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Apple Releases iOS 12 With Faster Performance, Memoji, Siri Shortcuts, Screen Time, Revamped Maps App, ARKit 2.0, and More (macrumors.com) 155

Posted by msmash from the new-os-updates dept.
Apple on Monday released iOS 12, the latest operating system designed for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. iOS 12 is available on all devices that are able to run iOS 11, which includes the iPhone 5s (released 2013) and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad Air and later, and the 6th-generation iPod touch. From a report: iOS 12 is a major update that brings several new features and upgrades to Apple's iOS devices, along with some significant performance improvements. Apps open more speedily than before, the keyboard pops up faster, and the Camera launches much quicker. Apple has also introduced optimizations for when the system is under load, making iOS devices faster when you need performance most.

[...] Siri is smarter than ever in iOS 12 with a new Shortcuts feature designed to let you create multi-step customized automations using first and third-party apps that can be activated with Siri voice commands. Shortcuts can be created through the Shortcuts app, which Apple is releasing alongside iOS 12. ArsTechnica reports that older iOS devices -- iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPad Mini 2 -- are noticeably faster at launching apps and several other functions, after they have been upgraded to iOS 12.
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Apple Releases iOS 12 With Faster Performance, Memoji, Siri Shortcuts, Screen Time, Revamped Maps App, ARKit 2.0, and More More

Apple Releases iOS 12 With Faster Performance, Memoji, Siri Shortcuts, Screen Time, Revamped Maps App, ARKit 2.0, and More

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  • Simply an incredible release (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17, 2018 @01:12PM (#57328744)

    Loving it so far.

    Credit where credit it due: it really makes you appreciate the nuances that Jobs made so commonplace in the iOS ecosystem.

    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      by jellomizer ( 103300 )

      Sure Apple is a big evil company, but compared to Microsoft 20 years ago. At least they are releasing good products. Even iOS 11 which had a lot of problems was still rather stable and solid compared to other systems.

    • You are way too excited about a phone.

  • My iPhone says "iOS 11.4.1 Your software is up to date."

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Obviously your iPhone 5 isn't receiving this update...

    • Try refreshing that screen (pull down from the top). I think their servers are getting hammered at the moment, so it sounds like a number of phones haven't had the info about the new release pushed to them yet (though, if past releases are any indication, that info should get pushed out over the next few hours and days to everyone with compatible devices). Mine didn't show it either until I refreshed that screen, at which point it was forced to pull the latest info from Apple.

    • The last time my phone updated I didn't want it but it started naggine me all the time. So I finally gave in and I had to update xcode. But xcode wouldn't update until I updated macos. So I just hope my phone never needs an update again.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      Which iPhone model do you have?

  • Don't nobody tell me (Score:5, Insightful)

    by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Monday September 17, 2018 @01:26PM (#57328848) Journal

    Please, let me stay ignorant of what a "memoji" is just for a little while longer. I was just starting to have hope for the world again.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It's like a Nintendo Mii or Xbox Avatar.
      That's where apple copied it from.

    • Please, let me stay ignorant of what a "memoji" is

      I'm going to tell you anyway, because I think you'll be pretty interested, plus you're my favorite old man on Slashdot.

      As the term memoji implies, it's about memes. Let's take memes here on slashdot we all know and love. Siri now knows about these and can deal with those. If you've upgraded to iOS 12, you can now say: "hey Siri, send goatse to my wife". Or: "hey Siri, go GNAA on my boss", which will result in crapflooding his inbox.

      And with Siri Shortcuts, this can be automated so you could say: "hey Siri,

  • The "crash WebKit and force an OS reset with CSS code" feature discussed here [slashdot.org].

  • Best way to use Siri in my car? (Score:3)

    by omfglearntoplay ( 1163771 ) on Monday September 17, 2018 @01:39PM (#57328946)

    Now that you can add any app to Siri's list, how can I best use Siri in the car? My problem is now I have to wait for the 4 second delay of siri kicking in and using my car's mic/speakers, and the resulting clunkiness. Which makes me almost never use it because it is clunky. Only for safety reasons, I'd love to use Siri all the time!!!

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday September 17, 2018 @02:16PM (#57329142)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Have to agree with you there. Had Android phones (Motorola and HTC) and Windows phones (Nokia), both struggled to maintain support even at 1 year old. Google and Microsoft would push the updates out to vendors but then the vendors would sit on it for months, if they even released it at all. At least in Apple's universe you never feel like you're losing out to someone else. Yes, you still get dropped due to old age at some point, but iOS 12 supports the 5s that was released in 2013, so that's a pretty good r

    • I agree also. Had Motorola phones, they run almost vanilla Android. However, after a year they get forgotten about. It is not the lack of new features that necessarily irks me, it is they never release security updates. There are some very bad malware out there, latest problems with 'disk in the middle' attacks, and the latest attacks using AT commands https://www.usenix.org/confere... [usenix.org] are scary! Wil Android hardware manufacturers update their devices, maybe Google and Samsung, the rest maybe not.

    • This is one reason I have an iPhone and would consider replacing it with one. Old crusty 5S and still supported by everything I try on it.

    • Hey Android manufacturers, this is one place where Apple makes every other smartphone platform look bad. Of the three mainstream flagship Android phones I've owned, I've never had one where I received updates for more than two years. Even my wife's five-year-old Blackberry Z30 received a security update three months ago.

      I'm getting tired of watching perfectly good expensive hardware get the axe because the official software updates stop. I've tried third party ROMs, but they never worked quite right with my hardware. I'd be content just with security updates after two years, but even that appears to be asking for too much.

      Now that my current Android phone is EOL, I do not look forward to the chore of replacing it. Maybe it is time to look a bit more outside of the Android ecosystem.

      Hey Android Victims:

      iOS 12 is available to EVERY iPhone made in the past 5 years. And enjoys a 700,000 : 1 Malware record compared with Android.

      Time to wake up, boys and girls!

    • Even though Apple continues to support much older phones, typically if you upgrade the iOS on your phone more than once, then you will start to notice slow performance. Maybe that's why Android doesn't allow it.
  • I thought IOS only sent a soundtrack to the cloud and played the response.

    • And yet they restricted it to specific phones when it came out. Apple loves to pretend it's part of the phone and that it has more to do with their hardware and software.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mccalli ( 323026 )
      That's just the voice processing. Something has to actually act on the result when it received it. "Hey Siri, set living rooms lights to 70%" is a command I use fairly often - voice recognition in the cloud, but then something has to logically interpret the command as a result and then physically do something.
      • Thereâ(TM)s also some fairly sophisticated low power ardware that recognizes the trigger phrase âoehey siri.â Actually sending all audio to the cloud all the time would be a huge power / bandwidth / privacy problem.

        • Not really part of the debate. First gen devices didn't have this hardware - you had to manually trigger it to listen.

      • set living rooms lights to 70%

        Yeah, so the Apple cloud interprets it. And then the Apple cloud contacts your smart device manufacturer's server. Your phone literally does nothing with that but send the audio and maybe a confirmation response.

        Most results can come back in some form of interpreted XML/HTML and you don't need new smarts locally to display/present them. Only having the phone itself perform an action would need to software on the client side.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mccalli ( 323026 )
          Not so - there are no "manufacturer's server". It just works off my phone, unless I have an AppleTV or similar to act as a hub. I mean - simple example. "Hey Siri, play last song". It's iOS that understands that, the cloud just interprets the words.

          • You're using an AppleTV as the hub for your lights? You're the one that chose the example.

  • Does iOS12 Mail app finally bring back the Edit... Move All Messages to Trash for IMAP folders?

    Introduced in iOS9. Removed in iOS10. Still missing in iOS11. Sadly needed to be a fully competent email application. (Have Edit... Mark All as Read, and we have Edit... Delete All Messages, except Delete All Messages only works for the Trash folder!)

    If it has been brought back, I will upgrade to iOS12 immediately. If not, I will wait to make sure there are no ill side effects from the new iOS first.

  • That's good, because it's been crap in every other iOS.

  • I do have a couple complaints -- and these are unfortunately typical of Apple's new software releases these days.

    1. The new, enhanced Apple Maps only start out with improved map data for California. The rest of the nation gets added over time. (Because California is clearly the most important place in the nation, right? 49 other states not ready yet is no big deal.)

    2. I understand the screentime feature that lets you limit your kids' time they can use the iPhone is buggy. Kids can mess with the settings a

  • iPhone 5S and iPad Mini 2 (Score:3)

    by guacamole ( 24270 ) on Monday September 17, 2018 @08:38PM (#57331344)

    It is astonishing that these two devices from 2013 are still going to be supported by the latest Apple OS well into 2019. Apple hardware usually costs more than the Android competition, but iOS support for updates stretches for 6 years or more. Amazing. I have owned both of these devices and I am surprised that there are many still being used (the 5S battery died and I traded mini 2 for iPad 2017)

  • Now my phone will prompt me to update to iOS 12 instead of iOS 11. There has been nothing worth while updating for. And if I update my phone I would have to update iTunes. That means I couldn't download app updates in iTunes and having to do updates on my phone and iPad separately. Apple screwed that up big time.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Just updated my 4 year old 6 Plus and indeed the whole experience is indeed noticeably smoother and more responsive.
    Quite impressive actually that they went for lean/effcient programming if you realise that the the current phones are so much (4 times? more?) quicker, and I am happy that I can use my phone comfortably for another year, maybe 2, and delay investing in a new phone a bit longer.
    I thought about treating my wife and me on an XR or XS by Xmas, but that can wait another year. My main attraction

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