5 issues I wish to see added to macOS 16 later this yr

macOS, in its varied incarnations, has been round within the PC house for many years. By the years, Apple has fine-tuned the working system, endowing it with a staggering variety of options and utilities. Whereas I like most points of Apple’s flagship desktop OS, there are nonetheless some sore spots that might profit from some critical tender love and care.

With Apple’s large WWDC26 software conference slated to happen from June 9 to 13 this yr, the corporate has the right alternative to rectify some long-standing macOS gripes. Listed below are 5 points of the fashionable Mac expertise that I hope to see Apple tackle sooner fairly than later.

1 The introduction of App Library

Apple has already laid the groundwork for this one

There are a selection of various strategies accessible for launching apps on macOS. Except for looking out by way of Spotlight or navigating to the Purposes folder in Finder, Launchpad stays the primary user-facing app launching expertise for many customers.

Sadly, Launchpad hasn’t aged significantly effectively. There is no solution to set up apps alphabetically, sorting icons is time-consuming and clunky, and its paginated design feels antiquated. Apple has really solved this drawback already, within the type of the App Library on iOS and iPadOS. With out eradicating Launchpad from the equation, I might like to see the corporate port App Library onto macOS as a substitute app launching expertise.

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2 A greater System Settings expertise

Group is a large number, and the window is hardly resizable

Apple redesigned the Mac’s settings utility with the discharge of macOS 13 Ventura in 2022. The corporate ditched the traditional management panel-esque design in favor of an iOS-inspired interface, a lot to the dissatisfaction of many long-time Mac customers like myself.

I am not against a modernized System Settings expertise in precept, however Apple’s redesign has left one thing to be desired. Except for breaking my muscle reminiscence, vital settings are confusingly positioned and obfuscated behind layers of navigation pages.

Worse but, the brand new design is not versatile — you’ll be able to’t resize or maximize the window, which is a disgrace. For the subsequent macOS launch, I might hope Apple fine-tunes the settings expertise, or, higher but, supplies a easy toggle to modify again to the legacy interface.

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I should not must depend on third-party instruments for this performance

Over on Windows, it has been doable to position system tray applet icons right into a devoted overflow part for a few years. Sadly, macOS’s Menu Bar would not embrace this small-yet-mighty interface consideration. This turns into an actual drawback when you begin downloading and putting in tons of utility-style apps, which frequently include Menu Bar icons for fast entry to their respective capabilities.

There are some nice third-party options on the market that rectify this drawback, however I actually should not must depend on a devoted app to get the job carried out. It would be a wonderful high quality of life enchancment if the subsequent model of macOS had been to easily embrace this performance out of the field.

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4 The return of Cowl Circulation

Authorized points however, Cowl Circulation stays pure eye sweet

In older variations of macOS, Cowl Circulation was a function discovered inside the Finder file supervisor that made perusing via recordsdata a stunning and visually pleasing expertise. The function was additionally utilized in different Apple merchandise — I’ve fond reminiscences of tilting my iPod Nano fifth technology sideways, and utilizing the scroll wheel to flick through my albums one after the other.

It is a little bit of a tricky one, as Apple was reportedly pressured to take away Cowl Circulation from its working methods after settling a patent dispute with an organization referred to as Mirror Worlds. However, I dream of a day through which I am going to be capable to as soon as once more scroll via my Mac’s picture and music albums in a gorgeously crafted flip-style interface.

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5 A ‘cover desktop icons’ button in Management Heart

I hate having to dig into System Settings every time

On Home windows, hiding desktop icons, recordsdata, and shortcuts is as simple as right-clicking the display, after which hitting View > Present desktop icons. Sadly, with out using third-party instruments, the method is much more tedious on macOS. To take action, it’s good to launch the System Settings app, after which navigate to Desktop & Dock > Desktop & Stage Supervisor > Present Objects.

As somebody who makes use of my desktop as a digital scratchboard for in-progress work, the flexibility to shortly cover all icons on a short lived foundation is instrumental to sustaining my sanity. Generally I simply wish to clear all of the muddle for a time period, and macOS makes it a chore to take action. I might like to see a fast entry toggle for the function included straight into the Mac’s Control Center in a future replace.

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