Apple adding this feature to iOS 18 in 2024 is so basic it hurts my brain, and it makes me miss Windows Phone

iPhone home screen
(Image credit: iMore | Future)

Apple just held its annual WWDC event, showcasing Apple Intelligence AI, RCS messaging for iOS, and much more. If I'm being entirely honest, the event was rather impressive. But I'm not here to praise Apple! I'm here to poke fun at the fact that Apple just added a feature to iOS that's been around for over a decade on other platforms, including the long-since-dead Windows Phone.

We joke a lot about Apple "inventing" things that have been around on Android for years. It's also a common joke to highlight features that Windows Phone had before iOS (or even Android in some cases). But a specific addition that ships with iOS 18 is so basic that I assumed it had been available on all smartphones for ages. Beginning with iOS 18 you can — drumroll please — move icons where you want.

Yes, that's right folks. Up until iOS 17, you cannot place icons anywhere you want on your home screen. Basically, you can't have empty gaps between apps right now. You can't, for example, place a bunch of apps on the top of your screen, leave a row or two blank, and then have apps right above the dock.

It would be like if each spot on the home screen grid were a hotel room and Apple required you to fill rooms one, two, and three, before you could fill room four. And forget about filling room 10 to leave some space between rooms. For whatever reason, Apple decided to make you place your icons as if you were pouring sand into a container, filling each gap before being able to add another item.

The addition is so simple that I had to have a colleague from iMore send me a video showing how iOS 17 works. I sat, jaw hanging open, witnessing such a strange limitation on a smartphone.

Windows Phone wins again

Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile let you resize icons years before Apple added the feature to iOS.

Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile let you resize icons years before Apple added the feature to iOS.

You can mark this in the small win column for Windows Phone, since moving icons around seems so intuitive and natural that I'm amazed it didn't ship with the first iPhone. But it's yet another example of a feature that Windows Phone had before iOS. Shout out to Android for having the option to move icons for over a decade as well.

Another icon-related feature that ships with iOS 18 was standard on Windows Phone back in the day, the ability to resize an app icon. Dan Rice showed this feature on X (formerly Twitter) and included a friendly jab at Apple. Note that the video isn't about widgets, which are genuinely more useful than Live Tiles. The top of Rice's screen shows two widgets but the icon he resizes in the video is just making a larger icon. It's not an interactive widget or anything fancy.

Many wonder what Windows Phone would look like in 2024. Microsoft's mobile operating system was years ahead on some features, including ones more important and complex than moving icons around. But Windows Phone was killed, leaving ripples that still affect Microsoft to this day. Our Managing Editor and self-proclaimed "CEO of Not Letting Go" Jez Corden recently highlighted how Microsoft's shutdown of Windows Phone affects the tech giant's efforts in AI.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has admitted the killing Windows Phone was a "strategic mistake." Sadly, I don't think that will do much to bring back the mobile operating system and its icons that you could move around and resize so freely.

Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He's covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean's journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_. 

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  • Cmndr_Bytes
    I think at least once or twice a week something I try to do on my iPhone makes me think, "Man I miss my Windows phone."...
    Reply
  • Arun Topez
    The only thing Windows Phone wins is 'doing it first'. But sadly, Apple is still the bigger winner here since they're still here, have leadership that didn't give up on them, and has actual users and an ecosystem full of most apps you can think of.
    Reply
  • naddy69
    "...have leadership that didn't give up on them..."

    That was not the issue with Windows phones. The problem was they were losing billions of dollars every year. For several years. It is the CEO's JOB to kill products like that. If he failed to do that, then he would have been fired and replaced with someone who - on day 1 of his/her new job - killed Windows phones. That's how it works.

    Today, MS is the most valuable company in the world, with no phones! The fact is, killing all of the money-losing products (phones, watches, music streaming and so on) worked out just fine.
    Reply
  • Cmndr_Bytes
    naddy69 said:
    "...have leadership that didn't give up on them..."

    That was not the issue with Windows phones. The problem was they were losing billions of dollars every year. For several years. It is the CEO's JOB to kill products like that. If he failed to do that, then he would have been fired and replaced with someone who - on day 1 of his/her new job - killed Windows phones. That's how it works.

    Today, MS is the most valuable company in the world, with no phones! The fact is, killing all of the money-losing products (phones, watches, music streaming and so on) worked out just fine.
    Except said CEO admitted it was wrong thinking.

    "The decision I think a lot of people talk about and one of the most difficult decisions I made when I became CEO — was our exit of what I'll call the mobile phone as defined then. In retrospect, I think there could have been ways we could have made it work by perhaps reinventing the category of computing between PCs, tablets, and phones."
    Because of that decision a lot of markets are now closed off from MS unless they can come up with something unique to get back into it.

    https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/microsofts-ceo-satya-nadella-admits-that-pulling-the-plug-on-windows-phone-was-a-strategic-mistake
    Reply