The date for a new edition of the Apple Developers World Conference is approaching WWDC 2022with the opening speech of the event that will take place on June 6, and there are many novelties that could come true.
Although the WWDC is an event clearly aimed at the company’s developers, Apple takes this opportunity to present everything new that is to come in terms of its many and varied operating systems.
We have not yet heard many news that could come with macOS 13but we have some ideas of what we’d like to see in the next version of Apple’s laptop and desktop operating system.
Bug fixes and much more
Whenever a new version of the operating system arrives, it is time to release new functions that provide us with greater accessibility and operability between devices. However, correcting errors and bugs detected by users is also important.
For Apple, the solution to persistent problems is a priority and that is why many of the updates to its operating systems are focused on solving the problems reported by users.
Apple’s Mac operating system has long had persistent problems that not all users of the brand experience, but many are affected. For example, see the memory leaks that occur on some Mac computers.
You may be able to find many suggestions on the net about possible solutions that other users have found, but the problem does not seem to have an easy solution.
Both iOS and iPadOS are constantly evolving and new features are being added, something that with the vast array of new hardware in Macs, now featuring Apple Silicon M1 chipsets, makes it nearly impossible to take the same simple approach in PCs.
In this sense, it is to be expected that Apple engineers will be working hard with macOS 13 and the solutions to the problems that have arisen in recent years, the result of the necessary coexistence between two very different architectures such as chip-based equipment. Intel Core and the new Apple Silicon.
Enhanced Time Machine with iCloud
Among the functions that we consider key to our wish list, and that we already highlighted last year, is the possibility of having a backup or Time Machine backup to an external device or to the cloud, such as iCloud.
Apple already allows iPhone and iPad backup to iCloud, and macOS has already implemented many features found in iOS and iPadOS, so it’s time for Time Machine to join the fray.
If the capacity of the online store is a concern, Apple sells 200 GB of iCloud+ storage for €2.99 per month or 2 TB for €9.99 per month. For Mac backups, Apple could sell an intermediate plan for €5 per month that offers 1TB, enough for most computers.
iCloud is one of the best options for Apple users who need a cloud storage service. we explain everything iCloud offers for your iPhone, iPad or Mac and how much their subscriptions cost.
Improvements in the ‘Control Center’
Apple introduced ‘Control Center’ in macOS 11 Big Sur, and without it, my menu bar would look even more ridiculous than it already does. Indeed, Control Center helps clean up much of the menu bar clutter, but it has very few customization options.
Some of the buttons are permanent, so even if you want, for example, Wifi status to appear in the menu bar, it will also remain in ‘Control Center’. And there are only three other optional modules that you can currently add.
We think that the ‘Control Center’ should be more like iOS: it has more controls available, offers the possibility to remove modules and supports controls for Home. On the Mac, you can even go further with menu bar cleanup by supporting third-party apps.
With the notch’s presence so apparent on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, ‘Control Center’ can now be used to shrink the icons displayed in the menu bar and give it a cleaner look on the screen. Main window.
AppLibrary
The App Library on the iPhone automatically organizes apps into categories, a useful feature that would also be great on the Mac. App Library could replace the relatively outdated Launchpad, and it could also incorporate updates to the App Library for iOS.
In the grand scheme of the Mac, however, the App Library, Launchpad, and other app organization tools are low-priority Mac features, because Mac apps exist differently than they do in iOS or iPadOS.
In the latter two, apps exist on the surface of the user interface, so organization is a primary concern. For Mac, start macOS on a desktop; you won’t even see the app icons if you don’t want to.
Also, the Mac experience tends to be more file-centric; users often open files by double-clicking them, which launches the associated application.
But synergy is always good.
As someone who uses and tests a wide variety of apps, sometimes I have an app that performs a function that I need right now but won’t use very often, and I forgot about it.
App Library would really help me rediscover software that is already on my Mac.
password manager
Apple does a great job of storing passwords via iCloud Keychain, but it’s a bit of a hassle to manage. Launches for web pages are managed in Safari preferences, while you can use the Keychain Access app (located in Applications > Utilities) to manage all passwords.
What we are going to do is that Keychain Access is far from being a simple application to use, especially when there are many passwords stored for each type of application or service.
Having a single password manager app with a friendly user interface would make it easy to manage all your passwords. And it doesn’t have to replace Keychain Access, which may still be available for certificate management.
Apple could also offer an option to universally disable the built-in password manager. Many users have invested in third-party password managers like 1Password or Dashlane because they want cross-platform compatibility.
Currently, if you don’t want to store a password in Apple’s system, you have to do it on a case-by-case basis, and if you store a password in both Apple and a third-party manager, you could have an awkward overlay of pop-up menus.
Make Photobooth more like Clips
Many users may have forgotten about the existence of Photobooth. It comes with every Mac and is an app that works with your computer’s webcam so you can record videos of yourself.
It has a series of fun effects that allow you to distort your face or apply a series of filters. For the iPhone, Apple has a free app called Clips. It is Apple’s attempt to get into action on social networks like TikTok or Instagram.
These tools allow you to create fun videos in Clips that you can share or use for a longer video. The good thing is that Clips offers a good set of effects.
It can show you a Memoji, use filters, add text, place stickers, or include emoji. You can even add background music. You can bring in photos and videos that you’ve already captured with the regular iPhone camera and crop them.
With that said, why not update Photobooth to be more like Clips? Mac cameras can be a problem, because they don’t look anything like the iPhone’s 12MP TrueDepth cameras with Face ID, so features like Memoji may not be feasible.
But still, Apple could offer live titles, scenes, text, and other Clips features. Apple M1 Macs can run iPhone and iPad apps, but clips can’t be downloaded to the Mac.
Apple could simply bring the Clips app to macOS 13, but that would mean it can’t run on Intel chipset-based Macs, something Apple said it would continue to support for a few more years. Updating Photobooth would solve that problem.
Change ‘System Preferences’ to ‘Settings’
MacOS has ‘System Preferences’ while iOS and iPadOS have ‘Settings’. They’re basically the same thing (they even have the same icon), the place where you adjust the various system and app settings for each device.
Time to rename ‘System Preferences’ to ‘Settings’; we prefer the shorter name. I’m sure Apple’s documentation editors might cringe at the idea, as it means they’d have to update a ton of support docs, manuals, and more.
But the more uniformity between operating systems, the better, even in small details like naming. Some people may prefer a redesign of the macOS ‘System Preferences’ to resemble each other.
However, we thought that would not be a good idea, as both are designed to take full advantage of the size of their respective screens, and macOS should be allowed to take better advantage of their higher resolution.
Everything that was on our macOS 12 wish list
A large part of our macOS 12 wish list didn’t come true, so we’ve brought back up functionality back to Time Machine and Control Center.
In any case, we would like to see new features associated with the Apple Wallet app, Desktop Widgets, the Apple Health and Fitness platform. If Apple were to make all of our wishes on this list come true, the new version of macOS 134 could be great.
Take a look at our article on complete list of all versions of macOS X and macOS. With the exception of the first OS X beta, all versions of the Mac operating system from 2001 to 2012 had feline names.
Original article published in Macworld US.
