There’s still a long way to go before June—when it’s likely to happen WWDC23an event at which Apple traditionally showcases future versions of its operating systems — but we’re already seeing concepts from iOS 17 circling around.
One of the most interesting ones we’ve seen recently is this one from the YouTube channel Kevin Kall (the Hacker 34)which imagined a more open iOS and treading a path that would increasingly approach the level of customization that exists in the Android currently.
The first customization option appears subtly at the beginning of the video. On the Lock Screen, there would be new shortcut icons instead of the quick access ones for the flashlight and camera, which cannot be changed nowadays.
iOS would also gain icon packs, which would allow you to easily change system icons. The video even shows two extra packages: one with macOS-style icons (with relief and shadow) and another with the old iOS icons (prior to iOS 7).
The Control Center is another part that would gain a greater possibility of customization, which might take place outside the Settings app and would add options and controls not currently available.
The biggest “openness” of the system, however, would be the possibility of installing applications outside the App Store. The concept even shows a Fortnite file (.ipa) being easily installed directly from the Files app.
A path of no return?
Although it’s hard to see iOS with this level of customization, Apple has taken some steps in this direction in recent years – whether with the launch of widgets or with the new Lock Screen, which arrived with iOS 16.
Apple’s system also adopted other features that the company was reluctant to release for a long time, such as Picture-in-Picture (PiP) and Always On Display. In this concept, the YouTuber imagined the arrival of a few more, like the Split View and interactive widgets.
We probably won’t see macOS icons anytime soon on our mobile devices, but the possibility of installing apps from outside the App Store is increasing — although it’s hard to imagine such ease of installation as the concept.