iOS 12, watchOS 5, tvOS 12, HomePod OS 12 released

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Feeling left behind because you don’t have the latest iPhone or iPad? Don’t, because Apple has a present for you in the form of iOS 12, released today. The new operating system promises to increase performance, particularly for older devices as far back as the iPhone 5s and iPad Air.

Compatibility

With the exception of the original Apple Watch, this year’s upgrades will run on every device that last year’s iOS 11 ran on. Specifically:

  • iPhone 5s or later
  • iPad Mini 2 or later
  • iPad Air or later
  • iPod Touch 6th Gen
  • Apple Watch Series 1 or later
  • Apple TV 4 or later

How to upgrade

Before installing the upgrade please be sure that your iPhone, iPad, or iPod are backed up.

To upgrade:

  • iOS: Go to the Settings > General > Software Update.
  • Apple Watch: After your iPhone is upgraded go on your iPhone to the Watch app > General > Software Update.
  • tvOS: Navigate to Settings > System > Software Update.
  • HomePod: Your HomePod will update on its own, but you can push it along if you want.

New Features

iOS 12 offers more than just a speed boost. Apart from adding fun stuff like new animoji, text effects, and camera effects in Messages and FaceTime, iOS 12 helps you use your device less. That’s important, as it becomes increasingly obvious that many people spend more time than they’d like on addictive social media apps, games, and cat videos.

Screen Time

The marquee feature for helping you control device usage is Screen Time. Found in the Settings app, Screen Time reports on how much time you spend using different apps, how often you pick up your device, and how many notifications interrupt you. You can check it anytime and get weekly reports, and use this information to help you reduce undesirable usage.

Screen Time has two helpful options, Downtime and App Limits. With Downtime, you can specify a time period when you can only receive phone calls and use specific apps you set in Always Allowed. App Limits let you set how long you may use certain categories of apps. You can ignore the limit, extending it for 15 minutes or for the rest of the day, but that’s cheating, right? At least it makes you feel guilty.

Even better, you can set Downtime and App Limits for a child’s iPhone or iPad, ensuring that they can’t play games after bedtime or text their friends during dinner.

Notification Management

It’s easy to become overwhelmed with notifications, especially if you have chatty friends in messaging apps. iOS 12 can reduce the impact of non-stop notifications. On the Lock screen, iOS 12 now groups message threads and multiple notifications from the same app. Tapping a group expands it so you can see the details.

Plus, with a feature called Instant Tuning, you can change notification settings for an app right from a notification. Swipe left on a notification and tap Manage. Instant Tuning also lets you send notifications to Notification Center silently so they don’t interrupt you but are available later.

Do Not Disturb

In the “it’s about time” department, iOS 12 beefs up Do Not Disturb so it works more the way people do. When you bring up Control Center and force-touch the Do Not Disturb button, it expands to let you turn on Do Not Disturb for 1 hour, for the rest of the day, until you leave your current location, or until the end of your current appointment. The beauty of these new options is that they disable Do Not Disturb automatically so you don’t have to remember—and potentially miss important notifications. To keep you from accidentally leaving DND enabled you’ll also get a very prominent banner on your lock screen. Plus, a new Bedtime option in Settings > Do Not Disturb dims the display and hides overnight notifications until you unlock your device in the morning. That’s great for keeping my wheels from turning when I wake up in the middle of the night to check the time and see an alert for something that can wait for morning.

Siri Shortcuts

Another new feature, Siri Shortcuts, aims to help you use your device more effectively. As Siri learns your routines, it will start suggesting shortcuts for common actions, either on the Lock screen or when you pull down on the Home screen to search. You can see its suggestions in Settings > Siri & Search > All Shortcuts, and for those that seem useful, record a custom phrase that will invoke the shortcut. Plus, the upcoming Shortcuts app will let you create more complex shortcuts that can run multiple steps at once. For example, you’ll be able to create a custom shortcut to say “Hey Siri take me home” that automatically texts your ETA to your significant other, sets the thermostat, starts playing WAMU, and pulls up directions in Waze.

Smaller Changes

Those may be the most significant changes in iOS 12, but they’re far from the only ones. Here’s a sampling of other refinements you’ll notice:

  • Apple has redesigned the iBooks app and renamed it Books.
  • The News, Stocks, and Voice Memos apps also received redesigns, Stocks and Voice Memos are now available on the iPad, and all three have made the jump to the Mac in Mojave, with their data synced via iCloud.
  • A new Measure app uses augmented reality to help you measure objects in the real world.
  • In Settings > Battery, iOS 12 shows graphs of battery usage and activity for the last 24 hours or the last 10 days.

iOS 12 has even more minor improvements that I’ll be sharing in the coming months, so keep an eye on my blog!