If you were hoping for updates to Apple’s iPhone home screen, Mail app, and photo features, you might have to wait until 2019. Axios’s Ina Fried reports that Apple is putting those features and more on hold until 2019 in favor of stabilizing iOS. (New health tools, parental controls, and augmented reality features are still in the works for this year’s iOS update, Fried reports.)
Apple observers have griped for years about the annual iOS upgrade cycle and the toll it takes on stability, and this isn’t the first time Apple has reportedly shifted attention away from new features to address those complaints. (A similar rumor emerged about iOS 9 development almost exactly two years ago.)
Still, the last year has been especially rough for iOS, with various security flaws, a battery-throttling debacle, a bizarre predictive text bug that made typing “I” impossible, and a general lack of attention to detail. Taking a year to shore up the system’s security and stability doesn’t seem like a bad idea, no matter how enticing a new home screen might be.
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