VIP lets you create a separate group and notification priority for the contacts that matter the most to you. But only in Mail. That's not enough.
Mail's VIP — short for Very Important Person — feature is great. It lets you "star" the people most important to you, then enable sound, vibration, and Lock screen notifications just and only for them. It's a terrific way to make sure you're alerted when you get email that matters, and avoid being interrupted when it doesn't. It's so good it shouldn't be limited to the Mail app — it should be system-level and available to Messages — even Twitter and Instagram. Maybe iOS 10.1, iOS 10.2, or iOS 10.3 will help us out. If not, Apple is ramping up iOS 11 and I hope universal VIP ramps up with it!
VIP, yeah you get through to me
The line between notification and interruption is fuzzy. To paraphrase a line from The Incredibles, when everything is special, nothing is. When everything gets your attention, you lose the ability to focus.
Right now, my iPhone and iPad only beep or buzz when a VIP Mail comes in. That way, I can be reasonably certain that if they do beep or buzz, it's because something really does need my attention, and in short order. Messages, in contrast, has no VIP setting, making notifications all or nothing. And since my friends, family, and colleagues use iMessage and SMS to contact me when things are urgent or they need to make sure I see something, I can't turn those notifications off — it has to default to all. And that includes the carrier offers, fake cruise contests, and all the other spam that comes in from time to time.
Apple just introduced CallKit for iOS 10, so VoIP apps could better integrate with the Lock and phone screens. Having a VIPKit would be great so apps could fully integrate with the contact settings as well. That way, Twitter, Messenger, Snapchat, and the like could be first-class VIP apps as well.
VIP could also fold in Phone Favorites, which is currently a separate list that, unlike VIP, doesn't sync with iCloud. Conversely, VIP could be made capable of punching through Do Not Disturb, the way Favorites does. That way, if you choose to enable it, you won't miss critical calls or critical messages.
Watch it scale
All of this is even more important on Apple Watch, of course, where the lack of granularity in notifications beyond Mail VIP makes some apps unmanageable.
Overall, VIP moving from a Mail feature to a system-level based in Contacts, available in all apps feels like not only a more functional solution, but a more consistent one. And that's why I'd love to see it in iOS 11.
What's on your wish list?
What would you love to see Apple do with notifications in iOS 11? Let me know!
I've filed this as a feature request with Apple's bug reporter: rdar://19198048. Let me know what you think about it in the comments below!
Reader comments
iOS 11 wish list: VIP for all messages, not just mail
Agreed. I would also like to see the ability to allow VIPs to "override" do not disturb mode. I know you can do this with phone calls, but it would be nice if you could do it with more than that.
Yes, I would love this as well. I have DND mode set to come on at 11pm but still want to be able to receive texts from my girlfriend and family in case of an emergency.
I still hate the fact that the icons still snap to grid. For example, just have my favs at the bottom (above the Dock). And my wallpaper could have a image that only on the top half.
Trash all emails option !!!!!!!
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Does setting a contact to "Emergency Bypass: On" via their contact card allow their calls and messages to break through the DND, or does that still only permit phone calls to break DND?
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I don't know if it would require updated hardware or just software but I'd love to see Apple Pencil support on the iPhone. I'm a college student and I try to be paperless but typing calculus equations is a pain would love to be able to write them.
This is a very good idea. I use Apple Mail primarily due to VIP and notifications. Adding VIP to messages would be very helpful. Adding as an option for all apps, with choice to use it of course, would be brilliant.
The "Emergency Bypass" per contact feature sort of works this way. It's designed to let those contacts bypass do not disturb mode, but it seems to work in other ways as well.
For example, iMessages on the Apple Watch still "ding" from "emergency bypass" contacts even when I've set it to silent mode, but not for normal contacts.