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

macOS, in its numerous 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 facets of Apple’s flagship desktop OS, there are nonetheless some sore spots that would profit from some severe tender love and care.

With Apple’s huge 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 here are 5 facets of the trendy Mac expertise that I hope to see Apple handle sooner slightly than later.

1 The introduction of App Library

Apple has already laid the groundwork for this one

There are a variety of various strategies accessible for launching apps on macOS. Other than looking out through 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 technique to manage apps alphabetically, sorting icons is time-consuming and clunky, and its paginated design feels antiquated. Apple has truly 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 instead app launching expertise.

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2 A greater System Settings expertise

Group is a multitude, and the window is hardly resizable

Apple redesigned the Mac’s settings software with the discharge of macOS 13 Ventura in 2022. The corporate ditched the basic 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. Other than 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 may’t resize or maximize the window, which is a disgrace. For the following macOS launch, I might hope Apple fine-tunes the settings expertise, or, higher but, offers a easy toggle to change again to the legacy interface.

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I should not should 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 features.

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

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4 The return of Cowl Move

Authorized points however, Cowl Move stays pure eye sweet

In older variations of macOS, Cowl Move was a function discovered throughout the Finder file supervisor that made perusing by means of information a beautiful and visually pleasing expertise. The function was additionally utilized in different Apple merchandise — I’ve fond reminiscences of tilting my iPod Nano fifth era sideways, and utilizing the scroll wheel to flick thru my albums one after the other.

This can be a little bit of a troublesome one, as Apple was reportedly compelled to take away Cowl Move from its working methods after settling a patent dispute with an organization known as Mirror Worlds. Nonetheless, I dream of a day during which I am going to be capable of as soon as once more scroll by means of my Mac’s photograph and music albums in a gorgeously crafted flip-style interface.

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5 A ‘disguise desktop icons’ button in Management Middle

I hate having to dig into System Settings each time

On Home windows, hiding desktop icons, information, and shortcuts is as straightforward as right-clicking the display screen, after which hitting View > Present desktop icons. Sadly, with out the usage of third-party instruments, the method is much more tedious on macOS. To take action, you might want 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 disguise all icons on a short lived foundation is instrumental to sustaining my sanity. Typically I simply need 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 integrated immediately into the Mac’s Control Center in a future replace.

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