In September, Apple released iOS 12, its new operating system for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This new release offers many new features including Siri Shortcuts, grouping notifications, and more options for Do Not Disturb.

Any device running iOS 11 can use iOS 12. Supported devices are the following:

  • iPhone
  • iPhone XS
  • iPhone XS Max
  • iPhone XR
  • iPhone X
  • iPhone 8
  • iPhone 8 Plus
  • iPhone 7
  • iPhone 7 Plus
  • iPhone 6s
  • iPhone 6s Plus
  • iPhone 6
  • iPhone 6 Plus
  • iPhone SE
  • iPhone 5S
  • >iPad
  • 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2nd generation
  • 12.9-inch iPad Pro 1st generation
  • 10.5-inch iPad Pro
  • 9.7-inch iPad Pro
  • iPad 6th generation
  • iPad 5th generation
  • iPad Air 2
  • iPad Air
  • iPad mini 4
  • iPad mini 3
  • iPad mini 2
  • iPod
  • iPod Touch 6th generation

According to Apple, unlike some other previous updates, installing iOS 12 will speed up older devices rather than slowing them down. My husband is using an old iPhone 6 and it is definitely running faster than before iOS 12.

Siri Shortcuts

The new Siri shortcuts feature caused a lot of excitement when it was presented at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC.) Based on your usage, your device will automatically create shortcuts for you to use. Pre-made shortcuts can be found in Settings > Siri & Search, in Spotlight Search, and on the Lock Screen.

Apple has given access to Siri Shortcuts to third party apps including iCatcher and The Weather Channel. If an app's shortcuts are not in Siri & Search, check the app. If the app has Siri Shortcuts, they will probably be in the app's settings section. If you want to create your own Siri Shortcut, download the Shortcuts app from the App Store.

You can set up shortcuts listed in Settings by going to Settings > Siri & Search. Explore what is available by flicking around the screen. In each section, there will be a button to show all the shortcuts in the section. When you find the one you want, double tap on it. A new screen will load, prompting you to record a personalized phrase, which will trigger the shortcut. Double tap on the Record button to start recording and double tap again when finished. Shortcuts will display the text of your recording. If you are happy with everything, select the Done button in the upper right of the screen. There are also buttons to re-record the phrase or cancel the recording. Once the shortcut has been created, activating Siri and saying the shortcut phrase will initiate the designated action. All your shortcuts will be under Siri & Search. If there is a shortcut on the Lock Screen, such as a suggestion to return someone's missed phone call, double tap it. If there is a Siri shortcut in Spotlight Search, double tap on it.

Auto Fill Safari Passwords

It is now possible to automatically fill in user name and password fields when using Safari. It is easiest to enter information into login fields if you already have a Safari password stored in your Apple Keychain. When you've stored login information for a site in the Keychain, when you visit the site, activate the user name > email part of the login form. Do not enter any text. Move down until you hear information about logging into the site and then move down or right until you hear the user name or email address for the account and double tap. The information may be just above the QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard will be present since you selected the user name edit box. Depending on which device you are using, you will be asked to authenticate using Touch ID or Face ID and your information will be entered automatically. You will need to select the login button or link.

Another way to access passwords is to ask Siri the name of a particular password. Siri will validate with Face ID or Touch ID. A list of all your websites with saved user names and passwords will then be displayed. You can then enter the information manually.

Notifications

A new Grouping feature has been introduced in iOS 12. Grouping lets you sort notifications from the same source together or have them appear separately. Either way, they will be chronological with the newest notification first. Therefore, if you get notifications from the New York Times and Facebook, the New York Times notifications will be grouped together as will the ones from Facebook. This feature works in the Notification Center and on the locked screen. By default, this feature is turned on. When a grouped notification is selected, VoiceOver will say the name of the notification, such as "New York Times," followed by the word "Grouped" and the number of notifications in the group. Flicking up or down on the grouped notification will offer four options: View, Manage, Clear, and Activate. Double tapping on the notification will expand the group, allowing access to all notifications in that group. For example, if I double tap on my New York Times notification, all notifications from the New York Times will now be on the screen.

Selecting the Manage option will give two choices: Deliver Quietly and Turn Off. If the Deliver Quietly option is selected, notifications will no longer appear on the lock screen and there will not be annoying indications that you received a notification. Selecting the Turn Off option will have notifications sent in chronological order and they will be interspersed with other notifications and will appear on the lock screen. At the bottom of the Manage screen is a Settings button which will bring you to the Notifications section in Settings.

If you want to turn Grouping on or off when a notification is not on the screen, go to Notifications in Settings and select the app. At the bottom of the next screen will be a button giving the app's status. Select it and more options will be displayed.

New Siri Voices

Apple has added new English Siri voices for Ireland and South Africa. There is a male and female voice for each country. In addition to using them for Siri, they can also be used as VoiceOver voices. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Speech. Go to English (Ireland). Along with the Moira voice there will now be Siri Female and Siri Male. Go to English (South Africa). There will be a Siri Female and Siri Male option as well as the Tessa voice.

Screen Time

Settings for Screen Time are found in Settings > Screen Time. The first control in this section is a button with the name of your device. Activating this button brings up a new screen with two buttons, Today and Last 7 Days. Here is where you will find detailed information about app usage, how many notifications have been received, and how many times you have picked up your phone. It is worth spending some time in this section.

Below the name of your device is a Device Usage Summary. This summary is nowhere near as detailed as the summary described above. The first setting in Screen Time is Downtime. With this feature enabled, only designated apps and phone calls will be available on your phone. When the Downtime option is selected, a new screen loads. The first control is a toggle for whether the feature is on or off. It is off by default.

Set up Downtime by first selecting the button. There will be pickers for selecting when to start and stop Downtime. Once this is completed, select the Screen Time button in the upper left corner.

The next control is App Limits. Activating this button will bring you to a screen that describes what this feature does. At the bottom of the screen is an Add Limit button. Activating this button opens a screen with different categories of apps such as Entertainment, Creativity, Productivity, and Health & Fitness. Select the Add button and a new screen will open where you can select how long apps can be used in a day.

Under the App Limits button on the main Screen Time screen is an Always Allowed button. Activating this button will bring up a list of your apps. Choose the ones you want to have on all the time. By default, all apps are available whenever your device is used.

The next control is a button to block inappropriate content. Selecting this button will load a new screen where you can choose which items to be blocked.

There are other Screen Time options including setting a pass code, sharing across iCloud devices, activating family sharing, and turning Screen Time off.

Screen Time can be used to monitor and regulate how much time your kids are on their devices. Also, you can control which apps they can use and for how long. Once a week, Apple will send you a report about how much screen time was used.

Measure

The new Measure app can be used by someone who is blind or visually impaired, but it can be difficult to do so. Measure is not 100% accurate, but it is usually close enough. Here is the link to an excellent AppleVis blog post about using Measure with VoiceOver. The Level tool has been moved to the bottom of the Measure app.

Battery

Apple now includes more information about battery usage in Settings > Battery. Go to Settings > Battery and flick right until you locate two buttons labeled Last 24 Hours and Last 9 Days. If you select the first button, information will include when it was last charged and percentage of battery usage by time. Next is battery activity in minutes. Next is the list of apps used and percentage of battery usage. It will also say if an app was running in the background.

Automatic Software Update

You now have the option of having your device's software update automatically update rather than manually. Go to Settings > General > Software Update. There is a button labeled Automatic Updates that is on by default. Double tap on the button if you want to disable this feature.

Messages

It is now easier to hide or show the iMessage App Drawer, which is visible by default. Above the Message edit box is a button for hiding or showing. The button is clearly labeled and is a toggle. Selecting the button when the App Drawer is visible will hide it.

The Info button for a message recipient has been relocated. Double tap on the recipient's name and a new screen will load with several options: Audio, FaceTime, and More Info.

Do Not Disturb

The Do Not Disturb setting has gained some new options. Settings for Do Not Disturb can be accessed through the Control Center. With the Do Not Disturb feature enabled, either flick down or use 3D touch. There will be several new options: for one hour, until morning (or another part of the day), and until I leave this location. The option for Do Not Disturb scheduling is also now available in the Control Center. Another new Do Not Disturb feature is Bedtime. When enabled, notifications will not appear on the Lock Screen. Bedtime is only available when Do Not Disturb is scheduled.

New Braille Display Commands

Braille display users can configure new navigation commands. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Braille > Display > More Info > Braille Command > Navigation.

Live Listen Mode

If you have difficulty hearing in noisy situations, such as in a restaurant, it may be helpful to use AirPods with your iPhone or iPad. Your device's microphone will send sound directly to your AirPods. Make sure your AirPods are paired with your device. Go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls. Select Hearing from the list of widgets. It will now be added to the Control Center.

Put the AirPods in your ears and open the Control Center. Activate the Hearing Widget. Flick right to "Live Listen" and select it. You should be able to hear what is going on around you through your AirPods.

Voice Memos

There are two new features in this app. Go to Settings > Voice Memos. Under Voice Memos Settings, the first option is Clear Deleted. Here is where you can choose how long a deleted memo remains on your device. Options include: Immediately, After 1 Day, and After 7 days.

The second new feature is Audio Quality. By default, Compressed is selected, resulting in smaller files with lower quality. The other option is Lossless, which creates better quality, larger files.

iBooks

The iBooks app is now called Books At the bottom of the page are five tabs: Reading Now, Library, Book Store, Audio Books, and Search. With this update, the Top Charts information is now located in the Bookstore tab.

Search by Lyrics

Have you ever thought of a song, but only remembered a few of its words? You can now enter lyrics into the search form in Apple Music. This results in a list of songs matching those lyrics. If you are an Apple Music subscriber, selecting any song will start it playing. If you are not an Apple Music subscriber, you will get only the name of the song.

New iPad Command

You can still use the Home button on your iPad to unlock it or activate the App Switcher. Gestures for activating the Control Center and Notifications Center still work. However, Apple has added new gestures for performing these four functions. They are the same as the gestures used with iPhones, which do not have a physical Home button.

Unlock: Put your finger on the bottom of the screen. You will hear a low-pitched tone. Slide your finger up until you hear a high-pitch tone. Lift your finger.

App Switcher: Instead of stopping at the first higher pitch tone, keep sliding your finger up until you hear a second tone.

Control Center: Start the procedure from the top of the screen. The first high-pitch tone indicates the Control Center.

Notification Center: When sliding down from the top of the screen, the second tone indicates the Notifications Center.

The Bottom Line

It is definitely worth upgrading to iOS 12. This update has new features including Siri Shortcuts and Screen Time, and there are new features added in some apps including Voice Memos and Apple Music. If you are concerned about accessibility bugs introduced into iOS during a major update, AppleVis keeps an updated list of present and corrected bugs in iOS on its site.

This update works well if you have an older device, where the speed increase will be a welcome improvement.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

Comment on this article.

Related articles:

More by this author:

Author
Janet Ingber
Article Topic
Product Reviews and Guides