iOS 18 is missing more than just Apple Intelligence

Listen, I’m not ungrateful. But the truth is, nothing fires the imagination of what Apple could with its products to do more than just release the latest hardware and software. With iOS, iPadOS, macOS and all the other latest operating systems coming out, we not only end up reviewing all the new features and capabilities to see what’s new, but also getting to know what’s NO there and the limitations of what is.

This time is no different. Even though I’ve been using iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia for a few months in the beta process, there are things I’d like to see improved or expanded in future versions. Because nothing whets the appetite like seeing what’s possible. So here are just three places where Apple seems poised to expand this year’s features to do more in the years to come.

Mirror, mirror on my iPad

One of the best new features in the Sequoia is the ability to not only view but also control your iPhone directly from your Mac using the new iPhone Mirroring app. Screen sharing and control between Macs has been available for decades via Remote Desktop, VNC, and related technologies, but this is the first time you can do it with your iPhone.

Which begs the question: Why stop at the iPhone? Why can’t I remotely view and control my iPad from my Mac? Honestly, I’d like to see this kind of screen sharing across Apple devices. Sometimes I want to watch something on my Apple TV while I’m upstairs. Sometimes I want to check my iPad from my iPhone, or vice versa, and it’s odd that there’s a seemingly artificial limit to which devices can view which others.

Apple

iPhone Mirroring isn’t the only feature Apple has introduced this year that moves the needle in this direction. The new Remote Control feature in SharePlay lets you view and even control someone’s iPhone — or iPad! — over a FaceTime call (with their permission, of course). Hopefully, next year’s update will expand what’s possible.

Great password

In its latest platform updates, Apple has promoted its Passwords feature from a simple preference pane to a full-fledged app. It comes with a few new features, including the ability to sort passwords by criteria like creation or edit date, as well as quick access to entry categories like verification codes or passkeys. The app also includes Wi-Fi passwords for the first time, which were previously assigned to the Keychain Access app on the Mac. (On iOS, you couldn’t even view Wi-Fi passwords for a long time!)

But it sounds like Passwords could be a useful place to store other types of information. Credit cards, for example. Autofill is largely controlled by Safari, but if you go there to view your saved cards, you’ll see that they’re split between Wallet items (Apple Card and Apple Cash) and other saved cards.

It’s confusing, to be honest. I understand that I usually want to autofill my credit cards online—in places that don’t use Apple Pay—but having everything in one place would make things a lot easier. The same goes for information that’s not exactly a password but that I want to access quickly and securely: driver’s licenses, bank account numbers, secure notes.

Foundry

I understand that Apple’s modus operandi for these types of apps is to provide the basic functionality and let third-party developers fill the gap, but between saved credit cards and the secure elements in Notes, it also seems like they already have all of that functionality, just in a scattershot way. If anything, the move to make Passwords a separate app suggests that the company may have more in mind with all of this.

Maps don’t love you like you love them

This year’s Maps updates are mostly designed to appeal to outdoor enthusiasts, with additions like topographic maps and hiking trails. But there’s also a quieter improvement: a new Places Library that better organizes your saved locations, guides, and routes in one place.

But the main thing this improvement reminds me of is the bland nature of Apple’s Guides feature. Guides has been around for a few years now; the idea is to be able to save multiple places to a single list when planning a trip.

Apple

As much as I love the idea, I think it’s largely hampered by the lack of collaboration features. While you can share a guide you’ve created with other people, they essentially get their own local copy, meaning any changes they make to it don’t get reflected in your guide. So there’s no way to, say, create a guide for a trip my wife and I are taking and let us both add locations we want to see, which Maps’ main competitor, Google Maps, makes it easy to do.

Likewise, while the new Places Library lets you save custom routes — for walking, running, hiking, etc. — there’s no way to share those custom routes with others. So I can’t recommend a specific hike I did with a friend, or share my custom walking route with my family. For me, so much of travel is about experiences and sharing things with others, and it’s a shame Apple’s Maps app doesn’t make that a bigger focal point.