Famously, throughout the launch of the primary iPad, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as soon as claimed that “know-how alone shouldn’t be 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. Units are utilized by people, and people care in regards to the inventive. They need pleasing kind elements. They need good fonts. They need to have the ability to draw, listen to music, and browse their pictures, not simply jam out spreadsheets and code in essentially the most environment friendly manner potential.
Apple has principally carried on that precept, if not taken it to extremes when you think about gadgets 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 prospects extra methods to customise software program on a extra frequent foundation. It is a easy thought, however there’s lots price elaborating on.
What’s flawed with what Apple’s already doing?
Work to rule
I would not say Apple is doing something flawed, per se. Its large September updates to iOS, macOS, and iPadOS inevitably embody new wallpapers and customization choices, as an illustration 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 situation is the remainder of the yr. 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 linked to Christmas, Eid, Hanukkah, Diwali, or different main non secular holidays, and principally secular occasions like July 4th and Halloween get brief shrift, too. Even in case you are deeply invested in issues like black historical past and LGBT rights, you may be upset 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 problems. 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 problems.
If it needed to, Apple may launch new icon packs, new filters, and new fonts, permitting everybody to create a glance that is one-of-a-kind.
To be truthful, lots of people are high-quality with present choices, and like their very own wallpapers anyway. I am in all probability far too invested in customized wallpapers, in truth — my iPhone’s homescreen cycles by dozens of them each week, and I am all the time on the hunt for extra. I do know quite a lot of different individuals are high-quality with a single image of their associate, household, or pet.
There’s undoubtedly a gaggle on the market, although, that might get enthusiastic about new customizations dropping each month, or at the least each few months. Everybody likes free stuff, and Apple has entry to lots of {of professional} artists, in addition to the heart of its working programs. It might probably 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 might 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 could be one other incentive to remain within the Apple ecosystem. Folks leaping ship to Android or Home windows may miss their month-to-month hit, a lot in the identical manner that I might miss my weekly hit from Spotify’s Launch Radar if I jumped ship to Apple Music. After I phrase it that manner, 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 closing ideas
The obvious clarification on paper is that Apple has restricted assets. That may sound ludicrous to a few of you, since I am speaking a few four-trillion greenback megacorporation, however the firm does have many alternative product strains, all of which demand an enormous quantity of labor simply assist their present software program. The concept of splitting or increasing assets to make issues somewhat prettier could also be laborious to justify, significantly with Apple Intelligence and Siri nonetheless languishing years behind Google Gemini. The concept of ramping up customization might not have even crossed the C-suite’s thoughts. Heck, it is on the verge of reinvigorating its smart home lineup by merchandise like a hub show.
It is fairly clear, nevertheless, that Apple truly does have assets to spare. It spent billions of {dollars} on its Apple Automobile mission, participating in a poaching warfare with Tesla, solely to cancel it unceremoniously because it wavered on what the last word objective was. Essentially the most we received out of it — if something — might have been CarPlay Extremely and a few enhancements to Apple Maps. If it might probably afford that, it might probably afford to commit just a few million {dollars} yearly in direction of one thing extra of its prospects can make the most of.
Somebody who buys an Apple product does not simply think about it a portal into different services — they (rightfully) think about it their property and an extension of their character.
Maybe Apple is nervous about sustaining a constant aesthetic. It is a generally accepted cause why Apple took so lengthy to allow us to tint icons a special shade, and why it nonetheless limits watchfaces. The extra customizable issues are, the upper the prospect of clashing and even damaged interface parts, which could flip some individuals 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 prospects to resolve what constitutes “style,” although. Somebody who buys an Apple product does not simply think about it a portal into different services — they (rightfully) think about it their property and an extension of their character. Most individuals are additionally good sufficient to acknowledge that in the event that they tweak one thing, and it does not look nice, that may be their very own fault. If I do not just like the look of a neon-green kitchen renovation, I will blame my very own choices, not the corporate that bought 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 greater and extra versatile format, however the addition of multi-window assist and another fully new features. It is not 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.
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