10 Features in iOS 12 That Will Make You Want to Update Now

The estimated reading time for this post is 6 minutes

Last week, Apple announced that its latest update for iPhone and iPad, iOS12 will be available today, September 17, 2018. This update was first revealed by Apple in June, and is filled with fun and useful features that will make even older devices seem new.

But even with these useful features in iOS 12, you should probably wait a bit to update your devices.

Features in iOS 12

The Need for Speed

This update is particularly powerful in that it speeds up older devices, making them run faster with less lag time. According to Apple, apps launch 40% faster with iOS 12, and swiping up to use the camera is 70% faster than with previous versions of iOS. The keyboard is 50% faster and typing is smoother.

Animojis

Animojis, the animated emojis that were introduced with iOS 11 last year are becoming even more animated. Facial expressions such as winking and sticking out your tongue are now included in Animojis. Apple is also adding T.rex, ghost, koala bear and tiger to Animojis.

You’ll be able to record longer Animoji videos in Messages, up to 30 seconds.

Memojis

Emojis that look like you are all the rage and Apple is joining in on the fun with Memojis in iOS 12. Memojis are Animojis you can design to look like you.

Create your Memoji to use in iMessage, FaceTime video calls and more.

Group FaceTime Calls

With FaceTime you can make video and audio calls to others, but with iOS 12, you’ll be able to do group FaceTime video calls with up to 32 people at once. After you update to iOS 12 you’ll be able to join in with as many as 31 other people on your FaceTime video calls, provided they have all updated to iOS 12.

More Fun FaceTime Calls

With so much party potential for FaceTime video calls, Apple is making them more fun by letting you do more with them. Use your Memoji to talk to others in FaceTime video calls (handy for when you’re not looking your best…).

Other apps can be used in FaceTime video calls, just like in the Message app. And you can start FaceTime video chats from the Messages app.

Smarter Notifications

Notifications are smarter with iOS 12. Instead showing a long string of notifications from an app, iOS 12 groups notifications together, showing the most recent on top. You’ll also see when other notifications are underneath so you can expand the group to view all of them.

iOS 12 also gives you more options with the notification so you can deal with them more easily.

Siri makes suggestions from notifications, such as a reminder to call back missed calls.

Screen Time

Screen Time is Apple’s way of helping us deal with screen addiction. Often we don’t realize how much time we’re wasting spending on our phones.

With iOS 12 we can use Screen Time to remind us how much time we’ve spent on our iDevices and what we’ve been doing on them. Screen Time shows us a weekly report to help us learn more about what we’ve been spending our time on and even how many times we’ve picked up our phones each day.

Parents can set limits on children’s phones on the amount of time spent on the phone and see which apps they’ve been using. They can also restrict children from using certain apps. Parents  can make exceptions for educational apps that can always be allowed.

If you discover that an app is particularly addictive, you can set time limits for both your phone and your children’s phones. You can make these restrictions apply across all phones on your account and set up a passcode so the settings can’t be changed by others.

Do Not Disturb Improvements

Your phone can be a distraction even when you’re supposed to be sleeping. If you wake in the middle of the night you may be tempted to check your notifications, but then have more trouble getting back to sleep after reading them.

With iOS 12 you can set up Do Not Disturb During Bedtime to turn off notifications when Do Not Disturb is turned on.

Your phone will show a notification when Do Not Disturb is turned off so you no longer have to wonder why your phone isn’t ringing any more…

=> See, Why Your iPhone Doesn’t Ring (Sometimes) and How to Fix It

Measure App

Apple is adding new augmented reality app called Measure that lets you measure areas and find dimensions of rectangular objects. Using your camera in the Measure app you’ll be able to measure objects, surfaces and distances.

Note that the Level feature has been moved from the Compass app to the Measure app in iOS 12.

Check out => How to Find Handy, Helpful and Hidden Tools in iPhone’s Compass App

Siri Shortcuts

Siri becomes smarter in iOS 12 and is able to perform multiple tasks with one request. The Siri Shortcuts app lets you program multiple actions from a single command. For example, you could use a Siri Shortcut to turn off the lights, activate Do Not Disturb During Bedtime, and set a morning alarm by saying, “Good night, Siri.”

Why You Should Wait to Update to iOS 12

With all of these fun and useful new features in iOS 12, you may be eager to update as soon as possible. But here are some reasons why you may want to wait just a bit…

Storage Space

Until Apple releases iOS 12, we don’t know how much space it will take up on your phone. If your phone’s storage is full, or close to it, you may not be able to update.

To find out how much space you have available on your phone, go to:

Settings => General => About => Available.

Compatibility

If you have a favorite or essential app, be sure it has been updated to be compatible with iOS 12 . Even if the app has been updated, read reviews to be sure that users aren’t experiencing problems using the app on iOS 12.

Unlike last year when many apps were incompatible with iOS 11, this year should mean fewer problems with app compatibility. Even so, by waiting a little while to update to iOS 12 you’ll be giving developers a chance to fix any issues that may arise with their apps.

Learn more at => Why Your Favorite iPhone Apps May Not Work in iOS 11

Bugs

iOS updates often go smoothly but sometimes they don’t. You want to avoid being a pioneer, let others discover the bugs and give Apple a chance to fix them before you update.

Within a few days we should have a good idea how well iOS 12 is doing. Until then, wait and see what is happening with others who go ahead and update.

If You Can’t Wait to Update

If you’re so excited about the new features that you simply can’t wait to update to iOS 12, I completely understand. You can be one of the many pioneers who are brave enough to test the update and help discover the bugs!

Before you update to iOS 12, be sure to back up your iPhone or iPad, update your apps, close all your open apps, then power off and power back on your device.

Also be sure your iDevice is connected to a power source and leave plenty of time for the update. We don’t yet know whether the update will take hours or minutes to complete.

Then enjoy the new features of iOS 12!

Your Thoughts

Which of the new features of iOS 12 are the most exciting to you? Will you be updating to iOS 12 right away or will you wait? If you’ve updated already, how did it go?

Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!