Yesterday was Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, the annual event where Apple hosts developers to show off what's in the pipeline for the company’s software offerings.
This WWDC saw Apple spotlighting FOUR operating systems: iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and macOS.
Of course the biggest part of the show was dedicated to iOS, which this year hits its twelfth version. With that in mind we’ve compiled a list of the top features of iOS 12.
iOS 12: Performance Improvements
While not the flashiest update, iOS 12 is going to bring huge performance improvements to older devices. And I for one welcome this, even though I use an iPhone X. That’s because I’m sick of the conspiracy theories that purport that Apple deliberate slows old devices.
iOS 12 will see older devices get speed boosts of up to 70% on certain tasks and launch apps 2x faster. And iOS 12 will run on all the devices iOS 11 currently supports.
iOS 12: Group FaceTime Calls
iOS 12 is gaining support for group FaceTime calls. You can now group FaceTime video chat with up to a staggering 32 people at one time. And Apple has created a gorgeous interface for handling that many people.
Group FaceTime feeds of each person float in their own window in the main Group FaceTime feed. The video feed of the person who is talking will float to the forefront so you can clearly see the speaker.
iOS 12: Memoji
Memojis are custom avatars users can create of themselves. While Apple isn’t the first company to come up with custom avatars, it's certainly done them the best. That’s because Apple’s Memojis are HIGHLy customizable. Everything from skin color to haircut to the shapes of noses and ears can be customized–even freckles!
And as with Animojis, you can use Memojis in FaceTime calls.
iOS 12: Screen Time
Screen Time is a new digital health feature that allows users to see how much time they are not only spending on their iPhones, but in individual apps themselves. The feature offers you a powerful dashboard that breaks down app usage by not only time, but the time of day you spend on the apps.
You can even set time limits for apps–perfect to break your Facebook addiction. Also, Screen Time will let parents monitor their children’s app usage right from their own phone.
iOS 12: Grouped Notifications
Another welcome feature is grouped notifications. This is one borrowed from Android–and rightly so. Grouped Notifications will now group all of the notifications you received by app or subject (if, for example, it’s multiple notifications from the same Messages group thread.
The feature is highly welcomed as it will really help declutter your Notification Center.
iOS 12: Siri Shortcuts
Siri Shortcuts take Siri to the next level–and perhaps for the first time ever, make Siri useful. Users can now record their own Siri commands that, when spoken, will have Siri perform a pre-recorded workflow to automate any number of tasks.
For example, a user could say “Siri, I’m driving home” and Siri would then know to pull up directions in Maps, turn on their favorite podcast app and stream it to their car radio, and use HomeKit to set the temp of their house to the desired level.
iOS 12: Enhanced Web Privacy
With iOS 12, Apple is again doubling down on privacy. This time the company is building in blockers to Safari that stopes websites and advertisers from tracking you around the web through Share buttons and comment fields.
iOS 12 will also prevent advertisers from identifying you with the common tactic of reading your device’s unique characteristics, like the type of fonts installed, to identify you.
iOS 12: Voice Memos On iPad
Finally, Voice Memos is coming to iPad! The uber-popular iPhone app is beloved by students and journalist around the world for being an easy way to record audio notes. Now that it is coming to iPad (and the Mac!) users will be able to record voice memos on all their devices and have then since between them using iCloud.
