Apple ought to launch customization...

Famously, in the course of the launch of the primary iPad, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as soon as claimed that “know-how alone isn’t sufficient,” arguing that it was “know-how married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the outcomes that makes our hearts sing.” That was typically taken as a bit pretentious on Jobs’ half, however the final level was that know-how should not be an insular factor. Gadgets are utilized by people, and people care concerning the creative. They need pleasing kind elements. They need good fonts. They need to have the ability to draw, listen to music, and browse their images, not simply jam out spreadsheets and code in essentially the most environment friendly means potential.

Apple has principally carried on that precept, if not taken it to extremes when you think about units just like the iPhone Air. However for all of that, it appears to me that the corporate is lacking out on an apparent method to exploit its philosophy that does not contain spending a fortune on new classes or kind elements, and even new apps and equipment: giving clients extra methods to customise software program on a extra frequent foundation. It is a easy concept, however there’s lots price elaborating on.

What’s incorrect with what Apple’s already doing?

Work to rule

I would not say Apple is doing something incorrect, per se. Its large September updates to iOS, macOS, and iPadOS inevitably embody new wallpapers and customization choices, for example altering what you are able to do with widgets or your lockscreen. tvOS will get occasional screensaver additions, whereas watchOS will get just a few new watchfaces, and up to date “seasonal” shade palettes. Apple is overdue for launching a third-party face gallery, however I digress.

My difficulty is the remainder of the 12 months. The corporate releases a tiny little bit of Black Historical past Month materials in February, and related Pleasure Month materials in June…after which, nearly nothing. There’s not often any materials related to Christmas, Eid, Hanukkah, Diwali, or different main spiritual holidays, and principally secular occasions like July 4th and Halloween get quick shrift, too. Even if you’re deeply invested in issues like black historical past and LGBT rights, you could be disenchanted by what Apple places out. The 2025 Black Historical past pack consisted of a single Unity wallpaper in just a few variations, and a single watchface restricted to an imprecise analog dial with simply two issues. Look, a lot of my household is black — however I must know time right down to the minute, and I have been spoiled by the Modular Extremely face, which permits as much as seven issues.

To be honest, lots of people are high quality with present choices, and like their very own wallpapers anyway. I am most likely far too invested in customized wallpapers, in actual fact — my iPhone’s homescreen cycles by means of dozens of them each week, and I am all the time on the hunt for extra. I do know a variety of different persons are high quality with a single image of their associate, household, or pet.

There’s undoubtedly a gaggle on the market, although, that will get enthusiastic about new customizations dropping each month, or no less than each few months. Everybody likes free stuff, and Apple has entry to lots of {of professional} artists, in addition to the center of its working methods. It might pull off some distinctive visible aptitude. If it needed to, it may launch new icon packs, new filters, and new fonts, permitting everybody to create a glance that is one-of-a-kind. That may be a high quality method to upend the flexibleness its rivals are recognized for.

These modifications would not essentially persuade anybody to purchase an iPhone or a Mac for the primary time, however it might be one other incentive to remain within the Apple ecosystem. Folks leaping ship to Android or Home windows would possibly miss their month-to-month hit, a lot in the identical means that I might miss my weekly hit from Spotify’s Launch Radar if I jumped ship to Apple Music. After I phrase it that means, it is obscure why Apple is not already invested in an idea like theme packs.

The hindrances

What’s holding Apple again, and a few remaining ideas

The obvious rationalization on paper is that Apple has restricted sources. Which may sound ludicrous to a few of you, since I am speaking a few four-trillion greenback megacorporation, however the firm does have many various product strains, all of which demand an enormous quantity of labor simply help their present software program. The thought of splitting or increasing sources to make issues a little bit prettier could also be arduous to justify, significantly with Apple Intelligence and Siri nonetheless languishing years behind Google Gemini. The thought of ramping up customization could not have even crossed the C-suite’s thoughts. Heck, it is on the verge of reinvigorating its smart home lineup by means of merchandise like a hub show.

It is fairly clear, nevertheless, that Apple truly does have sources to spare. It spent billions of {dollars} on its Apple Automotive undertaking, participating in a poaching warfare with Tesla, solely to cancel it unceremoniously because it wavered on what the final word purpose was. Probably the most we received out of it — if something — could have been CarPlay Extremely and a few enhancements to Apple Maps. If it will probably afford that, it will probably afford to commit just a few million {dollars} yearly in the direction of one thing extra of its clients can reap the benefits of.

Maybe Apple is apprehensive about sustaining a constant aesthetic. It is a generally accepted purpose why Apple took so lengthy to allow us to tint icons a distinct shade, and why it nonetheless limits watchfaces. The extra customizable issues are, the upper the prospect of clashing and even damaged interface components, which could flip some folks off and have an effect on word-of-mouth. Actually, some customers appeared to throw style out the window when iOS 18 arrived.

It is as much as clients to determine what constitutes “style,” although. Somebody who buys an Apple product does not simply take into account it a portal into different services and products — they (rightfully) take into account it their property and an extension of their persona. Most individuals are additionally sensible sufficient to acknowledge that in the event that they tweak one thing, and it does not look nice, that could be their very own fault. If I do not just like the look of a neon-green kitchen renovation, I’ll blame my very own selections, not the corporate that offered me the brushes and paint cans.

Is there an opportunity Apple goes to take up the thought of extra content material releases and customization choices, maybe beginning with iOS 27? It is potential, however I doubt it. Rumors counsel that Apple’s large focus in 2026 can be creating an interface for the iPhone Fold, demanding not only a larger and extra versatile structure, however the addition of multi-window help and another fully new features. It isn’t even clear that Apple will ship on the Siri upgrades it first promised in 2024. I am simply hoping that op-eds like it will hold the significance of personalization on Apple’s radar by making a sound enterprise case.