macOS is Apple's oldest platform, but that doesn't mean it's not able to spring plenty of surprises.
In recent years, we've seen Apple lean heavily on features from around its product ecosystem to improve the Mac experience, taking inspiration from iOS and watchOS software, and iPhone and Apple Watch hardware, to push what a modern Mac can do. That's led to the arrival of things like unlocking a Mac with an Apple Watch, Continuity Camera with an iPhone, and so much more.
But is there anything left that Apple steal for macOS now? I'd argue there's not much, but there are certainly some ideas for what could feature in the follow up to macOS Sonoma.
With this in mind, here is my macOS 15 wishlist as we head into 2024.
App Library
I've set up my Applications folder in a way that it always shows in my Dock, and that's fine for the most part. I also try and do my best to keep many macOS tools (see our list of the best macOS utility apps for inspiration) in a separate folder to avoid clutter.
The idea is that I can see my apps with a single click, without needing to open Launchpad and see a whole host of apps that otherwise lack an easy way of filing them.
An App Library has been a huge help on my iPhone, letting me instantly track down something I've just installed, categorize everything I have on my device, and just keep areas like my Home Screen tidy.
I'd love for something similar on my Mac so I can easily find what I need. For now, I'll have to make do with third-party solutions like Alfred to launch them.
Revised window management
The macOS operating system we all use has been around since 2000, so it makes sense for window management to take a step forward.
It's long been the Mac's Achilles heel, and while I use Magnet to wrangle my apps, I'm desperate for a first-party option because, as much as Stage Manager has improved on iPad, Stage Manager for Mac feels lackluster.
It's not that it's bad, it just takes up too much screen real estate, and it's much clunkier than the keyboard shortcuts I've conditioned myself to use instead.
Will Apple ever relent and offer a built-in window management system that isn't reliant on a whole new workflow? It's closer than it's ever been with Shortcuts letting us use custom layouts, but something where we can drag windows into shape a la Windows Snap, would be amazing.
A password app
OK, this may not sound that exciting, but have you tried to dig out your passwords from iCloud Keychain on Mac recently? It's a little bit of a nightmare.
Much of that is likely down to how long it's been baked into the OS, pushed deeper and deeper by every subsequent layer. It's not all that intuitive, especially from a privacy and security-focused company that loves to tell you "It just works".
While this is easily rectified by using a third-party service like 1Password (seriously, it's so well integrated into the OS on all of Apple's platforms it's become a must-have app), Apple still hasn't seen fit to add its own take on a password manager app.
While the company wanted to shy away from passwords entirely with Passkeys, most of us still need our traditional logins — so come on, Apple, let us get to them a bit more easily.
Five More Things...
While there are plenty of features I want from macOS in the future, not all of them are major enough to warrant an entry above.
With this in mind, here's a short list of smaller features I'd still love to see:
- Make it easier to manage pictures without using the Photos app
- Improve automatic AirPods switching between devices
- Make Stage Manager more useful by ensuring the left-hand bar takes up less of the screen
- Give us a native Health app that makes data easily shareable from the Mac so we can attach reports to our Doctors etc.
- Please, Apple, just fix the memory leaks.
Is there anything from macOS you've been wanting to see? Let me know in the iMore Forums if there's something I've missed!
