Apple conference hints at ‘twice as fast’ performance for iOS 12
Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference took place recently in San Jose, Calif. While the bulk of the conference is under non-disclosure and takes place behind doors closed to the media and public, the media are invited to the opening keynote, which is streamed live to anyone who wishes to watch.
You can watch a replay of the WWDC keynote online, but for those who don’t have 2 hours and 16 minutes to spare, I’ve prepared a quick summary of the most significant announcements and my thoughts on them.
Since all of Apple’s operating systems — macOS, iOS, watchOS and tvOS — will be updated, I’ll address them one at a time. And because iOS had the most (and most interesting) changes, at least for me, I’ll start with it today, and follow up with the other three OSes next week.
The next iteration of iOS is iOS 12. The biggest deal to me is that this release focuses primarily on performance, which is expected to double the speed of common tasks such as launching apps or summoning the keyboard. How can you not love “twice as fast?”
The two most significant additions after performance are Screen Time and Siri Shortcuts.
Screen Time keeps track of how much time you (or your children) spend using specific apps and websites and lets you set time limits for individual apps, or schedule “downtime” away from the screen.
There are also myriad new privacy and content blocking controls, along with lists, categories and charts that make it easier to understand how much time you spent and what you were doing.
If you’ve got kids, or you’re a fan of Mac usage-tracking apps such as RescueTime or Timing, you’ll love Screen Time on your iOS devices.
The other big new feature in iOS 12 may be the coolest of them all. It’s called Siri Shortcuts, and it lets you create and run shortcuts that involve third-party apps. The new companion app, Shortcuts, appears to be based on the excellent Workflow app that Apple acquired last year.
Other new features include Group FaceTime chats with up to 32 people at once; improved Augmented Reality (AR) experiences; a new AR app called Measure that measures physical objects with your device’s camera; new camera effects; enhancements and improvements to Do Not Disturb, Notifications and Photos; new privacy options in Safari; more information on battery usage; plus four new Animoji and the ability to create your own custom Animoji, dubbed “Memoji” (on iPhone X only).
iOS 12 will be available this fall as a free update for iPhone 5s and later; all iPad Air and Pro models; iPad 5th and 6th generation; iPad mini 2 and later; and iPod touch 6th generation.