Apple shows how iOS 12 will change your next iPhone

Bravo, Apple is finally tackling smartphone addiction. And adding group video chats to FaceTime. 

These are my two key standout features that will be coming to the iPhone as part of an iOS 12 software upgrade that Apple unveiled Monday at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose. iOS 12, of course, will be at the core of the next new iPhone(s) that likely will be announced (if Apple sticks to its normal playbook) in September. The software will also freshen up the iPhone (and iPad) you already own. 

Such models could be as ancient as the iPhone 5s, or the same handsets supported by iOS 11.

It wasn’t much of a surprise that this latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system arrives without a ton of fancy new consumer features — unless your idea of “fancy” is “tongue detection” for Animojis and new cartoonish characters called “Memojis.” 

That’s OK. A lot of the important stuff frankly comes under the hood, where Apple promises to make your devices perform faster and be more responsive. The company got into a pickle for slowing down iPhones with aging batteries, so everyone is expecting, or at least hoping, that even those older phones will zip right along.

And at least during the company's WWDC keynote, Apple didn't say much about any iOS impact on batteries.

More: Apple's next iPhone and iOS 12: Here's what Apple should change

The new OS likely will arrive around the same time new iPhones show up in the fall. Here are my key takeaways:

Screen time.

Just about everyone of us can relate to screen addiction, especially if you have kids for whom you need a crowbar to remove them from their devices.

That’s where the new Screen Time feature comes in. For starters, Apple is promising a weekly summary that details how you or your kids use an iPhone or iPad.  

What apps are you/they spending your time on? What’s the breakout, say by games, social networking, etc.? Which apps are drawing you guys in?  Where are notifications most coming from? The summary is meant to answer such questions.

Armed with such information you can make informed decisions in setting app time limits, for you or your youngsters. You can set such limits by category or by individual app.

You might reward kids a time allowance for good behavior, or for that matter give him or her access to an app all the time, maybe age-appropriate educational apps or the Phone app so they can always call you. Such limits are account-based through Family Sharing, so they apply across all the iOS devices in your household. 

Do Not Disturb During Bedtime.

Another potentially useful variation on the screen addiction theme. The idea behind Do Not Disturb during Bedtime mode is indeed to get a better night’s sleep. How so? When this mode kicks in, the iPhone display is dimmed and notifications go into hiding, at least until a designated wake-up time or when you tap the screen.  You can set Do Not Disturb During Bedtime in Control Center and select an automatic end time based on the time or even location.

Group FaceTime

Apple delivers another feature that had been on my wish list, the ability to go beyond one-on-one video calls and use FaceTime with multiple people at once. And multiple people it is — you’ll be able to FaceTime with up to 32 people simultaneously.

Third-party CarPlay apps

Up to now you have had to use Apple Maps for directions while using CarPlay in your vehicle. iOS 12 will give you the ability to employ CarPlay with third-party mapping apps. And that means Waze and Google Maps, or your other navigational app of choice.

Siri Shortcuts

So many of us have wanted wanted to Siri get smarter, certainly compared to its brainier rivals, Amazon’s Alexa or the Google Assistant. How much smarter Siri has or will get via iOS 12 remains to be seen, but Apple is adding a feature called Siri Shortcuts that I think will help. Essentially such shortcuts give you the ability to customize actions for Siri based on an app, time of day or routines. And yes, Apple appears to be playing catch-up next to Alexa and the Google Assistant since both let you set a series of multistep actions based on your own routines. 

You might set up a Siri Shortcut around a trip you are taking. You record a custom voice command — “Hey Siri, travel plans”— and Siri might chime in with address of your hotel and the time you can check in.

Apple is opening up Siri Shortcuts to third-party developers.

I look forward to testing Siri Shortcuts once iOS 12 is available to see how easy they are to set up and use and how well they compare to Alexa and the Google Assistant.

Privacy and security

Privacy and security have always been a hot topic and of the upmost concern, but maybe never more than now. So I’m pleased that as part of the Safari browser, Apple will prevent you by default from getting tracked without your permission when you tap a “Like,”or “Share” social media button or a comment widget at a site.

Animojis and Memojis

Apple introduced animated emojis or “Animojis” for its Messages app last year, initially just for users of the iPhone X. Depending on your point of view they were either addictive or a complete waste of time. 

For the record, I thought they were silly but fun, even, yes, the pile of pooh Animoji that, um, made the biggest stink last year. 

Apple is now expanding the Animoji roster with ghost, koala, tiger and T. rex characters, and if you stick out your tongue such characters will do so in kind.

But as part of iOS 12, you’ll also be able create your own personal avatars, which Apple calls Memojis. These are supposed to resemble your own mug. You can customize your Memoji by adding freckles or eyeglasses, altering your hairstyle and so on. Rival Samsung offered a roughly similar feature on the Galaxy S9 months ago, which in turn followed Apple’s own introduction of animojis. I did not think the Samsung avatars looked much like me; I’ll have to wait to see if Apple does better here.

Either way, I don’t know what it suggests about all of us, but it seems that a large part of the smartphone wars have come down to our cartoonish alter-egos. 

Email: ebaig@usatoday.com
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