A couple of things I’d like to see in IOS 7
I want to see Apple release a simple password wallet and an API for apps to use to pull data from it. Something like 1Password’s baby brother. And with the API, a way for those of us who use more powerful tools (like 1Password) to connect to those via that API instead of the default App. (I would, in fact, like Apple to get in the habit of allowing us to replace their default tools with more powerful versions as a general practice. I’m not holding my breath).
And then I would like to see Apple make “secure your freaking passwords” a focus of the release and their marketing.
Remember ICE? (In Case of Emergency)?. Everyone should do some form of this on your mobile devices. Do you?
But there’s a problem. Everyone should ALSO pin-lock your mobile devices. Do you?
And if you do, how would an emergency responder get access to it? It’s behind a PIN.
So here’s my suggestion…
With IOS, when a device is pin-locked and you activate it, it brings up the Enter Passcode screen. If the device is a phone, that screen has an Emergency Call button to allow you to dial 911. I suggest Apple add another button for ICE. By default it would bring up your ID information out of the address book based on the card you’ve defined as being you.
But Apple could build a basic ICE app that if you fill out with information, and if you configure the system to use it, hitting that button would fire up that app instead. That would allow you the option of making available other information, such as insurance or drug allergies or information on existing conditions (I, for instance, don’t do well with codeine. The last time I took it, I had an extended conversation in which I solved the Middle East situation — with my wall clock; my medical record now suggests I not be given codeine).
If this interface allows the user to define ANY compatible app as the ICE app, this creates a third party opportunity; while it’d be a nice market, there would be some options here for developers to create some interesting solutions.
It would also create an opening for developers to create apps that use this capabilities for non-ICE capabilities. Some might see that as an problem because we’re circumventing the pin-code. I see it as an opportunity, since use of it is purely optional, and Apple actually set a precedent to allow that with both the emergency call button and the “quick camera” capability they added to the lock screen.
I originally suggested this around the building at Palm for webOS before the first phone shipped, and it went nowhere. I found that the younger you were, the less likely you’d see why someone might want it. Curious, that.
There are some privacy issues to putting ICE information out beyond the pin-lock, obviously, because f someone gets ahold of your device they can access it and find out some things about you. On the other hand, in a medical emergency having that info might mean the difference between getting timely treatment — or not. Or the difference between having your family contacted if you run into trouble — or not. And that ICE info might make it easier for a well-intentioned person to return a lost phone that they found. Every person would have to decide which info to make available, and as long as the ICE program itself is a voluntary choice, why shouldn’t it exist?
It seems like a simple thing to make happen. Hopefully you’d never need to have it used. But if you end up in a situation where an emergency responder is trying to figure out who you are, it seems to me you don’t want your PIN standing in the way. I wonder how many IOS users don’t turn on their pinlock because they don’t want their contact info locked up in case of an emergency?
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