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Four things the next iOS update must have

4 points by robomartin ↗ HN
[1] "Guest Mode": Today there is no way to hand your iPad to someone else and not expose absolutely everything you have on the device, from email to purchasing and more.

[2] "Child Mode": Probably an extension of the above. Allow me to setup a sandbox of apps that my child has access to. This sandbox should also allow for disabling such things as in-app purchases, app store access, multi-touch gestures and more.

[3] Fax Mode: My phone should be able to receive and display faxes. I want my phone to recognize a fax signal, receive the fax and turn it into a PDF. It should email me that PDF or store it locally. I should be able to pick-up the phone and, if I hear a fax warble touch a "Receive Fax" button.

I'd write an app to do this except that Apple does not give developers access to the phone in any meaningful way. Lots of interesting apps could surface if developers had access to phone call events.

[4] Provide access to the serial port on the 30 pin connector without the restriction of having to be a MFi member and all that comes with it. Sell an approved 30-pin to RS232/422 cable that will work with any app written using the relevant API.

I understand the desire to control the sandbox, but I think that this has gone too far in some areas. Not providing access to a basic I/O port for serial communications is a little over the top.

Of course, the list could be much longer.

6 comments

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johnnyo
I'll make a prediction that Fax Mode is something that will never happen. Faxes are an outdated technology, and Apple has shown in the past that they are more than willing to drop support for legacy technologies to push their products forward. Remember when they dropped the floppy drive?

Same argument for RS232.

AznHisoka
Then why do they insist I fax my business documentation when I apply as a business for a developer account? :)
jacksondeane
Because the Member's Portal & iTunes Connect are clearly not given the same attention that the consumer facing products are given.
pedoh
How overdue is "delete all email messages"? Clicking edit and then swiping a mess of messages to delete is tedious. The workaround for me is to have server side Exchange rules that put messages into particular folders. Which means I have to fire up a VM running Windows to get to Outlook because the Mac version doesn't support server-side rules ... arg! This is the single feature that I miss from my old Android phone.
jacksondeane
I could see some kind of Parental Controls making it into iOS at some point, and less so "Guest Mode". As for the other 2, I wouldn't bet on it, ever.
johnnyo
I could see Parental controls as well, but you can pretty much do this already, on a per-device level.

I think Apple's goal is to get you to buy your kid and iPad and lock it down, not let them borrow yours. I don't see iPads every having separate user accounts like a traditional PC has.