Tim Cook at D11: Apple to Open Up APIs in the Future, but No Chat Heads

At this year's annual All Things Digital conference hosted by AllThingsD, Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook, where he revealed that Apple is planning to open up additional APIs in the future, giving third party developers more control over iOS.

According to Cook, while Apple will open up more APIs, it will continue to protect customers from the "risk of bad experiences."

Always a fine line, or maybe not so fine. The customer pays us to make choices on their behalf. But you'll see us open up more.

When Facebook released its Home software for Android phones in April, Facebook director of product Adam Mosseri mentioned that the company was in ongoing talks with Apple about bringing Home (and its Chat Heads functionality) to iOS.

facebookhome.jpg
According to Cook, while Chat Heads were not the ideal choice, Apple will allow third party apps to take over some iOS features in the future, allowing developers to build better and more versatile experiences.


During the question and answer session, Cook also mentioned that Apple had no issue with porting Apple apps to Android or other platforms should the need arise in the future, though such functionality doesn't make sense at the current point in time. Full coverage of Tim Cook's comments can be found here.

Popular Stories

streaming black friday 2025

Black Friday Streaming Deals Include Big Savings on Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV, and More

Monday November 24, 2025 8:03 am PST by
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date. Keep reading...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Have Two Key Upgrades

Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features. Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like a Huge Upgrade

Friday November 21, 2025 9:10 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
General Black Friday Deals 25 Red

Apple Black Friday Deals Available Now on AirPods, iPads, Accessories, and More

Friday November 21, 2025 8:48 am PST by
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
Apple Shopping Event 2025

Apple Announces 2025 Black Friday Event, Here's What You Can Get

Thursday November 20, 2025 6:28 am PST by
Apple's annual four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event is returning on Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1 in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and others. During the shopping event, customers can get an Apple gift card with...
hikawa phone grip stand apple%402x

Apple Launches Second Limited-Edition iPhone Accessory in a Month

Friday November 21, 2025 3:53 am PST by
Apple has begun selling the Hikawa Phone Grip and Stand, a new limited-edition iPhone accessory designed with accessibility in mind. Designed by LA-based Bailey Hikawa to celebrate the 40th anniversary of accessibility at Apple, the grip uses magnets to securely snap onto any iPhone with MagSafe. Apple says it can be removed with ease, and doubles as a stand with two different viewing...
apple news banner

Apple News Loses CNN

Monday November 24, 2025 7:56 am PST by
American multinational news company CNN has abruptly pulled its content from Apple News, Semafor reports. CNN quietly removed its stories from Apple News over the weekend and there is no longer a feed from the network to subscribe to in the app. This effectively ends its distribution agreement with Apple while the two sides negotiate new terms. Discussions are apparently ongoing and CNN's...

Top Rated Comments

ArtOfWarfare Avatar
163 months ago
So then don't use it.

Also, I absolutely do not pay Apple to make choices for me. That is profoundly asinine.
Except you do. That's how they manage to keep the experience of using their products so simple. They go through every UI dialog and say, "Do we really need to give the user this option, or are they going to want to hit this button 99+% of the time?" and if the answer is that the user is generally going to want to hit that button, then they'll remove the dialog and just have that be the default behavior.

The alternative is to have endless popups. IE, what should happen when you download a file? The answer, 99% of the time, is it should go into downloads, TYVM, get out of my way. Other OS's and browsers will present other options when you want to download a file. You as the user may not even understand the implications of certain choices.

If you don't like Apple making the choices for you, you should ditch iOS and get pure Android, and you should ditch OS X and get pure Unix or Linux. Then you can begin to understand the choices that Apple has made on your behalf and the time and frustration they've saved you in doing so. Or maybe you really like all that control, and you don't like Apple making those choices, in which case, good for you, stick with those other platforms where you can make your own choices.

I, for one, think the choices that have been made tend to be pretty good... there's a few exceptions... Mission Control really sucks and I can no longer organize 90% of my windows because I no longer have a grid of spaces to work with... the only organization I have is Spotify is always full screen to the right of my main space, and everything else is piled up in my main space.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TennisandMusic Avatar
163 months ago
I have a HTC One. Chat head sucks. Facebook ruins things.
So then don't use it.

Also, I absolutely do not pay Apple to make choices for me. That is profoundly asinine.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A MacBook lover Avatar
163 months ago
best thing I read all day
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kbt1020 Avatar
163 months ago
I have a HTC One. Chat head sucks. Facebook ruins things.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jk111 Avatar
163 months ago
I would love to see a screenshot of this. Surely there is one somewhere on the web.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jameslmoser Avatar
163 months ago
Who the fk cares about Tim Cook at ATD. He can't top Steve's legacy, why even try? He is trying to be too much like Steve, especially with the comment on wearable watches: "nothing good on the market right now".

WHAT??? I can't see Steve saying half the stuff Tim says... porting Apple apps to Android?? Steve was probably rolling in his grave.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)