I Think It’s Time for Apple to Become More Personal.

In the days and weeks that have passed since this year’s WWDC, I’ve been thinking about the direction that Apple has started to take Siri. Generally, I think that their ‘intents’ strategy strikes a good balance between third party apps being able to better integrate with the system, while allowing Apple to maintain their standards for fit and finish. But I would like to see it go further than that.This isn’t specifically about Siri. This is about people using computers, and the part they play in our relationships.

I’m honestly kind of surprised they haven’t focused on this more. After all, Apple is synonymous with making the experience of using computers an intimate one. The iMac was the first personal computer many people wanted in their homes, the iPhone the first they wanted in their pockets. But it feels like there’s been a bit of a breakdown in the relationship.

I’m not calling for a complete overhaul of everything Apple does. Honestly, I think they’re doing really well in most areas. But I think there’s one concept they could add to their operating systems that will completely change the game. And yes, I’ve totally stolen it from Facebook.

If I change my relationship status on Facebook to being in a relationship with somebody, Facebook treats those interactions differently. I don’t know the ins and outs of their algorithm (I suspect not one person even within Facebook fully understands it), but one single page on Facebook shows that they do conceptually understand what a relationship can look like. When you change your status to ‘single’, after being ‘in a relationship’, Facebook gives you the opportunity to opt to see less from that person for a while and to hide your content from them also for a while. You don’t remove them entirely as a friend, and it doesn’t delete any of the content you both may have created or commented on together, it just hides it for a while. Facebook, in just this one example, shows that they understand the subtleties of relationships. It’s the first real sign, that I’ve seen as a user for many years, that there are humans on the other end of the company, building a service that is aimed at people, not information.

Contrast this with Apple. I went through a breakup around the time of WWDC and have spent hours each day since trying to replicate on my Mac and iPhone what Facebook did for me in one click. I just needed some space. My Mac has no idea of the emotional impact that the thousands of files strewn across my hard drive about that person have on me.

I know that it’s probably easier for Facebook to know enough about me to make this feature possible because they don’t seem to really care about my privacy. I think that at its core, Apple is made up of people who just really care about people. But I wish that I could have just told Siri that I’m no longer in a relationship, and have those memories hidden for a while. Let me easily hide the photos that Photos.app knows are her, the messages that are from her phone number or email address, and maybe even to stop showing her face in my list of suggested contacts.

I’m imagining a file system organised by relationships, instead of files. A row of faces or names that lead to a hub for shared files from projects we’ve worked on together, recent iMessages, notifications, emails, or photos of them from my Photos library. Settings for relationships can be controlled independently, so I can choose to hide all mention of that person from my computer for a while, or see their recent activity float to the top. Imagine taking leave from work for a week, and being able to hide all notifications, work related files, emails and events from colleagues with one click.

I’m not saying this is perfect, or that it will cover every possible situation. All I can really go off is what I’ve experienced myself, and the frustrations I felt every time I used my Mac afterward. I just want to see technology better understand it’s users and to better cater to them. We aren’t binary, we often don’t fit neatly into the systems that technology companies create for us. We also aren’t wrong in our diversity, or in our ability to grow and evolve. I think it’s just time for some better systems.