Apartment thermostat is stupid-makes me pick if I want heating or AC

I hate my apartment HVAC system. Either the HVAC is stupid or the way the HVAC company set it up was dumb. I feel like with most HVAC equipment the device can decide on heating or cooling. You set a temperature to 72 degrees and the HVAC decides heating or air in order to achieve it. Well my HVAC technology can’t do this. I need to set the thermostat on air conditioning or heating. If I have it on AC and the weather drops, I just have no HVAC running or worse, cooling going on. If the heater is on and we get a hot day, no cooling will magically turn on to make my home comfortable. The device can only do one or the other. I need to manually move a toggle to the heater or air conditioner setting. Also, the heater has a thermostat temperature and the AC has a thermostat temperature. I like 72 degrees no matter the weather. Why do I need to specify I want it cooled that way and heated that way? I would really like to improve this situation. I am wondering if maybe it is a simple fix like a new thermostat. Perhaps if I get a smart thermostat it will be able to decide heating and air all on its own. I would then only need to set one temperature and be good to go. It would be real helpful since I always forget if I have the HVAC set to heating or cooling. I would never have an apartment at the wrong temperature.