What Apple Should Bring to Future iPhones: My Top 3 Wishlist Features.

I have been using iPhones for years, and I am what you could call an Apple Fan Girl, but there are still things that I wish Apple would bring to their future iPhones. These are features that I have truly enjoyed when I have been experimenting with Android Devices like the Samsung S24 Ultra and the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL.

1. Notification Management
2. Universal Back Gesture
3. Full Gboard Access

So what is it about these 3 features that should make Apple want to bring them to their future iPhones? And they are not about customisation. So let’s dive into each of these in more detail to understand why.

Notification Management:

I used to really like the way the Notifications are managed on the iPhone, but recently, I have changed my mind. Why? Well, I have been using Android phones to well see what they have to offer, and I found that they handle notifications in a much more organised fashion.

Now I am not saying that Apple’s notifications are terrible, but I, personally, find them a bit more cumbersome than what you get on the Android side of life. I find it a lot easier to handle my notifications, as you generally get more information at a glance than you get on your iPhone. You can drop down the notification on an email, for example, to see more content to decide on whether it needs responding to there and then.

I also enjoy how they are grouped together rather than individually. It keeps it nice and tidy and easy to access because they are grouped in a logical manner. And the final one for me how was it is to clear all your notifications in one hit. Just scroll down to the bottom and hit clear job done. With Apple notifications, you can clear a lot at time but then there are some left that I need to swipe to clear which is irritating.

Universal Back Gesture:

OMG, this was a revelation for me when I started using an Android Device. Being able to swipe from the left or right side in any app to go back is so useful. OK, you can swipe from the left in apps on your iPhone and it will take you back but it’s not on all apps. I love that on an Android phone, I can swipe back from the right as well.

Take an example on Instagram Stories to get back to my feed on my iPhone I have to close the story by going to the X in the top right corner. If I try swiping back it will just take me to the previous story. On an Android device, you can swipe from either side and you will back to your feed.

This might not sound like a big deal and it’s probably not especially if you have only ever used an iPhone. For me, I found that it just made things a lot easier/quicker, removing some of the friction in certain apps. I think that it would be an easy win for Apple to implement this.

Full Gboard Access:

OMG, the keyboards or should I say Gboard on Android phones is so much better than on iPhones. You can download Gboard onto your iPhone but it doesn’t have all the features that you get on Android. There are a few features that I love on Android.

1. Resizing the Keyboard – I love having the ability to make the keyboard larger or smaller.
2. Number Row – Been able to add a number row, so much easier than having to press the 123 button on your Apple Keyboard.
3. Accessing setting from your Keyboard. Not having to leave where you are to change your settings.

These are just 3 of the reasons why I prefer Gboard to the Apple Keyboard and in Android. There are some good things about the Apple Keyboard one is trying your keyboard into a trackpad by holding down on the space bar. But other than that Gboard far outweighs Apple’s Keyboard on the iPhone.

Final Thoughts:

There are many things to admire about Apple and the iPhone but there are certainly areas where they improve. This is one of the nice things about trying Android getting to see different implementations of features and how they can be beneficial.

None of these are deal breakers for me when it comes to my choice of the iPhone for daily use. These are just features that I would like to see Apple improve on or introduce in future iterations to improve the user experience even further.

I would love to hear from you in the comment what you would like to see Apple bring to their future iPhones.