WWDC 2025 Wish Lists
All I want for #WWDC is for Xcode to correctly report build status.
Literally nothing else. Fix this and I’ll stop complaining about stuff for an entire year. PLEASE.
Other fixes would be nice too, but the #1 thing an IDE needs to do is show correct information. If it can’t do that, it doesn’t matter what else it can do; it’s not trustworthy.
In all sincerity, I would of course love for many of the AI goodies we see with IDE’s like VS Code and Cursor make it’s way (natively) into Xcode.
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If better AI in Xcode didn’t happen this year, I’d be fine with that.
Instead, I rather see Xcode become more stable and more robust, in general. Xcode really does provide some awesome features when you stop and take stock. But there are enough annoyances with Xcode that produce some of the negative/meh feelings I read and see in the community.
WWDC 25 is a good chance for Apple to release Swift Assist and provide the modern environment for app development.
Another exciting release they could consider is the MCP server for Xcode, which would be a significant surprise.
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I think it is time to introduce the Project.swift file, allowing us to configure Xcode projects.
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Whenever you have a huge collection of items, there is no way to display them using SwiftUI built-in views while providing a smooth user experience. The only way is to wrap UIKit’s collection or table views.
If Apple were to fully embrace and support SPM, it could become the ideal method for project organization, code sharing, and collaborative development within the Apple ecosystem.
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Apple should not restrict plugin development for a professional tool like Xcode based on consumer-level security considerations. Maintaining an open and vibrant plugin ecosystem is essential for Xcode’s sustained growth and innovation.
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I strongly suggest that Apple takes a bold step in splitting lesser-used functionalities into independent applications. This would streamline Xcode, allowing developers to focus exclusively on its core editing and debugging capabilities.
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Apple could establish a remote device lab, allowing developers to quickly test compatibility across various devices and OS versions directly from the cloud, significantly speeding up the troubleshooting and issue-resolution workflow.
- binary fragments, specifically for macros
- SwiftUI fixes, not enhancements, like say a working
List- OK, maybe a custom diffing protocol for SwiftUI
- SwiftUI testing
- a cheaper AvP would be cool
- proper Xcode support for Linux would be sweet
Imagine if Apple fixes that thing where, if you rename a file in a Swift package, Xcode will actually compile your code. Wouldn’t that be quite a WWDC, huh?
It’s another one of those days where #Xcode is making me want to throw my computer through the window and go become a hermit.
Today it’s the fact that if you open a project from an unwritable location, Xcode will pop up this alert EVERY THREE SECONDS UNTIL YOU CLOSE THE PROJECT.
- don’t close my project structure anymore
- don’t activate schemes that I deactivated
- support space key to de-/activate schemes in scheme mgmt
- don’t reload all packages when opening an existing project
The best solution would be for Apple to add multi-item drag-and-drop to SwiftUI List, just as UITableView and UICollectionView have had for a VERY long time. It continues to be on my wishlist for every new iOS version.
- Fix Siri
- Open up Mac Mail API for composing
- Let iPhone mirroring work when use sidecar with iPad
- make Xcode nice or open up more
- enable developers to refund customers from a dashboard like Google play
- downloads from the AppStore should be blazingly fast
- kill off provisioning profiles or make simple!
If Xcode 17 (release) comes with fast macro builds by default (i.e. not requiring an experiemental feature flag), I think I would be happy w/ this years #WWDC.
One random example: why do we get email notifications for EDITED user reviews but NOT for NEW user reviews? It’s baffling.
Still untouched, however, are System Settings and Stage Manager. System Settings still feels cumbersome when it comes to locating specific settings, while Stage Manager remains a kludgy curiosity. Both could benefit from a complete re-think.
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I would like Time Machine to have more granular control over what folder(s) get backed up, include additional custom backup schedules, and have the ability to define how long I want to keep my backups for. A Time Machine-to-iCloud backup would be fantastic, as well, allowing users to access their files from all their Apple devices.
Add a Switcheroo-like profile picker to Safari to allow opening a specific profile when a link is clicked from outside of the browser.
Completely ditch Siri – Keep the name, but tell us that you’ve taken all of the Siri code and
rm -rf’d it. The number of things Siri does reliably right (adding a reminder, starting and stopping a timer) can be rewritten very quickly. Ditch everything else.[…]
Photos for Mac move referenced library to a different volume.
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A native way to run Electron/Chromium apps – I think Electron, or whatever it is called today, is here to stay. And so many of the most popular apps use it, macOS should embrace that and make macOS the best platform to run these apps rather than trying to force native apps.
This is an opportunity for Apple to reset their developer relationships and make announcements that clearly show a desire for our mutual benefit. I hope to shelve this distraction and get back to work, building wonderful products for this wonderful platform. We’ll see if Apple agrees.
Here are my suggestions for low-hanging fruit for WWDC announcements that would be easy developer relations wins for Apple:
At least double, if not more, the free 5 GB iCloud limit.
No TestFlight review delay. Builds approved immediately, with the option for them to review on their time.
Tweaks to Small Business Program - either decrease the split, or increase the revenue cap, or both.
If Apple ever touches the Small Business Program again (15% fee instead of 30% for devs making under $1M/year in the App Store), they should fix its biggest issues: it’s not automatic, and it’s not progressive.
If you’re about to cross $1M in December, you’re highly incentivized to remove your app from sale until January 1. That’s dysfunctional.
Just apply the 15% rate automatically to the first $1M/year that any developer makes. No applications, no cliffs, no delays.
I think I applied for it about 6 months ago, and have still not gotten any notification that I was approved. My tiny apps have barely covered the developer program fees, the SMP would help it do it. Agree it should be AUTOMATIC.
Over on our forums, there are a couple wishlists of features that users have been contributing to since last June.
We’ve rounded up a few of the features that have been suggested.
Whats on your #WWDC25 Wishlist?
Previously:
16 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
My wishlist:
Stop pretending everything is great; admit you have a software quality problem
Stop being hostile to third-party developers
Commit the next five years fixing macOS and iOS bugs
Bring back the 2004-ish management chain and Mac OS X development team
1. It's probably time to try to see if things get better with a new SVP of Software Engineering.
2. Stop wasting time on Swift. Or at least get rid of SwiftUI.
3. Stop making macOS crappier each year.
After all, it's just wishes which, like bug reports filed via the Feedback assistant, will never be taken care of.
With a tip of the hat to both John Siracusa and M.G. Siegler, my primary wish would be for a "New Deal" for developers.
What could this encompass?
1. Changing the App Store commission from 15/30 to 10/15 for everything that is not a game
2. Moving the sales of games primarily to the new Game Store in the Game.app, and if need be, Apple can keep their 15/30 commission on Games only (as it is more equivalent to other online game store commission rates). Doing so will mean Apple keeps the majority of the revenue they currently make from the App Store (which is via games) but does not harshly tax smaller indie non-game developers
3. Allowing any in-app or web link purchase methods for App Store apps. However, at the same time, seriously ramp up and preference any app which uses App Store payment methods exclusively. Preference in Search, Features and promotion for App Store payment exclusive apps. Actually make the commission that is paid to Apple have some value. Any developer who doesn't want to support Apple's payment method exclusively would still be available via the App Store as a download and update mechanism but not as a distribution or marketing mechanism.
4. Increase the Apple Developer program annual fee to any developer that is not an independent / sole trader developer from $100 to a sliding scale. Free apps from large corporations and advertising supported apps that are not from independent developers should no longer get a free ride. If you're a corporate and have over 1,000,000 downloads of a free app (Social, Banking etc) then it's should not be unheard of for you to pay $10k+ per/annum for App Store access and support. At the moment indie paid apps are paying commissions for the same 'service' that many large corporations get for free.
All of the above would significantly improve Apple's reputation among smaller developers, reduce the commission rate to them and likely be revenue neutral to Apple.
Proper documentation would be nice. For Shortcuts, also. A one-sentence description for each programming module simply isn’t enough, and Swift documentation isn’t much better.
Wow. Quite a bit of negativity in the air! (And not much of anything else.) How about some reality? Or at least a bit of cherry picking low hanging fruit....
> 2. Stop wasting time on Swift. Or at least get rid of SwiftUI.
Stop wasting my time. Maybe not totally with SwiftUI, but why even try? Or maybe why even post this?
>Commit the next five years fixing macOS and iOS bugs.
I believe this is defined as a straw man argument. Jeez. Can you at least be constructive enough to tell me details of what specific bugs you want fixed?
My thoughts lean toward @Matthew....
Totally agree with points 1 and 2. Not expecting it, but at least it feels like the puck is heading in that direction.
Intrigued by point 3. It feels like something Apple could consider (and hopefully not screw up). I wouldn't expect it during WWDC '25 - I mean seriously? You might as well ask them to "... get rid of SwiftUI"". But it sounds like something that even the present CEO might try in light of the last few years of legal issues.
As for 4? I do not agree. My *online* banking is mainly done through Safari. My local FCU has enough issues with spam and fraud. Are you saying it's Apple's issue to *raise* developer fees? Shouldn't it be the "large corporations" onus to pay and make *their* developers off the hook instead?
My wishlist for Apple: stop being so damned arrogant to developers and to laws and to judges and to governments. You may have more power than us developers. You don't have more power than governments.
Give us a snow leopard year across all of apples operating systems.
Particularly fix the alarm not ringing bug.
I doubt we will get that this year given the madness of AI, but maybe next year?
- Fix Spotlight (it’s just ridiculously broken, can’t launch Slack on my iPhone or any shortcuts on my Mac)
- Remove signing timeouts for running apps that I build myself running on my own devices. It’s ridiculous that I should have to re-sign my own stuff every week.
- Re-enable the hypervisor on iPadOS so we can build Linux sandboxes for emulation and development
@Dave Because it's just the reality. They are spending too much time on the language itself, addressing its edge cases instead of fixing bugs in the existing Apple APIs, frameworks, services, the toolchain, etc.
Sometimes, it's good to have to deal with a language's constraints. Nobody needs a yearly recycle for Swift that will fix a few things, break existing code and introduce new issues.
@someone The biggest surprise to me is the toolchain. From the people who brought us Clang, which was fast and solid from day one. But the Swift toolchain has been spurious build errors and slowness for 10+ years now. At least it’s less crashy now.
This is a pretty depressing list. Hoping for the IDE to be marginally more usable? How the mighty are fallen.
> Give us a snow leopard year across all of apples operating systems.
The want for a Snow Leopard year is reaching Copland levels. I often think of that Mac Addict "movie" (if someone finds it, please share) of a waterworld dog on a raft, exclaiming "copland, will I ever find it?" -- the answer of course is no, we will not get a SL year, but it is nice to dream.
Like someone in a relationship with an narcissist, I know better than to expect anything from Apple that will actually improve my life - thrilled about the new (m)emojis though!
