iOS 11 concept imagines new productivity features, Finder app, and more for iPad users [Video]

Chance Miller | May 19 2017 - 8:53 am PT

We’ve seen a few concepts imagining what iOS 11 could look like, but today the folks at MacStories have put together a video highlighting new features that could come to the iPad as part of the update. The incredibly well thought out concept imagines features such as system-wide drag and drop, a new Shelf feature, and much more…

This concept, designed by Sam Beckett, focuses primarily on the productivity features that could be brought to the iPad with iOS 11. After all, many have said that the iPad lacks the features and capabilities to make it a true PC replacement like Apple markets it to be.

Headlining the concept is support for system-wide drag and drop. While iOS currently supports this capability in random places, making drag and drop available throughout the operating system would allow users to easily move content such as images, text, and files between applications and documents.

Building on drag and drop is a new “Shelf” feature and interface. This would appear when users drag content towards the top of the display and offer a place for users to save content for later. For instance, you could save a song, image, or app in the Shelf and quickly access it later from another application.

There’s also a redesigned Split View app picker. The current interface for this functionality simply lets users scroll vertically through a long list of applications to find what they’re looking for. It’s one of my biggest issues with iOS on the iPad, and a redesign is long overdue.

The picker imagined in this concept presents users with a grid of applications, similar to what they’d see on their home screen, as well as integrated Spotlight for easily searching for apps. Recently used apps would also be displayed along the bottom in a card interface. The interface imagined here is much better than what Apple actually shipped and here’s hoping the company takes a look at this concept.

MacStories also imagines the possibility of Apple bringing a Finder app to the iPad. While the company originally argued that the iPad didn’t need a filesystem, it has since had a scattered change of opinion, bringing things like iCloud Drive to iOS. Finder on iPad would allow users to have a cohesive interface for tracking down documents between applications, creating folders, and managing what they store in the cloud.

Finally, the concept depicts various other design tweaks, better extension support in Safari, improvements to Notes and Control Center, and much more.

Apple is expected to introduce iOS 11 next month at WWDC 2017, alongside the rumored 10.5-inch iPad Pro. Seems like the perfect opportunity to reveal a dramatic iOS overhaul for iPad, to me. Check out the concept video below and a wide range of images over on MacStories.