Apple launched its latest version of iOS 12 on Monday at the World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC ‘18) like we had predicted in this article. The version comes to replace iOS that was launched last year with the iPhone 8/8+ and the iPhone X. The software received criticism over the bugs that came with it on each update.
The new software iOS 12 comes with more of performance improvements (iOS will make your device perform 40% faster) and bug fixes to fix the complaints. The software will be compatible on all iOS devices that supported iOS 11, making it the most used iOS version covering 80% of Apple’s mobile devices including 2013’s iPhone 5s.
In this article, we look at some of its unique features.
Addiction Control
Siri
Apple’s voice assistant will come with the “Shortcuts” which enable one to create/personalize verbal commands to give Siri. In an illustration that was made at the keynote yesterday, a personalized “heading home” was created with commands added to it such as tune to radio, text your roommate- “I am on my way back”, turn on thermostat among others which a user would all initiate through a single command by giving the voice assistant the created “heading home” command.
Siri will also be giving iOS 12 users suggestions based on their routine schedule; for instance, Siri suggests you turn on “Do Disturb Mode” while in a meeting, reminds you of gym time among other suggestions — which is similar to the new Google’s Voice Assistant’s features; for instance, the call-assistant feature that can call and organize an appointment on one’s behalf.
Screentime App “Do not disturb” features
In order to curb phone addiction, Apple has introduced a Screentime App which will give you a detailed report about your phone’s usage with respect to the time you spend on each app. It will further give a deep insight on how long you use the phone, the breaks you give it, the number of times you pick it up and which apps are sending you the most notifications by day, week or month.
Through this feature, one can set time limits on specific apps to limit their usage. The apps are shutdown once the set time has elapsed.
The feature will also enable parents to monitor their children’s devices through the Family Sharing App tools where parents can set the time limits for their kid’s to control the addiction.
Acording to CNET, two of Apple’s major shareholders published an open letter in January that asked Apple to take a socially responsible approach toward children’s device use. It cited concerns about mental health problems and other issues that come from heavy phone use.
This also follows a report in 2016 report by social agency Influence Central which said that Apple’s devices remain among the most desired by children and teens whose average age to acquire a phone was 10.3 years.
Apple then promised to introduce new features to help parents manage their kids’ use of its devices.
The feature is however similar to the “Dashboard” that was recently introduced on Android P (Google’s latest mobile operating system)
Do Not Disturb (DND) feature is now added to night mode to block messages and notifications at night to create sleep time for users. The notifications are restored the morning with a single phone tap by the user.
Communication upgrades
FaceTime got a group video call feature that will allow up to a maximum of 32 people at once. iMessage got the aniMoji (animation emojis) added to it. There was also a new “Memoji” (me emoji) which enables one to create personalized animation emoji with resemblance of their facial features through use of the camera. A similar feature was launched earlier on this year with the Samsung galaxy s9.
Others features
- Security upgrades that include blocking of comments on pages which can used be used to invade one’s people’s privacy.
- Improved FaceID for iPhone X.
- Support for third-party navigation app like Google Maps in CarPlay.
- Improved photos app with the search photos feature that uses Artificial Intelligence.
- Group notifications.
- Apples News, Stock, Home, Voice Memo apps now available for the iPad
- Augmented Reality (AR) support feature in the general WWDC article.
