Apple Releases iOS 12

Apple announced today that it has released iOS 12 publicly to owners of compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices.

“iOS 12 … is designed to make everyday tasks on iPhone and iPad faster and more responsive,” the Apple announcement notes. “Available today as a free software update, iOS 12 introduces new AR experiences, fun new features like Memoij, Siri Shortcuts that open up a world of apps to work with Siri and new tools to help people reduce interruptions and manage screen time for themselves and their families.”

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Apple announced iOS 12 at its Worldwide Developers Conference 2018 back in early June. By many measures, iOS 12 is a fairly minor upgrade. But I think Apple’s work to renew the focus of iOS on quality—which was rumored as long ago as February–is important. And will have a fundamental and positive impact on the platform and the devices on which it runs.

On that note, I’ve been using iOS 12 in various beta forms since the very first external release on my two current iOS devices, an iPad mini 4 and a 10.5-inch iPad Pro. I’m not seeing the battery life or performance improvements that Apple claims—in fact, the battery in my iPad mini seems to be dying—but then I don’t sit on top of them all day long as I do with my phone.

If you do use an iOS device, I strongly recommend checking out the new digital wellbeing features, which include Screen Time, and improvements to notifications and the Do Not Disturb mode. The rest of the functional improvements are indeed minor at best. But that’s fine: Like its competitors, iOS is a mature platform and this is exactly the kind of update it needed.

 

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Conversation 9 comments

  • locust infested orchard inc

    17 September, 2018 - 3:12 pm

    <p>Ohhhhh look, an article on Thurrott.com that has aroused karma77police.</p>

  • CrownSeven

    Premium Member
    17 September, 2018 - 6:33 pm

    <p>I’ve noticed dramatic performance improvements on my iPad mini 4 and even my iPhoneX. Apps start faster, keyboard appears quicker, camera opens fast – overall a nice perf. bump. I’ve had the beta on my X for a few weeks and did see battery life improvement. Let’s see how the mini fairs. </p>

  • justme

    Premium Member
    18 September, 2018 - 2:37 am

    <p>Installed last night on a 6SPlus. Cant say anything about battery life yet, but the device seems much more responsive. Apps appear to launch quicker.</p>

  • chrishilton1

    Premium Member
    18 September, 2018 - 4:55 am

    <p>Some consistency from the Thurrott team would be appreciated. Here Paul clearly describes iOS as a "fairly minor upgrade", whereas Mehedi describes it with a very different tone… "<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">iOS 12, like many other previous iOS updates, is a major update for your iPhone". </span></p>

  • rosyna

    18 September, 2018 - 10:51 am

    <p>“<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">By many measures, iOS 12 is a fairly minor upgrade.”</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Interesting how Paul says it’s “fairly minor” when other reviews mention and discuss long feature lists…</span></p>

    • Stooks

      18 September, 2018 - 12:12 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#324789">In reply to rosyna:</a></em></blockquote><p>I installed it on my X yesterday. I had to seriously go into a bunch of places before I could see anything new. iBooks looks different and the news as well but the news just moved stuff around and I had to find my channels.</p><p><br></p><p>Watch OS 5 same deal, some new faces that I do not like and a note about turning on low heart rate monitor (below 40).</p><p><br></p><p>Overall the new XS and iOS 12 have not really changed anything for me. Nothing wrong with that as I only use the stuff for specific reasons. At least Exchange email syncing still works fine.</p>

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