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The 5 most requested iPhone features Apple left out of iOS 11

Published Jun 7th, 2017 12:28PM EDT
BGR

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Apple gave the world its first look at iOS 11 earlier this week during its big keynote presentation at WWDC 2017. iOS 11 beta 1 was then released, and millions of developers (and non-developers) have likely installed it by now. There are tons of nifty new features baked into iOS 11, such as a completely redesigned Messages app, a brand new App Store, and a more versatile Control Center that can be customized by the user.

We covered all of iOS 11’s most exciting new features in an earlier post, but there’s also some bad news surrounding Apple’s next-generation mobile platform. In this post, we’ll run down five of the most sought-after iPhone features that Apple still hasn’t addressed in iOS 11.

Dark Mode

This is clearly the most requested feature among vocal iPhone users on social networks and on forums like Reddit. A system-wide dark mode that changes the color scheme in all first- and third-party apps is something that iPhone users have been begging for each and every year for as long as we can remember. In iOS 11… they still didn’t get it.

The bittersweet news is that Apple’s new iOS 11 software has revamped the “Invert Colors” feature so that it’s now a “Smart Invert” that darkens the color scheme of the UI without inverting the colors on things like photos and app icons. It’s passable, but it’s definitely not a true dark mode.

Here’s a GIF from Reddit showing Smart Invert in action:

Multiple Account Support

It’s 2017 and Apple’s iPad still doesn’t support multiple user accounts. How is that even possible?

Apple made the iPad a huge focus in iOS 11, adding all kinds of nifty new iPad-only features that enhance productivity. You can read about some of them in this post. But Apple still refuses to add multiple account support, which would allow several members of the same household to share an iPad without worrying about giving each other access to private data. This feature would also allow each user to configure his or her own home screens and other preferences.

That Insanely Annoying Volume Pop-Up

Good news: that ridiculously annoying, horribly useless, and infuriatingly disruptive pop-up that jumps onto the center of the screen when you adjust the volume no longer appears while you’re watching a video in iOS 11! Bad news: It still appears everywhere else.

Default Apps

Do you hate Safari and wish you could open any and all links in Chrome? Sorry, no such luck in iOS 11. Individual apps can still allow users to select defaults, but there’s no system-wide configuration, which is something users were really hoping for in iOS 11.

Group FaceTime

Last but not least, iOS 11 still doesn’t support group video chats in FaceTime. There are dozens of third-party video calling apps that support group chats, but no such luck in FaceTime on iOS 11.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.