If there is something that defines the Apple experience from the first day, it is its applications. Even before the arrival of the iPhone App Store (because yes, the first iPhone had no app store), Preinstalled applications were already the heart and the soul. Since this 2007 distant, when Steve Jobs presented the first iPhone with applications such as the phone, mail, safari, we have witnessed a constant evolution and, in many cases, radical.
It's wonderful Look back and remember what experience has been iOS in its beginnings. The Photos Application was little more than a basic viewfinder, without intelligent edition or organization. Music (then iPod) lacked streaming and focused exclusively on the reproduction of songs that you had manronized manually. The messages were used only for SMS, Without images, stickers or dozens of current functions. And precisely because of this, because of this evolution of applications over the years, there is something that attracts attention. Among all these applications carefully designed and updated, There is one that seems to have been frozen in time: The contact application.
An application that does not correspond to 2025: contacts
With each new version of iOS, Apple has completely renewed its main applications. The musical application went from the unique iPod to a full streaming platform with integrated Apple Music. The photos have evolved towards what is today, with integrated artificial intelligence. New applications have even arrived as a playground for creating images with AI or invitations to manage events.
But if we open the application of contacts on an iPhone 2025, it's like making a trip to the past. The current interface andS practically identical to that presented with the original iPhone in 2007. A simple literacy list, without pre-visited photos on the main list, basic fields to fill the information and navigation that could work perfectly on any phone in the early 2000s.
Steve Jobs showing application contacts in the presentation of the original iPhone
And, if you put this application next to the 2007 version, the differences would be minimal. While applications such as messages or facetime have received important updates almost every year, Contacts remained practically immutable via 18 versions iOS.
The most surprising thing is that we are not talking about a secondary or rarely used application. And although many of us enter this application directly from the phone with our tabContacts are at the heart of many things we do with our iPhone. But when did you go back the last time you entered the Contacts application? Honestly, I don't remember.
Messenger, Skype and even Myspace still live in the Contacts application
If you venture to modify a contact and press the button to add a “social networks” or “account” profile, you will find An authentic time capsule. The list of available services seems directly taken from a 2010 tutorial:
- Messenger (closed in 2023)
- Myspace (Myspace)
- Twitter (which is now x)
- Google Talk (end and 2015)
- Yahoo Messenger (closed in 2018)
- Skype (with the days counted)
They are not the only ones, we also have Gadu-Gadu and ICQ. Two icons of which only veterans will remember. This list is a symptom of something deeper. It is not that the application is more or less functional or that its conception has aged badly. Is literally Nobody in Cupertino has even feared doing basic cleaning obsolete messengers and social networks. Maybe not to eliminate the field if someone noted it? This is the only reason that comes to mind. Not to mention the addition of today's platforms such as Instagram, Discord, Telegram, Reddit, Tiktok …
Small steps: the case of posters and iOS 17
To be fair, we cannot say that Apple completely ignored the application of contacts all these years. With iOS 17, there was a small step forward with the Presentation of personalization postersallowing us to create visual contact cards that appear in good place during calls. This function adds a layer of personalization and freshness, which allows us to have a more brilliant image when someone calls us or sends communications.
And why is it always like that? The most likely answer has to do with priorities and resource allocation. Apple, like any business, must decide where it invests its talent for time and development. And although it has huge resources, it is not infinite. AND It is understandable that certain basic applications receive less attention.
The poster that arrived with iOS 17 was the last large incorporation in the application contacts
It is also possible that Apple considers that the current application, although basic, correctly fulfills its main function. After all, storage names, numbers and addresses correctly. Perhaps from their point of view, the resources necessary for a complete renewal would be better used in other areas with a more important visible impact.
The horizon with iOS 19 … and an opportunity for contact?
With the arrival of iOS 19 and the mysterious “Solarium” project, we are faced with what could be The biggest visual renewal of iOS From this revolutionary iOS 7 of 2013. According to leaks and rumors, Apple prepares a radical transformation of the operating system, with a more translucent interface, floating elements, bubble -shaped buttons and completely renewed navigation.
This general overhaul offers ideal contact applications to also receive its necessary update. If Apple fundamentally rethinks the way we interact with our devices, would it not be logical as an application as basic as Contacts are part of this renewal?
I imagine a modern contact application which adopts the visual philosophy of iOS 19 and acts as a real Link of our personal connections. I could have a visual carousel of frequent contacts, with avatars that facilitate the Gesture navigation. The favorite section could be redesigned as a grid suitable for current touch screens, and not as the narrow list inherited from the pre-activile era.
But beyond the visual aspect, a renewal that goes beyond aesthetics. The application could serve as centralized portal of our interactions with each person::
- Showing photos with this person through facial recognition of the application photos
- Calendar events linked to this contact
- Lists of shared reminders, shared links …
- Even if a person is “online” or with a certain form of concentration
It would be wonderful to be able to enter the profile of a friend or family in contact and see our recent photos together, waiting plans and, of course, to choose what you want to call or write. Even something more, with sBirthday users, already written messages Thanks to Apple Intelligence. The possibilities are practically endless, and it is preferable that many of these ideas do not require inventing new technologies, but simply apply concepts that Apple already uses in other applications in the specific context of contacts.
In technology, some things progress at high speed that almost escape us, while others remain practically unchanged. Perhaps there is a certain wisdom: Not everything needed to constantly reinvent yourself. WWDC 2025 is fast approaching. While we are preparing for the great revolution of iOS 19, I keep the hope that Apple does not forget these essential small applications.
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