What I Want to See at Apple’s WWDC 2026

Years ago, when I worked at Apple in 2014, I met author Neil Strauss. At some point, Neil Strauss gave me one suggestion for Apple’s internal suggestion box to Tim Cook: “Mark Text As Unread.”

Then, in 2022, Apple added the feature to Messages.

Working at Apple changes the way you use Apple products. Nothing compares to being around people who spend all day learning new features, testing shortcuts, figuring out what the devices can do and then passing those tricks around like gossip. Seriously when was the last time you were able to put something you heard from the break room/office lounge on your LinkedIn skills.

I still follow Apple news. I still read tips and tricks articles. I still want the iPhone to do more.

At this point, I am married to Apple. A few months ago, I had to upgrade my $9.99 per month 2 Terabyte iCloud storage subscription to 6 Terabytes for $29.99. I'm committed. I'm also a shareholder. I've spent $359.88 per year on worse things. (insert "'tree fiddy" joke here, South Park fans).

For more on the price of iCloud storage, skip to point #22.

Note: I know that many of these features are available in third party apps. But I trust Apple with granting access to my photos, contacts, and files much more than someone who built an app with potential... but oozes much more vulnerability to data breaches.

WWDC 2026 would be a good place to start.

Apple is expected to show the next round of software updates, including iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, tvOS 27 and visionOS 27. The big expected theme is Apple Intelligence and a smarter Siri. Fine. But if Apple wants its AI push to matter, it should stop thinking of AI as a magic trick and start using it as a life-management layer.

Here is what I want to see.

1. Absorb Speechify, or build Apple’s own version

Apple should build a first-class text-to-speech system that can read articles, PDFs, notes, emails, webpages and documents in voices that sound human.

I use my phone while working out, driving to interviews, cleaning my sink, and picking up my medication from Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills twice a month. I pay for YouTube Premium so I can listen to videos with the phone locked. The demand is there. The iPhone should be able to read almost anything on the screen in a way that feels natural and easy to control.

Apple already has accessibility tools. It already has voices. It already has Apple Intelligence. What I want is a consumer-facing reading layer that feels as simple as pressing play.

Give me speed controls. Give me human voices. Give me my voice. Give me Liev Schreiber's voice. Give me the option to send a long note, article, transcript or PDF into a listening queue.

Call it Apple Reader. Just make it native. Let's make the Speechify overlords billionaires and immortally built into Apple software.

2. Add playback for Notes

I am reiterating point #1 with a specific recommendation: notes has become one of the most important apps on the iPhone. People use it for drafts, grocery lists, journal entries, interview notes, article ideas, travel plans, medical notes and half-formed thoughts at 2 a.m.

Apple should let users press play on any note and hear it read back in a human voice.

For writers, this would be huge. For students, it would turn study notes into audio. For busy people, it would turn scattered notes into something useful during a walk or drive. And when HomePod becomes waterproof, the shower.

I should be able to open a note and tap “Play” and not have it sound like the love child of Johnny-5 and C3PO. Yes, there's accessability features, but let's make it just another button. Fun fact: I never saw Star Wars but share a birthday with George Lucas.

3. Teach Photos App to recognize business cards

I have taken pictures of business cards for years. A lot of people do this. Photos should know what they are.

If I take a picture of a business card, Photos should offer to create a contact, add the card to a “Business Cards” category and let me search by name, company, job title, phone number or email address.

This does not have to be complicated. The phone already recognizes text in images. The next step is understanding what kind of object the image is. Connect us and maybe we'll even start iMessaging each other and following each other on Apple Music.

3.5. Let me sort contacts by date added, and other variables.

Wouldn't it be great to see the most recent contacts you added? Or how about sorting phone numbers by U.S. state or city (if you're in Japan, prefecture; if you're in Russia, oblast; if you're in UAE, Emirate). Country codes, area codes—all that is already built in.

4. Use AI to group screenshots by category

Screenshots are where modern life goes to become clutter.

Receipts. Memes. Parking info. Event flyers. Recipes. Text fights. Flight details. Instagram posts. Confirmation numbers. Directions. Medical portals. Bank stuff. Things I meant to remember and then forgot. Or in some cases, never deleted.

Apple should use AI to group screenshots by category.

I want albums like:

• Receipts

• Tickets

• Recipes

• Social media posts

• Articles

• Text conversations (arranged by sender would be nice too).

• Maps and directions

• Medical info

• Shopping

• Event flyers

• Work references

  
  

Turn my screenshots into task lists.

5. Bring outside messages into iMessage

This may be hard because of business, privacy and platform issues.

But as a user, I want one place for messages.

If Apple could partner with Meta's Facebook or Instagram so that messages appear inside iMessage, that would be a huge quality-of-life upgrade. Trello did this, but the app is loaded with bugs and I don't trust its encryption.

At minimum, Apple could create a unified message dashboard that shows where conversations live, who needs a reply and how long it has been since I last heard from someone.

I'd pay Meta $0.99 per month for this feature even if just for weaving in my Instagram DMs with my iMessages.

6. Sort text messages by time since last reply; Messages should have more sorting options.

I want to sort conversations by:

• Most recent

• Oldest unanswered

• Time since I last replied

• Time since they last replied

• Pinned people

• Unread

• And some statistics on people I text most. This might give people anxiety but what better way to live in truth than this?

The current Messages app is built around recency. But real life is not always about the last message. Sometimes I need to know who I owe a response. As of now, we can only pin nine text message contacts. Sure I can make it as unread but that gets crowded. Sometimes I need to know who has not responded to me. Sometimes I want to find someone I texted all the time last year and have not spoken with in months.

7. Add "no-reply" reminders to me for chosen contacts I have yet to reply to

I do not need my phone to nag me about every unanswered text. I already have my subconscious doing that.

But I should be able to choose certain people and ask my phone to remind me if there has been no reply.

For example:

• Remind me if Mom has not replied in two days.

• Remind me if my editor has not replied by tomorrow.

• Remind me if this source has not replied by Friday.

• Remind me if I have not replied to this person in 24 hours.

  
  

This should be opt-in, person by person or conversation by conversation.

The phone should not turn every relationship into a CRM. But sometimes, a small nudge would help.

8. Create a “most contacted” iMessage list

Messages should show who I contact most.

Sort it by:

• Today

• This week

• This month

• This year

• All time

For you people having an extra-marital affair or plotting to subvert and whistleblow your boss, maybe even a feature to omit someone from the stats. I prefer to live in truth, so I'm not bothered by this.

This would be fascinating and useful. It would show who is actually in my life, not just who I think is in my life.

It could also help with memory. Who was I texting during that summer? Who did I talk to every day during that job? Who disappeared? Who came back?

Apple already has Screen Time. It tells me how much time I waste. I want a version that tells me who I spend my communication life with.

9. Build “On This Day” for iCloud history

Apple should create an “On This Day” feature for iCloud history.

Photos is great, but it's lacking.

I want to see:

• Text messages from this day

• Emails from this day

• Photos from this day

• Calendar events from this day

• Voice memos from this day

• Notes from this day

• Places I went on this day

This would be one of the best uses of Apple Intelligence because Apple has the personal context. It has the photos, calendars, notes, emails, locations and messages. It can build a private memory layer that lives on your device and in iCloud.

The iPhone already knows pieces of your life. It should help you revisit them. And then I can journal about it in that Journaling app nobody seems to use.

And as long as we're at it, include a link to the Instagram and Facebook "On This Day." Not TikTok.

10. Summarize photo albums into text

If I create an album in Photos, Apple should be able to summarize it into a text list.

For example:

• Places visited

• Dates

• People

• Restaurants

• Events

• Landmarks

• Screenshots included

• Travel path

• Objects or documents found in the album

If I make an album from a vacation, Apple should be able to tell me where I went in a list. Day by day, hour by hour. If I make an album from a work event, Apple should help me remember who was there. If I make an album from a month of life, Apple should give me a rough diary.

That is the kind of AI I want.

11. Fix Voice Memos organization

Voice Memos is important for journalists, writers, musicians, students and anyone who records ideas in audio bursts.

It needs better organization.

I want folders, tags, auto-transcripts, speaker labels, search, summaries and smart categories.

A voice memo called “New Recording 47” is useless. A voice memo that knows it was recorded in a car, after midnight, near Pico Boulevard, with three song ideas and one article idea inside it, is useful.

Voice Memos should become a real archive.

Remember, fellow Californians, we are a two-party state and it's a felony to record someone without their consent.

12. Create a digitize-old-photos app

Apple should build a native app for digitizing old physical photographs.

The app should guide users through scanning, cropping, glare reduction, color correction, date tagging, face recognition and album creation.

A lot of families have boxes of old photos. A lot of people want to save them. Apple could make that easier.

It could also help users add names, dates and locations so family history does not vanish.

13. Add Apple Device History to iCloud; I want to see my Apple device history.

Every iPhone. Every Mac. Every iPad. Every Apple Watch. Purchase date if available.

Activation date. Serial number. AppleCare status. Trade-in status. Repair history. Photos of the device if available. Maybe even the wallpaper I used.

For many people, Apple devices mark chapters of life. The iPhone 4 era. The first MacBook. The iPod. The laptop from college. The phone you had during a certain relationship, job or move.

Apple knows this history. It should show it back to us. Maybe this is one of those consumer psychology things Apple doesn't want us to think about.

But one time on an airplane, I sat in a note and tried to think of the year and month of every Apple device I've ever had. I had Chat GPT make chart. Was fun to visualize. Think of it like this, Apple: you're now a member of my family. Keep me invested. Nerds like me would love to see this history. And it would help out those customer support people at Apple HQ.

This one is just fun. And a new way to waste time and mental hard drive space.

14. Build a better Health history timeline

The Health app should have a life-events section for medical history.

I want a clean timeline for:

• Last checkup

• Immunizations

• Surgeries

• Major illnesses

• Dental visits

• Dermatologist visits

• Colonoscopy

• Pap smear

• Sick bouts

• Back soreness

• Massage

• Yoga

• Any custom health item I want to track

Some of this may already exist in pieces.

But I want a simple “How long since my last…” system.

How long since my last dentist appointment?

How long since I changed the smoke alarm batteries?

How long since my last haircut?

How long since my last emissions test?

How long since I took the Jeopardy admission test?

The phone should help me remember the maintenance of being alive.

Yes you can have your respective health care interface app import to the Apple Health App. But it gets a bit clunky with so many imported data sets.

If Valvoline can give me a "maintenance things your car is due for," the Health App can do that too. You can even set the settings at "bare minimum" (try to see the doctor once per year), to "hypochondriac" (it's been 345 days since your last physical").

15. Add smarter parked-car tools

Apple Maps can already help with parked-car location in some situation.

I want a simple widget that drops a pin where I parked.

One tap.

No Bluetooth dependency. No digging through Maps. No thinking.

Just: I parked here. Save it.

Then give me walking directions back.

And while we're at it, give me a feature where I can delete all those parking garage photos from Hollywood and Highland and Westfield Century City.

16. Add smarter store-closing reminders

I want an app that tells me when my favorite stores are closing and lets me set reminders based on the day.

For example:

• Remind me every Thursday at 7 p.m. if Trader Joe’s closes at 9.

• Tell me if the pharmacy closes soon.

• Remind me before Shabbat if a store I use closes early.

• Tell me if I can still make it to the hardware store before it closes.

Maps already has business hours. Reminders already exists. Calendar already exists. Siri already exists.

Apple should connect them. For Apple consumer psychology hyenas, this can be a way to give us more notifications and even give you a way to get paid partnerships with existing brick and mortar store brands.

17. Improve handwriting recognition training

Apple should let users train handwriting recognition.

If I write a word and Apple gets it wrong, I should be able to correct it and have the system learn my handwriting over time.

This would help with Apple Pencil, Notes, forms, old letters and handwritten lists.

The phone learns my face. It should learn my handwriting.

18. Make a pet health app

Apple should build a pet health app or add pets to Health. Sure lots of apps like this exist. But come on, Apple. I'm a shareholder. Poach that software.

People track their own steps, sleep and medications. Pet owners need to track feeding, bathroom habits, medications, vet visits, grooming, vaccinations, walks and behavior changes.

A pet health app could track:

• Feeding schedule for families on iCloud Family Plan.

• Dookie and weewee schedule

• Vet visits

• Vaccines

• Medications

• Weight

• Grooming

• Walks

• Food and treat brands

• Allergies

• Notes for pet sitters

• For the naughty pets, it can be used to keep track of all the times you came home and the garbage can has been ransacked.

And think of how adorable this will look on stage being demonstrated at WWDC.

20. Add photo layering

Photos should let users layer images on top of each other.

I want to compare old and new photos of the same place. I want to line up a childhood photo with a current photo. I want to overlay a sketch, a screenshot, a map or a reference image.

This could be useful for memory, design, research, home projects, family history and creative work.

Give users simple opacity controls, alignment tools and a way to export the result.

21. Nudge users to turn on Do Not Disturb while driving

Apple has Focus modes. But the phone should be more assertive about helping people avoid distractions while driving.

I literally have only seen two other people use this feature besides me in the last ten years. And both of them were Android users.

If the iPhone senses I am driving and I have not turned on a driving Focus, it should ask me if I want to turn it on.

Not every time. Not in an annoying way. But enough to make it a safer default.

The phone should help people make the better choice.

22. Incremental Paid iCloud Storage Tiers

Apple should offer iCloud storage in half-terabyte increments. Right now, jumping from 2 TB at $9.99 per month to 6 TB at $29.99 per month means paying three times as much, even if I do not need three times as much space. I do not need 6 TB yet. I may need 2.5 TB, then 3 TB, then maybe 3.5 TB a year or two from now. Let me grow into the storage instead of making me overpay for digital attic space I will not fill for years.

Suggested iCloud storage ladder:

• 2.0 TB — $9.99 per month

• 2.5 TB — $12.49 per month

• 3.0 TB — $14.99 per month

• 3.5 TB — $17.49 per month

• 4.0 TB — $19.99 per month

• 4.5 TB — $22.49 per month

• 5.0 TB — $24.99 per month

• 5.5 TB — $27.49 per month

• 6.0 TB — $29.99 per month

Again, I'm committed to Apple. Still using iCloud to share large files is not nearly as fluid as using Dropbox. I don't pay for Dropbox. And Google keeps nudging me to increase my storage since my Gmail is at 12 GB already. It took me 19 years to get to 12 GB. I can't imagine I'll need 3 more Gigabytes anytime soon.

Make me love this, Apple. I enjoy saying "tree fiddy," but I hate paying it every year. At 2.5 TB for $12.49 per month, that comes out to $149.88. Or as us South Park fans would say, "one fiddy."

23. Make a Time Circuits Apple Watch face

For watchOS, Apple should partner with Robert Zemeckis and Universal and make a damn Time Circuits Apple Watch face.

Please.

I’ll even pay for it.

Third-party apps claim to do this already, and every one I have tried feels like a scam, gets an F at Hill Valley High School and six weeks detention from Mr. Strickland. See image below:

Apple should do the real version: licensed, clean, beautiful, accurate and built into watchOS. I bet Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Robert Zimeckis, Bob Gale and the shot callers at Universal would be all on board.

Give me destination time, present time and last time departed. Give me the glowing red, green and yellow display. Give me a complication that looks like Doc Brown designed it.

The time can be just one thing. Maybe the other parts of the time circuits can be watch complications of other information or apps.

Apple already does special watch faces. Snoopy got one. Mickey Mouse got one. Hermès gets a whole luxury wing. Let the Back to the Future people have their moment.

And if Apple needs a noble reason, donate the money paid for that watch face to Parkinson’s research. Make it a paid face. Make it a charity tie-in. Make it a tribute. Just make it happen before Google does it with its latest POS watch.

One More Thing

Apple does not need to prove that AI can make fake art, rewrite emails or generate a birthday poem.

Apple needs to prove that AI can make the iPhone more useful.

The best Apple features tend to feel obvious after they arrive. Mark texts as unread felt that way. Copy and paste felt that way. Visual voicemail felt that way. AirDrop felt that way. Find My felt that way.

A lot of the features I want are are practical, help with the deluge of forgotten important things as our minds take in more information than they were ever designed to process. Apple should be excited—these features will keep us more glued to the devices than ever before. They help with the stuff we forget, lose, avoid, delay or fail to organize.

The iPhone is already the place where much of my life gets captured and my focus hijacked. WWDC 2026 should be the year Apple gets better at helping me use it.