Everything You Need To Know About iOS 12

| Technology

Everything You Need To Know About iOS 12

 

Apple’s latest operating system iOS 12 was released alongside the new iPhone XS and although the two new iPhones are having some technical issues that shouldn’t discourage you from downloading the new iOS 12.

The new iOS focuses primarily on improving the user experience and underlying software but it’s not just a boring old update like many were suspecting.

Here’s everything you need to know about Apple’s iOS 12:

1) No New Obsolete iPhones

For those of you who have older iPhones, these iOS updates can be very annoying as they usually aren’t compatible with older versions of the iPhone, effectively making your smartphone obsolete. However, the new iOS will be available on any device that runs iOS 11, which means any iPhone that is iPhone 5S or newer.

2) Release Date

iOS 12 is now available to all iPhone users.

3) A Lot Faster

Apple has said that iPhone users will see considerable speed improvements, even in the iPhone 5S.

The speed boost will mean that apps will start up to twice as fast, the camera will load 70% faster, as will the home screen after it is unlocked. The keyboard should also launch in half the time.

Apple has improved the performance of iOS 12 all round, so you should be able to notice improvements in speed with everything you do on your iPhone.

4) Notifications

Notifications are also stepping up their game, and will now be able to be grouped together rather than having to deal with individual app notifications, saving you time and effort.

5) Curbing Addiction

Apple is trying to help people overcome their addiction to smartphones by releasing a new tool that called ‘Screen Time’ which will allow you to see your daily usage as well as generate weekly activity reports, showing you app usage, how many notifications you have received and how often you pick up and use your device. You can also set ‘App Limits’, which are timers for app usage.

6) Parental Controls

Parents can now also monitor and limit app usage on their children’s iPhones and will receive Activity Reports on their own devices, as well as being able to control and manage App Limits from them.

A new feature called ‘Downtime’, allows parents to set up schedules for when their kids can receive notifications and enables them to block certain apps from being used altogether.

7) More Animated Emoji

We can expect to see a whole new line up of animated emoji on the iPhone X, including a T-rex, ghost and koala. You can now also generate custom emoji which you can design to look like yourself via Memoji.

8) Privacy and Security Improvements

In light of GDPR, Apple is improving the privacy and security of user data on the iPhone. They are doing this in several ways including stopping social widgets and advertisers from tracking you without permission.

Apple is also introducing a new USB time out feature that is designed to help protect user data against thieves. It will limit what can be done via the Lightning port after an hour of inactivity on the phone to prevent iPhones from being unlocked by connecting them to a computer.

9) Photos

The Photo app is getting a big update, which will now suggest sharing pics with people who are also in them so that group photos are easy to share between iPhone users.

The search functionality has also improved with suggestions to help you find certain photos.

10) Siri Is Getting Smarter

Siri still hasn’t quite caught up with the likes of Google Assistant or Alexa but a few improvements have been made to Siri in iOS 12.

Siri is generally smarter and now allows you to create custom commands called Siri Shortcuts, which allows users to say certain phrases to perform functions quickly.

 

Luke Stanley