What’s new in iOS 12

A ton of new features arrived with the new iPhone Xs Max courtesy of the iOS 12 update. These include support for FaceTime conversations with 32 people (yes, 32) at once, four new Animoji and the arrival of ARKit 2 that allows developers to create – supposedly – even more “immersive” AR experiences. But there are a couple of more notable inclusions, too.

The first is that the iPhone’s face-unlock feature can now recognise multiple faces. That’s very handy if you find your main “face” data doesn’t work when you’re wearing sunglasses, a favourite hat or a motorcycle helmet, for instance.

Then there’s the controversial “Screen Time”. I thought I’d instantly disable this, mainly because I don’t really want to be reminded how much time I spend staring at my smartphone screen on a daily basis. In reality, I’ve found its breakdown of how I use my smartphone absolutely fascinating and, weirdly, reassuring. It turns out that I’m not quite as much of an obsessive as I thought I was.

Given the exceptional quality of iPhone cameras, iOS 12 updates to photo sharing and photo search are welcome, too. There’s a For You tab, which curates the best moments from your photo library and suggests sharing the snaps with the people in them. Searching for pictures has also become easier. Before you even start typing, there’s a suggested page of recent events, people and places. You can also refine results by adding multiple keywords – “art”, “beaches” and so on.