All You Need to Know About the New iOS 12 Features

Months after the announcement in WWDC 2018, iOS 12 has finally been launched during the last weeks of September, with more changes coming through iOS 12.1 Beta.

Users who updated the operating systems on their iPads and iPhones were presented by much-needed guide screens that simplified the application of all the new features. If you have missed any feature of this major overhaul, read on to clarify all your doubts.

Memoji

Most exciting of all the updates, Memoji, is also covered in the first guide screen. When iPhone X was launched, the company showed off its AR 3D camera features with newly launched Animoji. Now upgrading the feature to make it more relatable and engaging, Apple has launched this Memoji setting as well, where users can create personal Animojis to bring more fun and personalisation to their interactions.

More AR camera features

Gone are the days when we were required to snap a picture and then edit it to make the picture more meaningful before sharing. iOS 12 has now empowered users to ‘liven up’ their messages as soon as they snap a photo. They can now apply filters and add doodles while recording a video or taking a picture, and without any fuss, share it right away.

Screen Time

Another much-awaited feature, Screen Time too was simplified by the developers. It is no longer a secret that while mobile phones and their latest features are helping us declutter our daily lives, their ‘engaging’ features are making us less productive. In fact, we have covered the whole issue in one of our previous posts, bringing the limelight to the third-party mobile apps that are helping users fight their tendencies of procrastination. Nonetheless, this initiative by Apple shows that the company really cares about its customers, and doesn’t only intend on converting the users’ time on the phone into the company’s revenue.

Measure App

This utility feature can be considered the most innovative application of the ARKit 2.0. While Memojis and Real-time doodling are fun, the ability to measure objects just by taking their photo is revolutionary. Using this app to measure an object in real-time is really simple and only requires a steady hand.

Action Automation

Delivering a sought after requirement, the smarter Siri can now streamline our tasks with the new app called ‘Shortcuts’. As the tagline of the app says it allows users to ‘do more with your apps’. So here’s how it works, you simply ask Siri to complete any of the 300 in-built tasks, or create your own by changing the ‘Siri & Search’ setting and adding some of your personal phrases to accomplish a series of steps to accomplish a task.

Native App Revamps

It’s not just the new apps that make iOS 12 so appreciated by its users, as it is also the rejuvenation of native apps. Apple has revamped many of the legacy apps, including Stocks, Voice Memos, Books, and News to make sure these are in-line with the contemporary requirements of the users. For example, the Book app, formerly iBooks, comes with a completely renewed interface that encourages users to develop healthy reading habits. Similarly, the News app on iPads now has an additional sidebar that allows users to navigate through the different categories with comparative ease. Another major native app update comes with the Photos app that now has some really cool features to simplify your photos search, and in addition to that, the ‘For You’ tab in the app curates your memories in a more appealing manner with suggested effects and highlighted featured photos.

Improved DND

Do Not Disturb has finally got all the contemporary features which were formally keeping the appfrom reaching its potential. It now has a Bedtime mode that will hide notifications for the set duration, so that you don’t get distracted if you happen to wake up in the middle of the night. You can now also set the DND feature on with more flexibility. Meaning you can now set it on for certain duration, until some time, and also at particular locations.

Notification Center

One of the most unpleasant features of iOS has always been the ungrouped notification. The sheer number of the notifications from the app used to fill out the entire screen, making it difficult to explore through to the more important ones. Android had already resolved the issue by grouping the notification on the basis of the app, and now following the success rates of that fix, Apple too has renovated its Notification centre with the similar grouping facility, with which the notifications from the same sender and the app can be grouped together, to be handled with more ease. Another feature named, ‘Instant Tuning’ also makes the notification more user-friendly.

Other than these tangible changes, another major update that comes with iOS 12 is the sheer boost in its performance. Having experienced backlashes on the battery retention issue that made iPhones slow, Apple has evidently made diligent efforts to ensure smooth and quick functioning of the device.

Clearly, while Apple has been quite eloquent about iOS 12 during the WWDC announcements, it didn’t display all of its features right there. This may have been that most of these features were under testing, but all these unannounced features have added another reason to purchase the latest update in iOS for which users are now more enthused about.

Resources:

https://www.cultofmac.com/553495/new-ios-12-features-hands-on/