Mac and iPad are closer than ever in terms of features, with many macOS updates borrowing from the iPhone and iPad. Still, there are some notable gaps, especially when it comes to customization. Here are a few recent iPhone and iPad features that haven’t made their way to the Mac yet.
Lock Screen customization
With iOS 16 and iPadOS 17, Apple gave iPhone and iPad users the ability to customize their lock screens—adding widgets, changing fonts, and more. It was a great feature, but unfortunately, this level of customization still hasn’t made its way to the Mac.
macOS Sonoma did give the Mac’s Lock Screen a bit of a redesign, but it wasn’t as fully featured as the iPhone and iPad versions. There were no widgets or font customization, and it just didn’t have the same flair as the lock screen updates on the other devices.
If Apple’s looking for ideas for next year’s macOS, it’d be great to see true lock screen customization, just like what we’ve got on the rest of the ecosystem.
App Icon Customization
With iOS and iPadOS 18, Apple added dark mode and tinting options for app icons, giving users a way to theme their home screens. While not everyone is a fan of the tinted icons, I personally like them—and the best part is, it’s just an optional feature.
But that’s not the whole story. Even before iOS 18, app developers could let users change the default app icon natively on iOS—no shortcuts or hacks needed. While macOS does allow for basic app icon customization, it’s not as common as it is on iOS and iPadOS.
It’s probably unlikely that app icon customization would ever be as popular on macOS as it is on iOS, but it’d still be pretty cool to see features like this make their way to the Mac.
Control Center Customization
In Apple’s latest updates, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, we got a big overhaul of Control Center. Now, third-party apps can add their own toggles, and users have more freedom to rearrange Control Center however they like.
Of course, like everything else on this list, macOS is still missing that same level of customization. Apple introduced Control Center on macOS with Big Sur, but it hasn’t seen much change since then. While I don’t expect the same level of rearrangement as on iOS, it’d be great to see some third-party integrations added.
