Apple makes some incredible hardware. The iPhone is a powerful computer with a great screen, cameras, and chips, all packed into something that fits in your pocket. That is part of what makes this frustrating. There is so much I would love to do with it if Apple gave us more room to change how it works.
I keep looking at what Omarchy is doing for Linux desktops. It embraces the idea that you can use an agent to change your computer, build little tools, and shape the system around what you want. You start with a working environment and then make it your own.
I want that on my iPhone.
Imagine how cool jailbreaking an iPhone could be now, with an agent helping you build your own tweaks.
Let me describe a different way to organise my home screen. Let me build a small control that brings together things from several apps. Let me change an interaction that annoys me, even if I am the only person who wants it that way.
Some of those ideas would probably be bad. I would try them, realise the default was better, and change them back. But being able to experiment is part of what makes computers fun.
Apple already has useful pieces through App Intents and Shortcuts. I want it to take that idea further and give developers and users more access to the behaviour of iOS itself. Desktop users can choose an alternative like Linux. I would love some of that freedom on the hardware Apple already makes so well.
And I think the pace of AI makes this more urgent.
Look at how quickly AI companies are improving their models and tools. A year is a long time in that world. Apple ships updates between major releases, of course, but an annual release cycle feels too slow if meaningful new capabilities have to wait for the next big OS announcement.
Apple cannot predict every useful thing people will want to build. Giving people more ways to extend iOS would let them use new capabilities as they arrive, without waiting for Apple to turn each idea into an official feature.
Otherwise, Apple risks falling behind while making hardware that could do so much more. It would be strange to have an agent capable of building the thing you want, running on a phone powerful enough to support it, and still be unable to use it because the OS does not allow it.
I understand that reliability and privacy matter. I do not want experimenting with my home screen to break my banking app. Apple would need to put real thought into permissions and recovery. I think that is a problem worth working on.
This is partly a plea because the hardware is already so good. I want to see what people would make if they could shape more of the software running on it.
Apple, please give us a little more room to try.