As part of its Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple unveiled iOS 12 - the next version of its iPhone and iPad operating system. Key new features include group FaceTime calls, personalised Animojis, digital wellbeing controls, and extensive third party Siri integrations.
While each new version of iOS typically sees Apple axe support for at least one iPhone or iPad, any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 11 will be able to upgrade to iOS 12. This means iPhones as old as the iPhone 5s will see Apple's latest mobile operating system.
All iPad Pro and iPad Air models will get the update when it comes to Apple's tablets. The standard "iPad" will be upgraded to iOS 12, as will the iPad mini 2 and up. Only the sixth generation iPod touch will be upgraded to iOS 12.
History suggests iOS 12 will roll out in September (with a public beta available later this month), but in the meantime, here's a closer look at what's new.
Performance improvements for old iPhones
Apple says performance improvements are at the heart of iOS 12, especially when it comes to older devices. The company says that apps will launch 40% faster, the keyboard will come up 50% faster, and the camera will be 70% faster on older iOS devices thanks to iOS 12. It's always nice to have a software update that speeds up your old phone, rather than slow it down. You'll hopefully also see faster performance when your iPhone is under heavy load.
Measure
Measure is a new app that, well, lets you use your iPhone or iPad to measure real world objects using their onboard augmented reality capabilities. Put an object in the camera frame, tap and drag out a line, and you'll get an approximate measurement. Guess you can add the tape measure to the list of things the smartphone has killed.
Group FaceTime
FaceTime will now allow up to 32 simultaneous participants to take part in a group call. FaceTime will be built into Messages, so you'll be able to jump straight into a group call from a group chat. If you've got a group call going in your chat, Apple says you can drop in and drop out at any time.
When in a group FaceTime, each participant is represented as a floating tile. These will automatically grow larger and become more prominent when someone speaks. You can however also pick and choose manually.
If you're not a fan of showing your face, you'll be happy to know that you can obscure it use a plethora or filters, or an Animoji if you're on an iPhone X.
Memoji
In addition to a couple of new Animojis - which include a ghost, koala, tiger, and t-rex, iOS 12 will let you create your own personalised Animoji, dubbed a Memoji. While Samsung did it first, these look way less an uncanny valley than AR Emojis.
Importantly, all Animojis will now be able to detect your tongue. Game changer.
Siri gets smarter (again)
iOS 12 will make Siri a hell of a lot smarter thanks to a new feature called Shortcuts. Shortcuts will let any app expose quick actions that you'll be able to switch on using an "add to Siri" button.
For example, if you use the Tile app, you'll be able to say "Hey Siri, I lost my keys", which will get your fob to buzz.
As you use your phone more, your iPhone will also create suggested Shortcut. For example, if you make the same coffee order every day around the same time, you'll get a suggestion on your lockscreen asking if you'd like to order it.
You'll also see contextual suggestions in your device's search pane. For example, you phone might recommend you call mum if it's her birthday, or text a meeting organiser if you're running late.
A separate app called Editor will let you create your own multi-step shortcuts that can be triggered by Siri on your iPhone, iPad, HomePod, and Apple Watch.
For example, "Hey Siri, I'm heading home" could be used to start navigating home from your current location, turn on your light bulbs at home, start your favourite driving playlist, and text your house mate you're on your way.
Notification grouping
iOS 12 is finally getting grouped notifications. Rather than filling up your lock screen with individual notifications, iOS 12 will bundle them into stacks so you'll be able to interact with or dismiss multiple notifications at the same time. Apple says these can be grouped by the app they're from, but also by theme.
Digital wellbeing
Many of us probably use our phones a little too much, and in light of this, iOS 12 will feature a comprehensive set of "built into features to limit distraction, focus, and understand how you're spending your time".
These include:
- Do Not Disturb During Bed Time: This hides your notifications at night, and replaces your lock screen with a simple black and white user interface. When you wake up, your iPhone won't show you everything you missed overnight until you prompt the device to to do so.
- More granular Do Not Disturb settings: You'll be able to switch on Do Not Disturb for a whole new range of time frames. For example, one hour, until you leave a location, or until a meeting is over.
- Siri will recommend turning off notifications for apps you're not using: Thanks Siri.
- Instant tuning for notifications: You'll be able to turn off notifications for an app right from the home screen. Alternatively, you can tell an app to only send alerts to your notification center, rather than to your lock screen.
Apple is also introducing a Screen Time feature, similar to what Google announced for Android P. This will include:
- A weekly report of how you used your iPhone.
- A breakdown of how you spend time between social networking, entertainment, and productivity.
- A summary of the time you spend in apps.
- A list of what apps are sending the most notifications.
- A summary of what app you use first when you unlock your phone.
Screen Time will also let you set a limit of how long you can use each app per day. For example, you could limit yourself to one hour of Instagram. As you approach one hour, your device will fire up a notification telling you have "5 minutes left for Instagram today". Once you've reached your limit, you'll be locked out of the app for the rest of the day. You can however bypass this with the "ignore limit" button. These limits can be synced across your iPhone and iPad.
If you've got Family Sharing up, you're also able to use Screen Time to manage the time your children spend using their iDevices. You'll be able to see their reports, and set allowances for individual apps as well as app categories.
CarPlay
CarPlay will finally support third party navigation apps, so you'll finally be able to use Google Maps rather than Apple Maps when driving.
Apple Books
iBooks is getting renamed Apple Books, and has a new user interface, similar to last year's App Store refresh.
Smart sharing in Photos
The iOS 12 Photos app will provide suggestions on which photos from a set you might want to share, and friends you may want to share them with based on who it recogonises in the photos. When your friends receive these photos, iOS 12 will fire up a prompt to share any photos they took at the same get together with you.
Alex Choros
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