Every year Apple announces major software updates to its different platforms at its developers conference in June and this year was no different. Along with software updates to its Apple watch, Macs and Apple Tv, iPhones got an update to iOS 12 as well.

This is the first time that Apple is supporting devices as old as the iPhone 5s that it launched back in 2013. In fact in this release, Apple is focusing on performance and stability especially on older models.

In the past year, Apple got some really bad press about the bugginess of it's various software platforms, so this year, they seem to be doing what they should have done in the first place and something they pride themselves on: "Things just working".

Anyways, iOS 12 launched yesterday with some really much needed performance enhancements and also some really cool features that I would like to list out here.

Notifications

The way iOS handled notifications was a huge pain point for the customers and that seems to have been remedied now. Finally there are grouped notifications now where they are grouped together according to apps. This will surely shorten the long list of notifications that we are habituated to see every single day.

We also get options to manage notifications right from within the notification centre and individual notifications to fine tune the details of individual app notifications.

Siri Shortcuts

Siri has gotten smarter in this version of iOS and with something called 'Siri shortcuts' it becomes even more useful. You can now add together several tasks that get activated using only a single phrase that you say to Siri.

So, for example, if you leave for home from work, and you had already set up a "heading home" shortcut, you could simply say 'heading home' to Siri, and it would automatically give you the shortest route on Maps, get the temperature at your home just right, order some food to meet you at home and other pre-selected actions.

Screen Time

We all know we are spending a ton of time on our phones and companies are now offering solutions for us to be mindful of that and Screen Time is one such initiative by Apple.

It gives you statistics about your usage habits. It gives you the time spent on different apps. It also tells you how many times you picked up your phone during the day. The feature also allows you to set limits to any individual app to help you manage your addiction.

Memoji

You can now use your iPhone X or above to create a Memoji, that helps you convert your face into an emoji that either looks like you or something completely different. Tons of customisation options are available as well so you can give yourself a unique look. It can also now detect a wink and also your tongue.

Measure App

Apple is really pushing AR now and that is very evident in ios 12 with universal file format for AR files pretty much like how we have .jpegs for images. It also released a Measure app that allows users to use their phones to measure the size of things in the real world. This is a great example of the AR future we are headed to.

Small Tweaks

There are literally a ton of smaller tweaks here and there to the user interface to make the iOS experience more fluid, as Apple customers expect it to be. For example, now you can try to invoke Face ID again by swiping up if it doesn't recognise you in the first attempt.

We also get automatic updates now. On iPhone X and above, you can now just swipe up to dismiss an app from the apps viewer. Earlier you had to tap and hold and then swipe up.

There are also redesigns to the stock app, books app, voice memo app and news app, making the experience much more fluid than before. Do not disturb during bedtime is yet another great feature where you won't get notifications while you are sleeping so you can have that peaceful night of sleep.


Image Credits for thumbnail: Marques Brownlee