tips

iOS 12 is a performance focused software update, aiming to boost the usability of older iPhone and iPad models. But that doesn’t mean iOS 12 is without new fancy features too, so while the iOS 12 update may not be as outwardly flashy as some other past releases, there are still some interesting new additions and changes to the mobile operating system for iPhone and iPad users.

We’re going to review a handful of great iOS 12 features that you’re likely to actually use. Let’s get to it!

1: The Virtual Trackpad & Text Selection Cursor

Selecting text has long been a challenge on the iPhone or iPad, and if you spend a lot of time writing emails, messages, notes, Pages, or in any other text editor you’ll appreciate the new virtual cursor tool that makes text selection and navigation much easier.

• From any app where a block of text is on screen, like in Mail, Pages, Notes, Messages, tap and hold on the Spacebar of the keyboard
• Keep holding down until the keys all turn blank, continue to hold down while you swipe around on the digital trackpad to move the text selection cursor around on screen

You can also then place a second finger on the trackpad to enter text selection mode with the cursor, which then allows you to drag the cursor and select text while in this virtual trackpad mode.

This is a great feature that you really should try out for yourself, as it’s much better experienced directly. For anyone who spends much time typing or writing in iOS this is particularly fantastic, since it’s much easier to direct the little cursor around with a virtual trackpad compared to pecking on screen between letters or words with a finger or stylus.

It should be noted this is not a new feature, it’s just how you access it that is new, and the number of devices it’s available on is new. Now you can simply tap and hold the Spacebar on any iPad or iPhone with iOS 12, whereas perviously accessing the virtual trackpad for text selection was available on iPhone with 3D Touch support only.

2: Screen Time & App Time Limits

Screen Time is arguably the best new feature of iOS 12. Screen Time gives you insight into how an iPhone or iPad is being used, allowing you to see exactly how much time is spent in particular apps. More importantly, you can take action based on that information and set time limits for app usage, and place other restrictions on app usage if desired. This makes Screen Time a fantastic tool particularly for parents or anyone providing child care or education, but also for anyone who wants to reduce their time wasted in any unproductive apps or detrimental device usage. Want to set a 15 minute time limit for a particular game? You can do that with Screen Time. Want to limit yourself to only 20 minutes of social media use? Screen Time lets you do that too.

• Open the “Settings” app and choose “Screen Time”
• Tap on the device usage graph near the top to see Screen Time usage data on that particular device

Once in Screen Time you can set time limits with App Limits, or even outright block an app from being used entirely, or set aside times of the day where the device itself isn’t usable through Downtime. There are also Content & Privacy Restriction settings available if you want to block adult content or otherwise limit device usage. It’s sort of like a broad self-control / parental controls feature built right into iOS, and it’s pretty great.

Don’t be surprised if you look at Screen Time and discover some uncomfortable data… maybe you’re spending a few hours every day lost in the misery generating abyss of social media, maybe you discover that your kids iPad is being used to spend hours every night in a video game rather than doing homework, or maybe you find that you’re not committing enough time every day to learning a new foreign language with an app like DuoLingo and you decide you want to change that. These are examples of the type of data you can get out of Screen Time on any iPhone or iPad.

By the way, for best results with Screen Time, it’s good to check it after a few days or so of device usage so that it has more data to work with. Even after you set some limits or restrictions, you should periodically check into Screen Time to see if it’s making any difference in behavior or device usage.

3: Disable Notifications Faster Than Ever

Let’s go ahead and state the obvious; Notifications are often annoying, distracting, and rarely important.

And by default just about every app on the iPhone and iPad wants to fill your device up with constant alerts and a barrage of notifications about every inconsequential event, happenstance, and useless tidbit under the sun. Do you really need to be notified instantaneously when some celebrity is on their 23rd marriage?

Do you need a giant banner splashing onto your screen to inform you about creamy salad dressing in the News app?

Is any of this stuff important enough to disrupt you and what you were doing with a giant notification message? Probably not.

But what if the breaking news notification delivered instantly to your iPhone or iPad is about the flavor of creamy salad dressing!?!??!? Stop everything that you are doing and read this notification about creamy salad dressing!! It’s breaking news, according to the News app!

But it’s kind of hard to focus when you have constant notifications bothering you, right? Did that point get across as you tried to read this section that is interspersed with that image of a useless notification?

If you feel the vast majority of notifications are simply annoying distractions, noise, and clutter, then fortunately the latest version of iOS makes it easier than ever to manage them as they come in to pester you. In fact, you can completely disable notifications faster than ever and right from the lock screen of your device:

• From the lock screen or Notification Center of iOS 12, swipe left on any notification



• Choose “Manage” from the list of options



• Select “Turn Off” from the menu to permanently disable notifications from that app

You can also choose “Deliver Silently” if you still want to see the annoyifications err notifications in Annoyification Center errr Notification Center for some reason, but choosing Turn Off is the simplest way to never see them again. And of course you can return to the Settings app Notifications section if you later change your mind.

My personal opinion is that only actual communication with actual humans should be sending you notifications, things like messages and phone calls, as everything else is likely nothing more than distraction. Make your own decisions here, but focus on what is important and think critically about the kind of stuff that is splashing onto your screen to get your attention and disrupting your device use.

4: Automatic iOS Software Updates

Do you want to make sure you’re always on the latest version of iOS? Do you frequently forget to update your iOS system software? Are you tired of wandering into the Settings app to check if a software update is available? iOS 12 has a great feature that solves all of this, it will automatically install iOS updates when they’re available onto an iPhone or iPad.

You can turn this feature on easily:

• Open the “Settings” app then go to “Software Update”
• Choose “Automatic Update” and turn the feature on

Just be sure that you have iCloud backups enabled so that your device is always backing up when it’s plugged in to charge.

The auto-update iOS feature pairs well with automatic app updates in iOS too, allowing you a very hands-off approach to device management.

5: Siri Shortcuts & Shortcuts App

The Shortcuts app (once called Workflow) allows you to create simple automation of tasks in iOS, and you can now tie those actions directly into Siri. There’s a plethora of options available with Shortcuts, you can use the feature to create animated GIFs out of Animoji or a series of images, you can use your current location to find any nearby gas stations, you can create custom replies to messages that will send someone your most recent photo taken, and so much more. If it’s a task in iOS, you might just be able to automate the entire thing with Shortcuts.

Curiously, the Shortcuts app is not included by default in iOS 12, so you have to download it separately from the iOS App Store. Not to worry though, it’s free from Apple:

Launch the Shortcuts app and explore the default and example options, and create your own. Tie them to Siri so that you can simply ask Siri to perform that task for you. There’s a lot of potential here, so if you’re a fan of automation and macros, you’ll almost certainly be thrilled with Shortcuts for iOS.

–

Do you have any favorite iOS 12 features? Share with us in the comments below!

Related

Are you ready to install iOS 12 on your iPhone or iPad? The iOS 12 release date is September 17, and if you intend on updating right away you might want to take a few moments ahead of time to prepare for the iOS 12 software update.

We’ll walkthrough a few helpful tips to get your iOS device ready for the latest mobile operating system from Apple. From confirming device compatibility to performing some basic cleanup and maintenance, you’ll be ready for updating to iOS 12 in no time.

1: Check iOS 12 Compatibility: Can the iPhone or iPad run iOS 12?

The first thing you’ll want to do is review the iOS 12 compatible devices list to make sure your particular iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch supports the new operating system. The good news is that iOS 12 has generous support for a wide variety of devices, and if your iPhone is newer than a 5s or iPad is newer than an Air, it will be able to run the iOS 12 update. The full list is as follows:

• iPhones with iOS 12 support: iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 5s, iPhone SE
• iPads with iOS 12 support: iPad Pro 12.9″ 1st and 2nd generations, iPad Pro 10.5″, iPad Pro 9.7″, iPad Air 2, iPad Air 1, iPad 5th gen, iPad 2018 model (not pro), iPad 2017 model (not pro), iPad Mini 4, iPad Mini 3, iPad Mini 2
• iPods with iOS 12 support: iPod Touch 6th Generation

Note the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR will come with iOS 12 preinstalled, so there is no need to update those devices unless a smaller point release is available for them (like iOS 12.0.1 or iOS 12.1, etc).

The good news is that iOS 12 aims to boost performance of older iPhone and iPad hardware, so if you have a device currently running iOS 11 or iOS 10 that feels sluggish, updating to iOS 12 may improve the performance on that device.

2: Tidy Up & Free up Storage Space

Before you update to a major new iOS release, it’s often a good idea to tidy up your device, delete some long unused apps, and update your remaining apps.

You’ll also need to have a few free GB of storage available to install iOS 12 in the first place, so aside from tidying up and ridding yourself of dusty apps, if you’re tight on storage space now is a good time to take care of that.

You can check your devices available storage capacity by going to Settings > General > iPhone Storage / iPad Storage

If you are low on storage space, some simple ways to free up storage in iOS include:

You will want to have at least a few GB or so of space available to update iOS 12, partially because the iOS 12 download is several GB in and of itself, and then it needs temporary space to further complete the update.

3: Update Your Apps

After you have deleted unused apps and cleared up storage space (if needed) and made sure you have sufficient storage available for the iOS 12 update, it’s a good idea to update all iOS apps on the device so that they are new and more likely to be compatible with the latest iOS release.

Simply open the App Store, then go to the Updates tab, and choose “Update All”

An added bonus tip: be sure to again go through and update all your apps in the weeks following installing the iOS 12 software update, as more apps will be updated as time goes on.

4: Back up the iPhone or iPad

This is the most important step! You must backup an iOS device before installing iOS 12, or any other software update for that matter. Having fresh backups allow you to recover quickly if something goes wrong, and being able to restore an iPhone or iPad from a fresh backup helps guard against permanent data loss. Do not skip backing up!

You can backup to iCloud, or iTunes, or both.

For performing an iCloud backup of the iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app in iOS, then tap on your name to access iCloud settings, next go to “iCloud” and choose “iCloud Backup”, finally you want to select to “Back Up Now”.

Make and complete the iCloud backup right before installing iOS 12, so that your data is freshly saved and backed up. This includes all your contacts, photos, notes, movies, apps, all personal data, and customizations to the device.

You can also backup to iTunes on a Mac or PC. Connect the iPhone or iPad to a computer and open iTunes, and then choose to backup. Be sure to encrypt the backup in iTunes so that passwords and health data are preserved as well.

To be thorough, you can backup to both iCloud and iTunes, there’s nothing wrong with backup redundancy and many would consider that prudent.

5: Time to Install iOS 12!

Once you have completed the above tasks, you’re easy to install iOS 12. iOS 12 is a free software update for any compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

The simplest way to install the iOS 12 update is through the Settings app on the iPhone or iPad. Just open Settings, go to General, then choose Software Update. When iOS 12 is available, click to Download and Install.

Remember, the official release date for iOS 12 is September 17, while beta users can download iOS 12 GM right now from their devices.

Related