Apple announces iOS 12 with app updates and performance improvements

Apple today announced iOS 12, the first major update for its iPhones, iPads, and iPods this year.

iOS 12 was rumoured to be an update focused on refinement, and so far, Apple hasn’t made any big changes to the interface but has made several small changes to how things work in iOS.

With iOS 13, your phone will get faster. Apple says that software will focus on optimizing performance. The firm is “doubling down on performance”, apps will launch 40percent faster, the camera will open 70 percent faster and so on. This update isn’t slowing down your iPhone, should Apple’s framing prove accurate. It’ll speed it up and improve the experience for the better, Not that Apple needs much help there, 95% of users are satisfied with iOS 11 at the moment according to Apple’s metrics.

This optimisation extends beyond basic performance. Take Augmented Reality, Apple isn’t overhauling its AR system or anything, the firm is simply refining how it works in the release. There’ll be improved face tracking, more realistic experiencing, and persistent experiences among others.

Apple is also implementing multi-user AR apps, which allows a single AR experience to be used between multiple iPhones, for a multi-user experience.

Apple is also improving the Photos app in iOS 12. It’ll recognise images in search and provide search suggestions to help you find the events you’ve captured on your iPhone. Apple is adding a new for your tab, similar to Microsoft’ carousel in the Photos app on Windows 10. Apple wants you to see the  Photos app as more than a dumb gallery and something approaching a service along the likes of Google Photos.

iOS 12 will finally be revamping Apple’s reviled notification system and granting users some ability to control them, including granular notification controls and bundled notifications.

Finally, the firm issued many updates to built-in apps. iBooks is now Apple Books, the News and Stock apps have merged, Siri gained a new shortcut feature that will let users set up macros.

iOS 12 will come out later this year, it’ll be supported on every single device that runs iOS 11 right now.