With Google I/O and WWDC 2024 behind us, I now know what’s coming to Android and iOS devices later this year. As usual, there’s a lot of overlap. Both operating systems from Google and Apple will now let you squirrel away sensitive apps and data in private spaces, or search for images in your photo libraries using machine learning and natural language requests such as “show me photos over the years of my family at the beach in Hawaii.”
Also, some long-held Android features are finally migrating to the iPhone, like arranging apps anywhere on the home screen and RCS messaging support, which should make texting between platforms smoother.
But Android devices and the iPhone are never in parity, and it would be great to see a few upcoming Android features announced at Google I/O find their way to Apple’s ecosystem.
Here are three that I’d like to see Apple adopt for the iPhone.
For more on what’s coming, here’s how Apple is making home screen tweaks to iOS 18 and rolling out a password manager.
First Android feature I’d like to see on iOS 18: Adaptive vibration
Apologies to the talented people who put so much work into the chimes, chirps and swooshes that indicate when a call comes in or a message arrives, but I’ve kept my phone in silent mode for years. I’d much rather be alerted by a haptic vibration that doesn’t make people and pets jump in surprise.
Except sometimes they do anyway.
Ever laid your phone on a glass table or marble counter and received a phone call? The racket is enough to make bystanders flinch and make the phone dance across the surface. Or the opposite: A phone nestled in the corner of a couch may as well be in another room when the haptic motor runs.
Read more: Google to Adjust Vibrations on Pixel Phones Based on Surroundings
Adaptive Vibration in Android 15 will use input from the microphone and other sensors to determine the intensity of the buzz — less powerful on flat surfaces, full-on-motorcycle-engine on soft cushions. Android notes that while your phone’s microphones and sensors are listening for adaptive vibration to work, none of that data is recorded.
Now your phone won’t frighten you, even when it’s on vibrate mode.
Palash Volvoikar/CNET
Next Android feature I’d like to see on iOS 18: Theft Detection Lock
Both Google and Apple have incorporated features for securing your data in the event your phone is stolen, but they rely on the assumption that the phone is locked when it’s pilfered. Biometric security and long passcodes won’t help if the phone is snatched out of your hands while you’re using it.
In response, Google is rolling out Theft Detection Lock, which is coming to devices running Android 10 and later and uses machine learning and sensor data to detect the sudden motion indicating the phone has been grabbed. When activated, the phone automatically locks as a precaution, providing the normal layers of data protection.
You would still be abruptly phone-less, but then you can take steps (such as making the phone unable to be factory-reset) to dissuade the thief from reselling it.
The more ways there are to protect your stolen or lost phone, the better.
Angela Lang/CNET
And another Android feature I’d like on my iPhone: Universal Back Gesture with Predictive Back
Technically, this one is a new modification to an old gesture, but the spirit is the same. On Android, you can swipe from the left or right edge of the screen to go back to where you were previously, be that a screen or app. It’s a universal control that serves a quick function.
In Android 15, the gesture gains Predictive Back, a sliver of a preview of the back destination along the side of the screen. Right now, iOS relies on navigation cues within individual apps to direct you back to where you were before.
Keep in mind that so far we’ve seen just the first developer beta of iOS 18 and the second developer beta of Android 15, so there could be more to come by the time the systems are released. And we can always hope for more next year, or perhaps Apple could surprise us with late additions when rumored new iPhone 16 models are revealed in the fall. For more, here’s how to check out previews of iOS 18 and Android 15 if you’re curious what’s in store.
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