Apple’s Craig Federighi Addresses iOS 14 Comments With Marques Brownlee

It’s been a big week for Apple. The company kicked off its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, announcing new software updates for all its products, and senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi has addressed comments from users.

While chatting with popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee on his podcast, Federighi discussed why Apple made the decisions they did with the new updates. One of the biggest features to come to iOS 14 is the ability to replace the company’s default Mail and Safari apps with one’s preferred email client and browser. However, many questioned the limitations. During the conversation with Federighi, Brownlee asked why the company didn’t consider extending the feature to other apps, specifically the Maps app.

Federighi said Apple has been listening to the feedback of its users, and email and browser apps were the most requested at the time. He said this is just a starting point when it comes to allowing more configurations inside iOS, though he believes the company has to be mindful in order to prevent chaos.

“We know how platforms can sort of descend into chaos,” he said. “We are very careful about making sure that we don’t have people getting misled or having their device get configured into a place where they don’t even like using their phone anymore because it’s so wonked up.”

In order to prevent this, he said there’s a set of criteria that must be met before apps will be considered for default positions. He assured users that most of the apps that they would consider using as their browsers will likely qualify.

“But we don’t want a random game to just claim ‘Yeah, I’m a browser. You know, I’m willing to throw up a WebKit view now and again in the middle of my game,'” he explained.

“Because that could readily be abused.”

As for macOS, Federighi addressed the new look of the operating system and described it as a renewal of the platform. He said he expected the conflicting feelings about the new design since users have become so used to the current version of macOS and change isn’t always quickly accepted. However, he assured everyone that after spending time with macOS Big Sur, it will feel more natural while still offering a bit of freshness to the overall experience.

He said he’s looking forward to hearing the comments from users after the official release of the update in September, as previously reported by The Inquisitr.

Brownlee went on to mention that there are some users who wanted to use an Apple Watch with an iPad. He asked Federighi whether this would be something the company would consider adding to a future update. Federighi said that while he understood the desire, it’s not something that’s currently on the company’s to-do list. However, he added that it could become a possibility at some point.