Top 7 Disappointments from WWDC ’17

Apple’s 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference was certainly a whirlwind of new features, software improvements and products. From the a new iMac Pro powerful enough to blow holes in the moon, to the highly anticipated and previously secretive HomePod Siri speaker, Apple managed to pack an entire plethora of updates into a keynote just a couple of hours long. But despite all of the updates, there were still a handful of features and improvements we were looking forward to that we ultimately didn’t get. Here are seven of what we think were the biggest disappointments from WWDC ‘17.

7. Lack of tvOS Updates

Those who watched the WWDC ’17 keynote may have noticed that Apple spent nearly no time describing updates for the new version of tvOS. Sure, the addition of Amazon Prime Video is awesome, and arguably long overdue — but that one addition hardly qualifies as a full-fledged software update. Hopefully, we’ll see more features surface online as developers explore the beta as we closer to the general release in the fall.

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6. No “Hey, Siri” for the Mac

Apple’s address on macOS High Sierra ranged the gamut from VR content creation to Safari tracking prevention features — and yet, we didn’t see anything mentioned about this simple, hands-free accessibility feature. Adding “Hey, Siri” to macOS is a no-brainer. Sure, there’s a clunky workaround for adding a similar function, but making it as integrated a feature as Night Shift would do wonders for the Mac’s accessibility.

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5. No Siri Chat Mode

Siri got a definite boost in iOS 11, with a more natural speaking voice, system-wide contextual functionality, an awesome new translation tool, and iCloud-based machine-learning integration. While there was no confirmation that Siri would gain an iMessage-like chat functionality in iOS 11, such a feature showed up in a recent Apple patent — and it certainly could have expanded Siri’s usefulness in a variety of situations.

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4. No MacBook Pro RAM Bump

We didn’t expect to see a design overhaul for Apple’s 2017 MacBook Pro lineup — rumors suggested an incremental processing bump, and that’s what we ultimately got at WWDC ’17. But the updated MacBook Pro lineup still caps out at 16GB of RAM. If Apple is still committed to making products for the professional community, then higher RAM caps are a must. On the bright side, Apple’s hardware can already support higher memory caps — so there’s no reason they can’t easily add higher memory Mac models in the near future.

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3. No iPad mini Refresh

This may have been a long-shot from the start, and corroborated by fewer rumors than we would have liked, but we did hear about the possibility of an iPad mini refresh being released sometime this year — possibly carrying an “iPad mini Pro” designation. Of course, we didn’t get one at WWDC ’17. And the fact that Apple didn’t update the lineup is just another piece of evidence that suggests the iPad mini’s days are numbered altogether.

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2. No Touchscreen for HomePod

HomePod is an impressive speaker, and it runs circles around Google and Amazon as far as audio quality. But some rumors suggested that the HomePod would have a touchscreen — similar to Amazon’s new Echo Show — which would’ve helped it stand out further from competitors. In fact, Apple VP of Hardware Phil Schiller even stated that “a voice assistant without a screen is limited in its utility” a month before WWDC ’17.

Of course, the HomePod doesn’t have a touchscreen in its current form — which isn’t necessarily a problem, seeing as Apple seems to be focusing on creating a high-end music device rather than a full-fledged home assistant. But still, having a touchscreen could have opened up a lot more possibilities for HomePod.

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 1. No “Dark Mode” in iOS 11

A system-wide Dark Mode in iOS is something we’ve heard rumors about for quite a while, and Apple seemingly teased such a feature with the aesthetic makeover that Clock received in iOS 10. Unfortunately, while iOS 11 was the perfect opportunity to unveil such a feature, we didn’t get it this year. Of course, it’s still on the table and it could even be an added feature in an incremental iOS 11 update. We can only hope.