.2 Mail Sorting Features Strangely Absent on iPad and Mac

Apple's new Mail sorting features in iOS 18.2 are notably absent from both iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2, raising questions about the...

www.macrumors.com

Apple's new Mail sorting features in iOS 18.2 are notably absent from both iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2, raising questions about the company's rollout strategy for the email management system.

This is a good example of how Apple spends a lot of time trying to focus on meeting their AI promises but only achieves partial success with emphasis on iOS. So they are at a minimum, need to catch to feature set across the OS's. Journal is an another example without a iPad app. So 18.3 should be at a minimum more then a bug fix, but implementing what they didn't provide in 18.2.

 

[Kal Madda]

reference

iOS 18.2 Mail Sorting Features Strangely Absent on iPad and Mac

Apple's new Mail sorting features in iOS 18.2 are notably absent from both iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2, raising questions about the...

www.macrumors.com

This is a good example of how Apple spends a lot of time trying to focus on meeting their AI promises but only achieves partial success with emphasis on iOS. So they are at a minimum, need to catch to feature set across the OS's. Journal is an another example without a iPad app. So 18.3 should be at a minimum more then a bug fix, but implementing what they didn't provide in 18.2.

Oddly enough, I checked Apple’s website and the page for iOS 18 has a section dedicated to the new Mail app improvements. Checking the page for iPadOS 18, there isn’t any mention of these changes for iPadOS 18. So I’m not sure if we’ll get these Mail app changes in iPadOS 18 or macOS 15. They may end up being included in iPadOS 19 and macOS 16. Of course there have been several features added in iPadOS that weren’t announced at WWDC24 and don’t show up on the page, but I would think they would have mentioned something as big as a Mail app redesign on the page, considering they did mention it on the iOS page. But I guess we’ll find out…

PS, oh, I just saw they used it in an example on macOS. So hopefully that means it should be coming to the iPad and Mac in this update cycle. 👍🏻

 

[Stuipdboy1000]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1867665808803201125

 

[Kal Madda]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1867665808803201125

That looks promising for a beta release next week! 👍🏻.

 

[john991]

That looks promising for a beta release next week! 👍🏻.

Unfortunately I don’t see anything for iOS 18.3 betas. There is hope though 😁

 

[gwhizkids]

View attachment 2462042

Unfortunately I don’t see anything for iOS 18.3 betas. There is hope though

There can’t be a WatchOS 11.3 without an accompanying iOS 18.3.

 

[Abthevolfan92]

jmo it's too early for the betas but if they are going to release em I won't be against it

 

[gwhizkids]

jmo it's too early for the betas but if they are going to release em I won't be against it

Just curious: why is it too early?

 

[Realityck]

jmo it's too early for the betas but if they are going to release em I won't be against it

It's very common not to want change forced on you, but this industry never gives you a break it seems.

 

[UpsideDownEclair]

16 minutes! Hopefully the watchOS 11.3 blunder means something for today. (Please)

 

[Kal Madda]

Yeah, I’m not expecting a beta release today, but if they do drop one it will definitely be welcome! 👍🏻

 

[Realityck]

Saturday activity thats a good one!

Apple purportedly ships on Tuesdays, leaving ample time on both ends of the critical deployment event: a Monday to practice and catch last-minute bugs, and Wednesday through Friday to patch in any urgent changes.

I think we all have observed that Apple has shifted its software development practice ahead by one day. Shipping on Monday usually lately, with Tuesday to Thursday to patch any urgent changes, and using Friday instead just for practice and catching last-minute bugs so that there are never any deployments on a Friday or creating headaches over the weekend.

 

[gwhizkids]

16 minutes! Hopefully the watchOS 11.3 blunder means something for today. (Please)

View attachment 2462296

It’s happened one time in my recollection and it was an emergency fix. It will never happen for an initial beta.

 

[john991]

It’s happened one time in my recollection and it was an emergency fix. It will never happen for an initial beta.

Yup, so we patiently wait till Monday. 😁

Maybe difficult for some. aka @JFLECHUGA @redbeard331 @Kal Madda @gwhizkids @Realityck
🤣

 

[iLuddite]

Yup, so we patiently wait till Monday. 😁

Maybe difficult for some. aka @JFLECHUGA @redbeard331 @Kal Madda @gwhizkids @Realityck
🤣

aHEM..

 

[Kal Madda]

Yup, so we patiently wait till Monday. 😁

Maybe difficult for some. aka @JFLECHUGA @redbeard331 @Kal Madda @gwhizkids @Realityck
🤣

Yeah, it’s going to be a long weekend. I’m looking forward to iPadOS 18.3 beta 1 hopefully dropping Monday! 👍🏻

 

[Stuipdboy1000]

It’s happened one time in my recollection and it was an emergency fix. It will never happen for an initial beta.

iOS 11.2, I remember it well! 🤣

 

[Kal Madda]

It’s funny, most people look forward to the weekend after a busy work week. But here I am, looking forward to the beginning of another work week, just because of a beta! 😂🤣👍🏻.

PS. I am still enjoying my weekend, just looking forward to iPadOS 18.3. Can’t wait to see what it brings to the table! 👍🏻

 

[gwhizkids]

In really long term speculation, Gurman stated this morning in his Power On newsletter that he thought that iPadOS would be able to run Mac apps by 2028:

 

[Kal Madda]

In really long term speculation, Gurman stated this morning in his Power On newsletter that he thought that iPadOS would be able to run Mac apps by 2028:

That’s really interesting, because I think that’s clearly the direction Apple seems to be moving with iPadOS. I don’t expect they will become one OS or merge or anything like that, but I believe they will continue to converge in terms of functionality and software ecosystem. Every iPadOS update we watch the gap between macOS and iPadOS decrease and the lines blur. These days, macOS continues to gain more of the core security footprint of iPadOS and more iPadOS features and apps, while we simultaneously see iPadOS continue to gain more system features of macOS and more macOS software. I think the endgame is two adjacent OSes that are mostly similar in features and App ecosystem, but different in terms of fundamental optimizations. macOS will continue to be optimized better for desktop interaction and use with a more cursor and keyboard first interaction model (even if they do end up adding touch interaction as a secondary interaction paradigm), while iPadOS will continue to be optimized better for a touch first interaction model. Otherwise, I think the lines will become extremely blurred. Both will share the vast majority of software and features. So it will become more about which optimizations a user prioritizes, and which form factor they prefer. I think that while this is of particular interest in the comparison between the Mac and the iPad, this will largely end up being true of all of Apple’s devices. Apple seems to be working towards one unified experience and app ecosystem, with separate OSes that provide the proper optimizations for the devices they’re installed on. Will some functionality remain distinct for some particular platforms? Probably to some degree, of course some features are so specifically optimized for one specific device that it would be hard to carry them over to others. Good case in point, VR experiences on the Vision Pro that are specifically suited for that class of device will likely not translate over to other devices like the iPhone, iPad, or Mac. But I think in terms of OS capabilities and App ecosystem, all of Apple’s platforms will be much more unified.

Thanks for sharing that @gwhizkids, you’ve made my day! I really enjoy speculating about this kind of stuff! 👍🏻

 

[nortonandreev]

Wondering if I should wait until Beta 2 after the holidays haha dunno if I will be able to hold the urge, but still...

 

[Realityck]

Wondering if I should wait until Beta 2 after the holidays haha dunno if I will be able to hold the urge, but still...

Consider it like an item with an extended return period. If afterwards you don't like it before Jan 15th, exchange it.

 

[Kal Madda]

Wondering if I should wait until Beta 2 after the holidays haha dunno if I will be able to hold the urge, but still...

If you save a local backup before installing it, you could always roll back if it’s too bad.

 

[Realityck]

These days, macOS continues to gain more of the core security footprint of iPadOS

Absolutely no one needs that. (example EU) MacOS is fully open with its own real-time security, the App Store is not locked down, and every browser can run its own advanced application. Most people looking at Apple currently would say Apple has its hands full the next few years perfecting AI. Until iPadOS offers real multitasking with floating windows like other windowed OS's just consider that most like the way iPadOS is now with a few MacOS aspects for apps borrowed.

 

[Kal Madda]

Absolutely no one needs that. MacOS is fully open with its own real-time security, the App Store is not locked down, and every browser can run its own advanced application. Most people looking at Apple currently would say Apple has its hands full the next few years perfecting AI. Until iPadOS offers real multitasking with floating windows like other windowed OS's just consider that most like the way iPadOS is now with a few MacOS aspects for apps borrowed.

And iPadOS does offer “real multitasking” with floating windows like other windowed OS’s with Stage Manager. In fact, I actually prefer iPadOS’s multi-windowing over macOS and Window’s implementation of multi-windowing. Both iPadOS and macOS are actually so close at this point already that I’ve completely replaced my MacBook with an iPad Pro. I’ve now used an iPad as my primary computer for the past 3-4 years, and have had zero regrets. I do have a Mac Mini for when I want to work on a desktop, but it’s mostly just for managing some external storage drives at this point, kind of like my own private cloud storage I can access from my iPad without having to carry all of those drives with me. I’d say for the majority of things, the iPad can now replace a MacBook. Of course people’s use-cases differ, so it depends on the person and workflow whether they want to switch over or not, but for most average things, I think there’s hardly any difference anymore. While Apple is busy implementing Apple Intelligence, I think they can also continue to improve and converge the platforms. Apple has even done this quite a bit so far with iPadOS 18. The iPadOS Settings app and macOS System Settings app continue to become more similar in both aesthetics and options available (such as the improved Privacy and Security section that now only lacks about a handful of the options that are in the macOS System Settings section by the same name, and will quite possibly be added in future updates to 18). Think about it, when Apple Intelligence and Siri gain on-screen awareness, and the ability to access background data on device, I’m guessing Apple will also add options for controlling app access to the device’s screen content and such, which would narrow the gap with these settings options even further. Since improvements to Privacy & Security, and new options in this menu were highlighted at WWDC24, I think the chances are pretty good. Additional options for allowing apps more system access would make quite a difference for some niche-case apps.

Overall, there are very clear signs that iPadOS and macOS are converging, even while Apple is simultaneously rolling out Apple Intelligence. And I’d say that Apple Intelligence is actually a very good impetus for greater convergence and coherence between Apple’s platforms.