Tech Brief: Apple to Improve Reliability and Performance with iOS 12

With inordinate number of software bugs escaping quality control in recent iOS (and macOS) releases, Apple is said to be scaling back on new features in favour of reliability and performance. According to a report by Axios, the features that have been deferred to 2019 include "a refresh of the home screen and in-car user interfaces, improvements to core apps like mail and updates to the picture-taking, photo editing and sharing experiences." For a company that has come under intense scrutiny for its less than transparent method of dealing with battery life concerns on older iPhone devices (Apple says the reason for the software feature is to prevent unexpected iPhone shutdowns, not to encourage users to update to a newer iPhone), this comes as a move in the right direction, giving it an opportunity to course correct and fix niggling issues with its inconsistent user interface.

That said, here are some of the features that I would like to see on iOS:

1. System-wide dark mode (Smart Invert isn't cutting it!)
2. Continuous input (aka gesture typing) in keyboard
3. Apple News for the web
4. Google-like approach to first-party app updates
5. Offline maps in Apple Maps
6. Grouped notifications
7. Guest user mode that makes it possible to share your device with other users temporarily with some restrictions while keeping all your data private
8. More camera controls, and preferably within the app instead of having to jump to Settings
9. Group FaceTime 
10. Improved Files app (it's still a glorified iCloud Drive app in its current state)