When iOS 14 came out, TikTok was filled with videos of extreme methods for customizing the iPhone interface, courtesy of custom widgets and replacing icons with shortcuts. Everyone’s aesthetic is different, and you may have found these customizations silly, tasteless, or even ugly, but the success of these videos sent a powerful message: people want to customize their devices.

It’s a story as old as the world, going back to the early days of the Mac. And yet modern Apple is reluctant to allow users to customize their devices. Yes, you can set your own lock screen and wallpaper, but other than that, the options were quite limited.

But the iOS 16 lock screen, with its custom fonts, color overlays, and custom widgets, suggests that Apple may be entering a new phase. It looks like Apple noticed this positive reaction with iOS 14 and decided to loosen the reins a bit. The lock screen may just be the start of a change in how things work.

Some choice but not much

Apple representatives said that the editable iPhone lock screen in iOS 16 is inspired by the face editor on the Apple Watch. In fact, this is the same interface with a choice from a very limited set of parameters. There is a limited palette of colors and fonts, just like the Apple Watch is limited to certain watch faces, colors, and extensions. There are a few widget slots – with designs taken directly from Apple Watch complications – but it’s hardly free for everyone.

Apple

Apple even analyzes your photos and only suggests effects it thinks are appropriate for the image you choose. One way to see this is that Apple helpfully curates its effects to save you time; you might also think that Apple is preventing you from making aesthetic choices that it doesn’t agree with.

It’s interesting to note that Apple has chosen to optionally link lock screens to focus modes. When you change focus modes, your lock screen and home screen may also change. Seems like Apple is slowly getting closer to the idea Topics. Namely, a system where your iPhone will look completely different depending on the context or even a whim.

Funny, iOS currently offers light and dark themes that look completely different. These themes are not related to your lock screen, home screen, or focus modes. But building a broader theme system seems like a logical direction to take, doesn’t it?

When the concept of personalization and customization was introduced in Android 12, it did what Android did and basically let the user do whatever they wanted. Apple will never do that, mostly because it knows that total freedom will lead to a whole host of ugly decisions – think desktop publishing in the 1980s, a world full of disastrous font choices and terrible design choices. Right or wrong, Apple would like to protect its users from making their own bad decisions. One way to do this is to carefully select a few theme options that it finds acceptable, perhaps backed up by some machine learning-based analysis that doesn’t offer users options that Apple finds ugly.

Who owns a CarPlay car?

Here is a tangent, but not quite. The new CarPlay showcased by Apple at WWDC 2022 will presumably take over all the elements of the car’s interface. In Apple’s demo of the new features, the images Apple showed offered many different interface themes that the user could switch between – all typical of Apple in appearance.

Apple

Will automakers really want to give away Apple-style interfaces to their cars? Will they be forced to modify their cars to fit?

It turns out that customization can not only create problems, but also solve them. Suppose Apple is offering automakers a base-level automotive operating system similar to Google’s Android Automotive. Automakers love Android Automotive because it’s open source and customizable. Apple will never do this.

But… what if CarPlay had custom themes? Then, if you work for Volvo, you can add themes that match your corporate aesthetic, or even model-based design colors. Users may be able to switch to custom themes or themes blessed by Apple. Perhaps Apple and Volvo will put in some guardrails to prevent users from painting too far outside the lines. This is an opportunity.

Apple receives a message

When I look at the lock screen in iOS 16, I see Apple getting the message that we want to personalize our devices, but don’t want to do what Android did and let everyone do it.

Instead, he’s going to do it the Apple way. It looks like the company is creating a set of themes that allow users to express themselves by choosing from options, sets, and styles rather than making decisions they’re likely to regret later.

With any luck, Apple’s approach will continue to expand and expand, and our devices (and even cars?) will get a little more personal and personal with every OS update.